davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-26

7 can { imagine any tIIlIls IllVI
factory remarked the chronic klckeI'
s'than a meal at our boarding house
MOP" replied the sentimental youth
Evidently you never got a kiss from your
best girl over the telephone. r hliaoel-
phia Ledger.
The Washington times., 1906-06-03

thousands. 40 beIrg the limit of the
former. while. IN emergency. the lines
FUN power Of from 1000 20 $50 can be
turned into a single trolley or third
rail- car"
Adopting Mr.. Steinmetz's view OF the
probabilities OF electric traction in the
rather near future. a Journey begin
ming at any one OF our greater cities.
such as Boston, Chicago. New York.
or Philadelphia. VIII be made for the
hrst two OF three hundred miles behind
an electric locomotive; then, for other
hundreds OF miles behind a steam To-
comotive. while the last stage Of the
journey may be made on board a caso-
line-electric train or car. Regular cleo
the roads are sure 10 prevail in noun
tain regions where there is any con-
siderable traffic. however. In such
regions water power is plentiful. Rnd
by using the alternating current with
widely separated power houses. will he
cheaIly available for electric railroad
ing purposes
Steinmetz does not look for any great
immediate lmpTON Crnent OF The storage
battery II now hes its proper feId
OF usefulness. but II is strictly limited.
The Washington times., 1906-06-03
Nitrogen From the Atmosphere

'They have already learned how TO
extract nitrogen from the air cheap
y. though not cheap enough as YET 10
compete with oSher sources. Nitro
gen in some form IS ore of TIE worlds
greatest needs today.
Without it for fertilizing the soil
would become exhausted and barren,
and this is almost as true in America
as in the Old World. The oldest farms
here are young compared with those
IN Europe. yet the European farmers
have been so careful % give back to
the soil. in the shape of manure. the
elements which have been taken away
in the form OF croPs that snn ex-
haustion is not much nearer there
lhan here Down u date the saltpeIre
beds Of South America and few other
sources furnish fertilizers cheaper
than they can now be electrically ex-
traeted, but undoubtedly the electro
clans will be able TO secure an un-
limited supply of fertilizers from the
The Washington times., 1906-06-03

air az practical prices whenever the
world shall demand it"
Would such extensive extraction Of
nitrogen make a sensible change in
the composition Of the atmosphere
ever tuallyZ''
Fossibly- The quantity Of free nitro
gen in the air IS practically incompre-
hensibie. there being almost four times
as much nitrogen as oxygen. but
there has been 10 change IN historic
times. In making nitric acid from the
Htr-nitrlc acid being the form IN
which nitrogen is generally obtained
"A good deal more oxygen than nitro
gen is distracted. 1t is supposed. but
not known, that nature renews the
two gases in their proper proportion.
II IS conceivable that ultimately the
extraction Of gases from the air might
render II unit 70 support either ami
nal or plant life as We know those
phenomena
"It Is believed that there have been
great changes in the composition Of
the Air; that IN the remote past Il
was such that man could not have
breathed It and lived Everything in
nature changes; there IS no reason TO
believe that universal change Will
not continue"
The Washington times., 1906-06-03

hook. either; but I argued that most
of the people in the world were lust
as green as / was.
After I'd been buying those things
from a concern for a while 7 con
ciuded that | would get cameras OF
my own and begin TO make them
myself. | real-y felt that there was
merit in those pictures. 1. myself
had always wanted to travel and
when | looked at those stereograph
pictures | felt that l was ght on
the spot. When | went out canvass
ing / saw that they pleased people,
and | felt that what pieased people
could be sold 10 them In a little
while / took my brother in with ne
left my father TO I'll the orders
that were sent III Just we three
worked this business then And do
yCu now, AeHtlemeu," coHUinue,i ...,s
silk buyer, that this very yokel Of
a Kansas grocery clerk today en-
ploys from three 10 I'VE thousand
agents. Hundreds Of young men in
this country today are making their
way through nine months Of school
inS by spending three months Of
their time during the summer L sell
Ing these ste-eographs? They give
satisfaction and they last for a long
time, hdt the factory is continually
maAiLs new subjects, just as the
Publishing house is always making
CIV books. He has branch houses all
over the world. Yes. sir; the thing in
manufacturing S TO make something
that gives satisfaction and on which
you can repeat"
We'll. that fellow stuck to his
business" remarked the speciality
manufacturer.
Yes. and sticking 70 u is one OF
the things that will help TO win" re-
piled the shoe merchant
Yes, sure" spoke up Watkins,
looking straight at Joaunis Carolian-
us-and perhaps obeyirE a request of
the college boys attending
TO business will help 10 build a busi-
ness; but at the same time there's
no use in a man eterna;Iy drudging.
The business man is the man Of all
The Washington times., 1906-06-03

