Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-07-31

earth. An inventor, scientist, be-
lleves that there Is a vast amount of
electricity outside the zone OF the
earth's gravitation, and experiments
are carried ON to prove that such is
the case.
at is evident from this simile, that
man, by the Whitney process, can OBJ
tain at any point where he operates
the aerial electric ladder all the
electricity he cares to have at that
place at no expense but that involved
in the conduit, just as the fishes could
have all the air they desired at any
point at the bottom OF the water at 10
rother outlay than that involved 10
their conduit.
" There can be no doubt that Colo
RADIO could be made vast provider OF
electric power for all the region with.
in possible transportation distance,
Becau.e OF the favorable attitudes SO
numerous in the State, it will be
easier and cheaper to procure electric
power by the Whitney process in
Colorado than anywhere else in the
civilized world-from two to three
miles of the earth's strongest pull
being escaped by the operations of the
Whitney ladders in the accessible alti-
tudes OF the State.
"a ladder at Pixies Peak would,
with quite a thin wire, supply all the
electricity needed for heat, light and
power in the mining regions, Pueblo,
Colorado Springs, Denver and sur
rounding towns and could, undoubt-
edly, be transported to all of them
from single ladder. In cities, like
Chicago the Whitney method will
have the two or three miles of pull
near the sea level, escaped in Colorado,
to overcome. But this is u question
simply OF expense aud not at all of
mec hanical difficulty. The Whitney
people have their land already bought
IN Chicago for their plant there
eight acres on the North side.
"Of course, many criticisms are ex-
pected to be made upon the feasibility
of the Whitney method of obtaining
electricity. Many of these will come
from the capital to be adversely af-
fected by the Invention"
Mr.. Schoonmaker says that when he
was reporting the progress made by
Edison in his attempts to solve the
electric light problem, celebrated
scientists made bigger fools of them
selves trying to prove that Edison's
efforts were futile than any one is
likely to do in opposing Whitneys
plans. One chronological college
president, still presiding and teaching,
went so far as TO demonstrate that
Manhattan island could not be light
ed by the incandescent light because
there was not enough copper in the
world to furnish the needed wire
Copper was then q semi precious
metal, the Western deposits being un-
known, As it would have to be l3 feet
inches thick 1t Bowling Green and
taper on the way to Harlem by the
amount taken up in the offshoots.
The difficulty then was that the pro-
fessors were reasoning from An aban-
doned ground, while Edison was on
entirely new ground.
1t is claimed by some that Whitney
will not be able to control the elec-
tricity when he brings it down from
the heavens, but this Is explained by
the fact that the amount of electric
trcity which q wire of given dimen-
sions can conduct is definitely known
and the electricity which comes
through that wire will not be greater
than can be taken care Of. Another
objection to the theory is that this
great mass OF electricity would draw
away from the earth what electricity
there is already on the earth. This
was answered by Mr.. Schoonmaker in
this way:
The earth is only small body
in this great electric current which
flows through space. When this cur
rent strikes the atmosphere of the
earth it is DETECTED around the earth.
But if wire were run into the cur
rent would flow directly through the
wire down to the earth. just as if
you had an island in the middle of q
stream. The water flows around the
island, but if you run q conduit out
into the water, the water will run
through the conduit on to the island
and will not draw out what water
there is already on the island"
The inventor has obtained patents
in all the countries of the world. He
is also said to have secured the CO.
operation of the leading scientific
bodies, having explained his plan to
them at length.
The conditions imposed by the
various bodies interested are that the
tests must be made in q latitude far
enough south to permit human en-
deavor continuously with comfort; as
high as possible, and, with such fa-
cilities for conveyance as will enable
the experimenters to transport to and
from the site very heavy machinery.
Colorado has been selected because
all of the conditions are to be met
with at the highest altitude in the
world, it being possible to carry on
the demonstration in Colorado i'll sew
eral places from 2 to p miles above
the sea level.
Mr.. Schoonmaker has been en-
gagged purely on scientific grounds to
select the site, because of his familiar
ity with the geography and topog-
raphy of Colorado, and because OF his
long familiarity with modern develop
ment OF electrical science.
The accompanying explanation and
argument is made wholly on the au-
thority of those who are interested in
the enterprise.
The Whitney school OF electricians,
by series OF experiments carried on
for upwards of twenty-five years have
ascertained that at q height but few
thousand feet above the altitude of
Pixies Peak an object weighs but one
third OF what the same object weighs
at sea level. If this be true, it is
matter easily within calculation at
what point the object ceases TO have
any weight at all. In other words,
these experiments prove that at
height not very far above the sea and
not easily reached by any human me-