The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-05-01
EDIs0N's PROPHECIES.
1903 Will Be a Year of Won
derful Progress.
GREAT PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED,

~
The Wizard Has Much Faith In Mar
conf and Wireless Telegraphy-Ex-
poets to See Electricity S%upplnnt
Steam as Motive Power In a Few
Year.-Medicine Played Out-Germ
of Old Age May BE Discovered.
Thomas A. Edison, the great invent
OF, makes the following statement in
the New York World:
1.-THE great problems Of the year are
the problems Of fighting bacteria. Of
getting electricity direct from coal, Of
getting power from the elements cheap
ly and In applying the many uses Of
electricity to manufactures.
II look for a wonderful year. There
is more activity in science than there
has ever been before, more men are
working on big problems and great dis
coveries would be only natural.
For myself. my storage battery. on
which ! have worked four years, will
be put on the market in January. 1t
solves the traction problem. and It's In
PRODUCTION means that the horse will
have to go.
II expect to give up practical inven.
ton for two years. l am going to ex.
periment-goins to delve in some prob
lens that l have put by for an idle
time and for ono am going to work
without having the production of a
commercial commodity in view. l am
going into the byways of science. l
prefer not to say what my experiments
will be. Yes, trying to get electricity
direct from coal Is one Of them.
"The wireless biography l %assuredly
expect to see perfected for commercial
purposes, If not fully SO in 1908 at least
advanced toward that end. The right
kind Of man is working at it, a prac-
teal man, an earnest man, and l have
confidence In him. AS to the objection
that messages may be tapped, that's az
far as the DIRECTORS can see now. That
may be true tonight; tomorrow it may
be different
I'm not interested in the flying ma.
chine. l could never see any CONNER
cial use for it. l have never had time
to read much about it.
~ expect to see electricity supllant
steam as a motive power. In fifteen
years electricity will be the railway
motive power, Nineteen hundred and
three will advance it in that direction.
Nineteen hundred and three will
bring great advances in surgery, In the
study Of bacteria, in the knowledge Of
the cause and prevention Of disease
Medicine Is played out. Every new
discovery Of bacteria shows us all the
more convincingly that we have been
wrong and that the million tons Of stuff
we have taken was all useless. They
may even discover the germ Of old age.
l don't predict 1t, but it might be that by
the sacrifice of animal life human life
could be prolonged. The doctor of the
future will give NJ medicine, but will
instruct his patient in the care Of the
human frame, in diet and in the cause
and prevention Of diseases.
Surgery, diet, antiseptics-these three
are the vital things of the future in the
preservation Of the health of human
ity. There were never so many able.
active minds at work on the problems
OF disease as now, and all their discov-
cries are tending to the simple truth
that you can't improve on nature.
"The newspapers are among the
great agents that will grow better in
1908 and in the years to zone. They
are the great school. A man who does
not read the newspapers might as well
be dead. They are a powerful infu-
ence for advancement. They are get
ting better, they are printing more sci.
ence and paying more attention to the
things that benefit and improve hu.
mainly.
There will be few more wars. The
world seems to be tending to peace
We should have a great navy, IN three
times as large as the present-not tc
fight, but to have ready in case there
should be a fight. A great navy is one
Of the greatest stimulants to science.
I'VE are only in the infancy Of cleo
tricity. Its possibilities 10 mar car
dream any more than a man fifty years
ago could have foretold what we have
today. Little discoveries like the Roent
gen and the Becquerel rays and SINH
lar things will lead to great things
what, cannot be told just now.
"As to books. the books Of today arr
more to my liking than the old books
It is so with painting. 1t is a great
time. Great things are being done, and
it is impossible to prophesy. Better
health, greater enlightenment, better
facilities Of living, are being placed II
our reach with every day. I look for 8
wonderful year of progress"
Hands Across the Sea.
The United States contributed in s
fine to the Christmas Joys o.
the old world, says a Washington dis
patch to the New York Tribune. Chic,