The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-01-25
IF ELECTRICITY FAILED.
Modern Metropolitan Life Would Be
come Chaos, Saws a thinker"

Did you ever stop TO think, asked
the man who is always thinking how
dependent people are on modern inven-
| tons? We just press the button and eX-
pect something else to do the rest and
II the something else failed we would be
| lost
There's electricity. for instance. We
! don't even know what il is yet Thirty
years ago it hadn't begun to be used. eX-
cept in an experimental sort of way by
the scientists. Now there's scarcely any
thing we do that don't call in electricity
to help us.
Just think what would happen here
IN New York if electricity should sud
denly go out of business some fine day.
Don't need to bother about how that
might happen, because l don't suppose
it's likely that il will happen. But sup
pose that II should. that there should
pc some atmospheric disturbance,
brought on perhaps by our old friend
Bela's comet getting too close, or by
some other disposition of the planets
that might upset the atmospheric phe-
nomena-where would we be?''
The listener not being disposed to ven
tHre prophecy based on the hypothesis
thus presented, the ''wonderer' proceed
ed:
The whole city would be thrown into
a state of panic. Lights would go out
and Easements and inside rooms where
electricity is used for Illuminating would
be in darkness. The inmates would pour
forth into the streets. where no longer
trolley or other electric cars would be
moving, and which would soon be seeth-
ing with their congested human traffic
FANCY what that would mean, The
elevated roads are hardly now able to
handle the citys travel, and the few
horse cars and the 10000 or so of cab
men would help but little in the emer-
gency- They might, il is true do some
thing in Manhattan. but what would he
the plight OF Brooklyn, wnere the troll
ley cars are universal?
Then the telegraph and the telephones
would be silent, and nobody would know
what was taking place in the rest of the
world or in the rest of the city. That
didn't seem so bad when people expected
nothing else. but it would nightly upset
matters now.
There would be a panic on the ex-
changes such as no Black Friday ever
witnessed. Brokers and spectators
would rush about i'm a wild delirilIm and
the silent tickers would give no hint of
what they ought to do or what the rest
OF the world was doing
Fires might break out in every part
or the great city and still the alarm
saunders IN the stations would emit no
warning alarm. Incipient blazes might
grow into mighty CONGREGATIONS and only
a faint stream or two from some near
by hydrant would play upon their Ieaping
flames"
The thinking man paused a moment.
says the New York Times, as though in
dNesome contemplation of the diresOme
happenings. Then he resumed. in some
what different vein:
And the beastly Inconvenience of it,
The man with the office at the top of the
tWenty-story building would be taking
more strenuous exercise climbing nm and
down. instead of riding in an elevator
than he had contemplated since gradu-
ating from the football field Even
mayoralty candidate getting up at a.
m. ana swinging Indian clubs and dumb
bridge would not be I'm It with him.
ARD the fellow who had been I'D late
the night before and had headache and
pushed the button for a-well, a pitcher
the ring that didn't ring, and would
have 70 dress without it.
There was a note of sadness in the
voice OF the thinking man, and Just
10 make sure that the button bsd NOT
reached that stage vet he reached across
the cafe table and pressed it.