The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-11-18

associated with the conveniences of
modern life that we cease to marvel
at its wonders; nevertheless ii is mar
velous when we come to consider how
prodigeous the development and APP
plication of electricity has been, and
how the mysterious current has been
made to tighten the labors of man and
beast and increase the sum of results
of the unit of one mans labor. And it
must be borne in mind that all of this
! development has taken place within a
| period of about thirty years-well with
! in the memory of men not yet old. It
is true that the telegraph and the arc
light were known longer ago than that,
but the telephone, the incandescent
light and the electric motor are de-
velopments of the past quarter of a
century. During that time the amount
of money invested in electrical enter
prises has grown from practically
nothing to more than four billions of
dollars, with tens of thousands of per-
sons earning their living in electrical
pursuits where before there were only
a few experimentors tinkering with the
sparks in their laboratories.
In the current number of the North
American Review Mr.. Anthony N.
Brady, the well known promoter of
electric traction and other similar en-
terprises has an interesting article on
Electricity in the Service of Man"
He traces the growth of the wonderful
power in public favor and practical
service, and predicts a continuance of
that growth and development for years
to come. The time is not very far dis
tant. he thinks, when automobile vehi-
cles will be the rule on the streets, and
passengers and freights will be trans
ported between cities on electric cars
at rate of speed as high as or higher
than ninety miles an hour. And who
is there to say that this will not be
accomplished? If twenty-five years
ago any one had asserted that it would
be possible for men in New York and
Chicago to converse with each other
over wire, that man would have been
thought a visionary; yet that is what
is now being done every day. Mile
and-a-half- "a minute speed for railway
trains propelled by electricity is not so
much of a dream as a hundred mile
conversation by word of mouth would
have been thought a quarter of CEN
fury ago. Half a dozen or more OF
the great railway systems are already
making Investigations in electrical
traction with view to adopting the
motor in place of the locomotive. In
Germany a railway motor that will
pull three cars at the speed of more
than seventy-five miles an hour has
been perfected.
Ten years ago it required two men to
drill hole in rock in the quarry,
one to WELD the hammer and the other
to hold the drill. Now one man oper-
ates an electric drill and does ten
times the amount of work; and both
the hammer wielder and the drill hold
er of former times are now operating
electric drills. In a hundred different
ways electricity has supplanted the La
Dor of men and animals. and in every
instance, Mr.. Brady says. it has been
to the very great advantage of both
man and beast. While production has
been cheapened, the field for employ
ment has been enormously enlarged.
Electrical development has made it
possible to transmit and utilize hun
dreds OF thousands of horse
power of energy that has here
tofore gone to waste. The water
falls that have for untold ages
been tumbling idly over their preci-
pices may now be put to work and
made to supply light, heat and power
for factories and communities even
miles distant. One of the most pro-
missing lines of development is in this
matter of Harvesting the countrys
waterfalls to electricity generators. In
Georgia, it is safe to say, there are
waterfalls capable of developing hun
dreds of thousands of horsepower
Some of these have already been set
to work, and others are being brought
in from time to time. BY means of
them ii will be possible to plant fac
tories in places where they would not
otherwise have been made profitable,
and to give towns and villages the
benefits of electric lights, electric rail-
ways and other appliances of modern
| progress.