what they could to entertain the
stranger, and succeeded so well that
he reproached himself for his former
unworthy feeling toward these honest,
suileless souls. and determined that his
neighbors should know how unjust ana
uncalled for their prejudice was
Next morning he arose early, intend
ing 10 depart as soon as possible, and
cover long distance before night But
there was no sign of breakfast. and II
was some time before he could find any,
one about the shanty. AT last he saw a
little girl dcdging around ont in the tim
Der, who said in response TO his ques.
uons-when he could get within haillng
distance-that "Pap's done gone off over
the mountains. and MANS done gone Off
down the holler, an they amt nobody
at home or but just me-"
Cant I get ncy breakfast2''
They hain't nuthin' cooked"
Cant YOU cook something?"
They hain't nuthin' TO cook"
Have my horses been fed?"
Dunno"
We'll. l don't understand this way OF
doing business. I'll feed and 20 on
When he reached the stable he under
stood. Horses, saddles. and bridl were
gone. The scheme had Deen to get thu
reward and steal the horse again. When
he rode mp on another horse. there was
that muSh more for them. They had
kept him so busy the night bctore that
he had neglected TO look after them. AMI
all the while he was feeling ashamed az
himself his stock was hot-footing 10 Vir-
ginia.
The Washington times., 1906-06-03

inventor. then, who should devise new
forms Of furnaces or boilers that
would conserve more Of the coal energy
now wasted would be Of the greatest
possible value 10 the development OF
electricity.
Suppose that 70 per cent OF the Goals
enerEy is now seCured-which isn't rhe
case-and that the inventor I have i'm
agined should learn how 70 save 10
per cent more. or 60 per cent IN all.
he would add 50 per cent to the power
available from the burning OF what
coal the world has left. But the in
Nentor who should add another 10 Der
cent 20 the 50 per cent OF the power
given 70 II which IS already conserved
by the electric Juice, would add only
one-e!Shth. or l2l2 per cent TO the tota.
available power of coal"
Steinmetz does not think It will ever
be prohta Die 10 use the power Of wind
mills, developed when there is plenty Of
wind. and storing the surplus current
in storage batteries so as 10 have q
steady power.
The power Of the wind IS relative
ly so weak" said he, that a vast
number Of windmills, covering much
space. would be required 10 deveIop
any power worth while. the windmills
would be getting out OF order constant
y and il would cost too much 10 keen
them in repair.
Big storms would often wreck them
and there would be such long caIms
that the largest practicable storage
batteries would fail. The storage bat
teries would be troublesome and ex-
peEsive- Electric power could be got
by burning trees planted for the pur-
pose. once fuel forests have been well
established. more economically than by
thefUSe of windmills"
w hat about the manufacture and
distribution OF the current for the use
OF the farmers, IN saving wood. thresh-
ms grain. cutting fodder and the like?
1T is perfectly feasible. Motors can
De and are made so simple that the in
teiligent American farmer can use
them much easier than he can use a
steam engine I do not know that
there has been any such electrical de-
NeIopment so far. but il is practically
certain 10 come. after the necessary
educaGon OF the electrical engineer
ana the farmer has been accomplished
Copyright, 1906. by Dexter AIarshauD
The Washington times., 1906-06-03
Value of Water Power.

He thinks the development Of water
power for the production Of the magic
juice has only begun. Whether the
electric current produced by water
power viii be more generally utilized
at distance or near the power house,
as at Niagara. will depend mainly on
transportation facilities
he works Of the General Electric
Company. of which he is the consult
ing expert on all practical electric
Questions, receive much OF the current
~ith which the machinery is kept IN
motion from the great power plant at
Spiers Falls. on the upper Hudson.
miles away. and the loss OF power in
transmission Is OF small consequence.
Loss OF power in transmission is not
serious anyway. but the first cost OF
establishing a long line for transmits
sion and the subsequent interest
charges thereon have always to be
considered Il the West much longer
transmission lines can be run profit
ably Than IN the East. because or the
higher price Of coal West than East,
which counterbalances the interest
charges on long transmission lines.
This is practically the only reason
why the West leads in the lergth Of
Iortatlon OF product TO market is es-
senual 10 the success OF any manu-
featuring enterprise. and IL would not
pay TO locate WORKS OF any Kind tar
enough away from trunk line trans
portation to increase materially The
freight charges.
Steinmetz believes that Niagara as a
Spectacle is bound 10 vanish: that The
development OF It's water power has
already progressed much too far 10
De stopped. and that the day is at
hand when practically all the water
now roaring over the great ledge will
De harEessed in turbines and dUing Its
share of the worlds work
Ste.nmetz also believes that the plan
proposed tor the utilization Of the old
acknowledgement of coal mine
re use-for the production of electric
ify at The mires. is bound TO be worked
Gu, IN the rot very distant future So
also. he thinks. may the plan for build
ing great power plants at the mines
To- the production CT he current from
the freshly mined coal Such plants
VIII be bu.'- wherever maintenance of
the transmission line is less costly
The Washington times., 1906-06-03

