The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-12-26
OF GENIUS.

sidered so "a perfection as it is pos
sible for anything the creation of man
to be is discarded by those of today
as %antiquated and useless, to give way
for the production of the night. In
no field calling for the exercise of
the genius of invention, perhaps, are
the same attractions to be found as
are held out in the domain of electric
ity-that indefinable. Incompetent
sive force of nature, which although
bridled and made to serve man is
still understood by none and remains
the same mysterious "fuid' as it was
in the days when Benjamin Franklin
few his kite and Morse sen his first
Geographic message. The uses to
Which it is put are SO many as to be
almost numberless. Daring men are
constantly adding to the number and
no matter how impossible and improb-
able may seem the prediction in re-
gard to the next use to which the
unknown power shall be put. the
prophet no longer the derision
of the people. They have come to I'M
derstand the potentiality of the pow
er it is purposed to employ.
Forty-five years ago when Cyrus w.
Field undertook to connect the old
and new worlds with a thread of wire
that should act as a means of intelli-
gent communication between them,
wise men and sensible declared the
undertaking to be impossible, a mere
chimera of a mind rendered enthus-
iastic over something that it could
not comprehend. 1t is true his first
attempt proved a failure and the
prophets of evil seemingly were
justified. But one failure did not pre-
vent other trials from being made and
success was finally achived. Since
then oceanic t%elegraphy has become
one of the common and indispensable
things of the world. To have suggest
ed then that the time would ever
come when the same communication
could be maintained without the use
of a wire would have subjected the
one making it to ridicule even more
severe than that which followed the
span the Atlantic with an electric
thread. Yet it has been done and that
successfully, if we are to believe the
reports that come to us from the lit
tie town of Glaze Bay away up on
! Cape Breton. Like all inventors who
have succeeded. Marconi scored many
failures in his efforts to make wire
less t~elegraphy the success he de-
| clared it could be made, but he perse-
! vered and is now in the full enjoy
ment of the satisfaction and glory that
comes to everyone who adds to the
worlds comfort and convenience. In.
stead Of being able to transmit a mere
character, as he did on the occasion
of his first experiment, made a year
ago, he is credited with successfully
and rapidly sending a complete mes
sage across the same expanse of water
to the men awaiting it's reception at
the other end of his Zine"
Wireless transoceanic telegraphy
seems to be an assurance, an accom-
Dlishment now and apparently the day
has come when the cable must take
the same place to which was relegat
ed long ago the old tape and cumber
some appliances in use when tele
graphy had not attained it's present
approximate perfection. 1t is not put
ting it too strong, in view of the de
velopments during the few days tina,
have passed since it's shore end was
laid at San Francisco, to predict tha'
the new cable now being laid across
the Pacific may within a very shor
time subserve no more useful pur
pose than a toy for the fishes ant
monsters that inhabit the depths. L
the truth has been told concerning
Marconi's success at Glace Bay thel
it is very evident that the money
spending in the construction of tn,
cable is a mere waste and that M
practical good will ever come from it
much less will it prove the source o
profit and convenience expected whel
the projectors of the enterprise frs
conceived the idea now rapidly be
coming an actuality.
The nearer draws the time for the
legislature to the more in