The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1906-02-01
MAKES NATION RICH.
ELECTRICITY AN IMPORTANT
FACTOR IN PROSPERITY.
Great Growth of Industries and Fa-
cilitation of Mechanical Prog.
rsss Through Its
Agency.

- chtV
When people buy, business is gooc,
and people are now buying and busi-
ness is good throughout this country
and Europe. There is no tulip craze
of chasing after idealiti-e but pur-
chases are made to an extent whicn
taxes tue productive resources Of
manutacurin2 s,aol,shm nts, whose
output Is generally sold far in ad-
TAlce.
It is evident. SAYS the Electrical
Review. t..; tLc Glance Of the mere
ment of The prulGciive capacity or
humanity Is increasing, and this aug.
mentation of the average potentiality
of the individual is the only measure
of this enlarged difference between
production and consumption which
constitutes the increase of prosperity.
1t must not be overlooked that ma
terlal possessions have not been de-
stroyed in these territories by wars or
extensive fires. Both of these ami.
hilations Of value have been forerun-
ners of financial crises; other losses
are mere transfers Of property.
II does not ansyer the proposition
to attribute this fortunate commercial
condition to machinery, for there have
been no radical improvements in meth.
ods of manufacture or transportation
OF freights by land or sea during the
last twenty-five years sufficient to in.
troduce materially different economic
conditions.
The term "labor.saving machinery"
Is largely a misnomer, for while the
reduction OF hours of labor in the
face Of the increased number of work.
ers among growing populations has
been compassed by the combined ap.
plication of improved machinery ana
modern methods Of organization, yet
the function of machinery has served
to increase production and to facil,
which quickens the luxuries of one
generation into the necessities of
he next.
II there is now an increased sur.
plus without any recent evidence or
a corresponding addition to the rate
Of individual production, or any dr.
minution of consumption OF living ex.
penses, then Il is among the wastes
of recent years that search must be
made 70 the cause of this increment.
The first analysis reveals the solution,
and that is in the service of electricity
applied to mankind, which has cut
down wastes which were hitherto un.
avoidable.
The trolley railway service, particu.
larly in suburban travel, enables peo-
pie to live on cheaper land, in cheaper
houses. or in comparison with the
same sites of habitations has dimin.
ished the unproductive time in travel.
ing to and from their work There are
many people employed in New York
whose travelling time has been reduced
two hours day, by methods of inter.
urban transit, made possible only by
electricity. The use OF the telephone
is still the basis of wonderful anec.
dotes OF how persons save days OF
travel about a city by a few locaf
calls. Through the service of this IN.
strument, or rather the system or
which IL Is the nucleus, many OF the
vast army Of messengers have been
assigned to directly productive EN-.
ployments.
The vertical railway, as Otis Tufts
properly entitled his invention of the
passenger elevator sufiiced to make
commercial buildings exceed three
stories in height, but II is held that
the modern skyscraper could not be
used to house its thousands devoteo
to the intensities of commercial at
fairs within its score or more stories,
had II not been for the facilities Oh
communication afforded by the tele.
phone service. because there is not
sufficient room in such buildings for
elevators adequate to transport tho
number OF messengers which would
otherwise be necessary for communica,
ton between these Offices and their
clients. -.e..s..4
The condition of messengers in place
Of telephone service In a skyscraper
represents a hypothetical aspect akin
to that of the substitution Of oarsmen
for the propulsion Of a steamship in
which they would far exceed the Ca.
pacity of the vessel. as 1t would re-
quire 100000 men working in eigh.
hour relays to produce the 10000
horsepower used on the large Atlantic
liners. II has been found In the course
Of studies by municipal engineers upon
the sidewalk capacity OF cities. that
the facility of communication afford
ed by the telephone has diminished
the relative number of persons walk.
ing in the business districts of cities
during Office hours. The work OF
these specialists has been directed 10
providing means for abating the con.
gestion at the beginning and end OF
working hours. and electricity is ap
piled again TO methods of rapid transit
at these loralities by introducing as
many points of departure as possible
within these congested districts.
For long-distance travel the tele
phone is substitute which has added
TO productiveness in the measure To
which the time that would otherwise
be occupied in travelling may be de
voted TO profitable employment. Oh
electric illumination in its especial ap
plication. wherever the difference be
tween daylight and other methods oi
lighting impaired or even stopped ac
curate lines OF work we are without
anolaov aluava daaca utiup and ahaI