The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-12-26
VERGE Of ELECTRIC EPOCH
WORLD WILL SOON SEE DIRECT
PROCESS OF POWER FROM
COAL.
Edison Says Wonders Are Yet to b,
.unfoIded IN the World ,of EIec-
trieity.

NEW YORK, Dec. 26.-In the opin-
ion OF Thomas A. Edison, wonders are
yet to be unfolded in the world of cleo
tricity.
We are cropping on the verge of an
other great epoch in the worlds his
tory" he said in an interview at his
laboratory in West Orange, N. ]. ut
would not surprise me any morning to
wake up and learn that someone, some
group Of 100000 scientific men who are
investigating all over the world, has
seized upon the secret of electricity
by direct process and begun another
practical revolution in human affairs.
1T can be. done; it will be done. i
expect to see it before 1 die.
Abolish Coal Carrying.
''Tne first great change in the pro-
ductiOn of electricity will abolish the
carrying of coal for that purpose" he
said. Instead of digging gross ma
terial out Of the earth, loading it on
cars and carrying it, say 500 miles, on
railroads, there to put it under a boil
er and burn, and SO get power, we shell
set up plants at the mouths of mines,
generate power there and transmit it
wherever it is needed by copper wire.
1T is preposterous to keep on put
ting coal mines on wheels It is toe
clumsy. 1t is too costly. There is no
necessity for it. 1t is easier to carry
molecular vibration by millions of tiny
waves a second than freight cars full
Of crude matter. We can ship 100, 900
horsepower over the wire quicker and
more economically than we can send
the equivalent in coal over a railroad
tracE
Eliminate the Railroad.
I'VE must eliminate the railroad al
together from this problem. What's
the use of it? We don't want coal any,
how. 1t does us no good to look at it.
What we want is the resultant of the
utmost energy that can be produced
And there is no sense in carrying
around millions of tons of raw mate
rial like coal when we can get a pro-
duct delivered to us by wire.
Everything points to the fact that
in the near future electricity will be
produced for general consumption by
great powerhouses at the mouths of
coalpits. That is the logical and the
common-sense outcome of present
events.
"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 81 at the mouth
of the mine and assume the freight
to be 81 80. Now, we can turn coal
into electricity at the mine and con-
vey it by wire at less than half of the
cost Of the freightage of coal.
Away With Horses.
electricity will take the place OF
the horse. 1t will solve the vehicle and
traffic problem of cities. My new cleo
trio storage battery itself will make
cheaper than horses. In the
spring we will be ready to furnish new
batteries. Not only will they take
half the space of horse traffic, but
they will go twice as fast. They can
be stored on upper floors by means OF
elevators. The saving of stable space
in New York will cover at least $780,
100000 worth of property.
mot only will electric power be de-
vedopel and distributed from Goa.
mines in the future, but all the water
power in the world will be used for the
production of electricity. That move
ment has begun and is advancing very
rapidly. In California where men nave
nerve enough to overcome habit, they
are transmitting electrical power 27s
miles by wire and running street
and lighting cities by it. That is the
sort of spirit that will wake the world
up one of these days. I wish that spirit
in California would spread ever
ywhere.'