The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-17
TO WAKE WORLD
GoNDERFUL GLIMPSE INTO ELEC. TRICITY,s FUTURE BY EDISON.
Rroaucea Without steam Magic Impulse Wul Change All Means of Trnf- nc--Across ocean in Three
 Days and Flying ships.

Days and Flying ships.
 New York Letter to Chicago Chronicle.
 Thomas A. Edison declared today that before his death he would see the worlds electricity produced by direct process---without tho intervention or steam---and with that discovery the so- lution of the problem of aerial naVl- gafion and ocean vessels crossing the Atlantic in three days time,
 we are groping on tho verge of an- other great epoch in the worlds ms tory" he said. Tt would not surprise me any morning to wake up and learn that some one or some group of the 100000 scientific men who arc investi- eating all over tho earth has. seized the secret of electricity by direct pro cess and begun another practical revo- lotion of human affairs. It can De Z done. It will be done. l expect to sec tt before I die.
 MT. Edison and his interviewer were aittinr in the little bare compartment at the end of his chemical laboratory at Llewellyn Park. one of huddle or brick buildings, the wonder theater of the alternate damnotions and saliva tions of one of the very foremost men in the history of human invention.
 Makes Prophecy Confidential
 Mr. Edison sat in an unpainted wood- en chair, leaning against rough wood en bench, his back to the window, his great, sensitive face in the shadow ana light shining through his tousied. pic furesuue mass of hair, nimbuslike. one hand shaded and half supported the wide, full forehead and the other lay inert in his lap. The strong. fine mouth, 70 human and expressive. was purseu up uervously and the shadow Of prom ecy was in the kindly eyes. gazing as though at something beyond the dusty wall.
 For a moment his glance ranged through tho open doorway into vista of riass bulbs and tunnels and twisted tubes and strange retorts and nery os- ens with all the diablorie Of Fnsue- like flames of violet and scarlet ana breeding, sulphurous mists and every thinr of tho chemists mysterious in strumentalities.
 No Need to Carry Coal.
 ssThe first great change in the pro auctfon of electricity will abolish the carrying of coal for that purpose. he said. 'Instead of digging gross ma terial out of the earth, loading II on cars and carrying it, say. 800 miles, shers to nut it under a boiler. burn it and so get power. we shall set up plants at the mouths of the mines. gem crate the power there and transmit IL wherever 1t Is needed by copper wires
 Tt is preposterous to Keep on put
  too clumsy. It Is too costly. There is no necessity for 1t. Tt is easier to carry molecular vibration--millions or waves A second than freight cars full of crude matter. We can ship lO,ooo horse power over .wire quicker anu more economically than we can send the equivalent in coal over a railroad track.
 sAn Enslishman told me little while ago that he intended to set up a power station on the Thames. bring down coal by barges and sell electric power to London. said to him, How foolish! Why not run a copper wire between London and the coal mines and develop your power where the coal is? If you build that power station 1t will be obsolete inside of fifteen years.
 Railroads Not in the Problem.
 "We must eliminate the railroad al- together from this problem. What's the use Of it? We don't want the coal anyhow. It does us no good to look at it. What we want is the resultant, the utmost energy that can be pro- duced And there Is no sense in carry ing around millions of tons of raw ma ferfai like coal when we can get It's product delivered to us by wire.
 ("Everything points to tho fact that in sahe near future electricity will be pro- duced for general consummation in great power-h houses at the mouths of the coal pits. That is the logical and comon sense outcome of present events. The present method of doing things Is merely a matter of habit. It's sim ply wonderful to observe how habit controls man and how it sometimes de- lays great reformations even in practi- cal affairs. This system of carrying coal from the mines for the purpose of producing electricity somewhere else is habit. Habit is the greatest foe to progress and invention.
 Emxf af Hah
 The great majority of men are con- trolled by habit. They have always seen a thing done one way and that way seems to them the only way. But there are some of us who have a little of the spirit of evolution and we bother and trouble the others by not letting them alone.
 Now, the truth Is that it will cost a third less to transport electrical power by wire than to carry it in the form of coal in railroad cars. Assume the price of coal to be $1 at the mouth of the mine and convey 1t by wire at less than half the cost of the freightage of coal.
 aso, in years to come, the great cleo tric power plants will be set up in the coal fields. Electric power will largely do away with steam power. Electric light will become cheaper than gas
 Fl believe firmly all great trunk rail- road lines will go to. electricity inside of fifteen years. I don't mean simply passenger traffic. but heavy freight traffic also. Within twenty years steam will be out of fashion for railways as shorses for street cars today.
 Men Slow to Take New Ideas.
 MT. Edison threw back his broad shoulders and clasped his hands behind his head. Tilting back his chair and crossing his legs he looked at the cell ing intently and then a curious smile came over his splendid countenance.
 Its curious to sec how long ittakes men to get in motion when anything new turns up," he said. And 1t doesn't