clerk and had been dore by a snsgged
book agent. let himself get If in the
neck again, as one OF these stereo-s
what's the name, John7'
"Sterecgraphs." supple ed Joannis
Carolianus.
Yes. as one Of these stereogrsph
agents handed him bunch of those
things. But the rube went dosp
into Arkansas again and had the
greatest success selling the pictures.
The business at that tine was Oh
the bottle. but the very fellow ~ rsed
this business carefully and today Is
nal ing. in connection with his part
ners. a hundred thoasand a year He
travels in foreign lands. and mis- W ge
tales along a nurse for the young
ster5.
I've often laughed when he told
me how and why he started in I
knew s31d he to me. that / was as
green as a cymling, but when that
smooth agent showed me those
things. he fanged me in the roof
the mouth and couldn't get of the
The Washington times., 1906-06-03

amount 10 anything? Still. that
firms cleaning up bushels of money
every year OF course, there's an
element cf flimfam in the business,
The stuff viii straighten out the
kinks all right-but after week or
two they will come back again"
THAT is a good thing for any
business" exclaimed the hat manu-
facturer. 1T makes d continuous de-
mand"
Yes, you're right about that. -
continued the silk h-yer, but it
would be better still to male some
thing that Will last and give perma-
nent satisfaction and meets a gen
uine demand on the part Of the gen
eral public"
Now. | know Of a man who used
tc be a clerk in a grocery store n
Kansas. He had saved up about a
hundred dollars when q stranded
boo agent struck has town and un-
loaded on him a hundred dollars
worta OF COOS boo..s. Inc agent plc-
tured in glowing terms the amount
OF money this grocery CLERK could
make out of the book business, at
which the smooth and willy agent
himself had made a fuse.
The sucker bit. He went down in
Arkansas ard cleaned out that bunch
OF booAs inside Of week He made
more money C1al he had made in a
whole month st saooIng flies on
from moiasscs barrels. He bought
another bIacL OF BOOKS and sold
them out and stll another
Inc next sumIIer. he struck a
fellow that was selling these here
parlor picture things-what do you
call 'em7 You pat a sort Of DO
funny up 10 your face and looS
thrOugh two glass eyes that maze
the picture LOOK lie size and have
depth 10 it-just lie the thing IL
SELF"
You mean the sterec-,raph, vol
untecred JOannis Carolianus.
Thank you. John" answ--od his
fathers silk buyer. Yes. sir; this
fellow who had been a r,:oe grocery
The Washington times., 1906-06-03
IA1Z Building Business" By Cherries %M %M ~ S1sydson
Unusual Hnd dGeatpaoh IarnnE e

Yes. and I'll tell you another
thing, spoke up the shoe merchant,
''he hit onto a thing that fits into
the needs Of lots OF people. II
man has a corner ga canary bird
food he can't do as much business az
If he were to have a grip on all the
wheat that grows Everybody eats
bread, but only a. few women buy
bird seed"
But" began the silk buyer.
whenever there's anything like
making bread where it's very plain
to any mind that there will be a
demand for IL. YOU WI always find a
lot of people going into that business.
II is a great deal better TO start up
something on your own hook that
nobody else as, than II Is TO start
IN on something that every body is
using and so into competition with
others. Why. there's a firm out in
Chicago that's doing a busi-~-5 of
nearly half a m llion collars a year
and what do you suppose that busi-
ness IS? They are making a prepar-
alton which is said TO taee Ainzs
olt Of negroes hair Who would
;Sink that a business IT,. e that would
The Washington times., 1906-06-03

want you 10 do something for me.
We We got just 500 in the bank. and
tEe law requires that we have SO00a
I let Ross and Fisher have SIS. 600 Iara
yesterday aItt -Dooa 90 buv Ug thar
GiOSoiI bunch O. cati.e- Tnev i real
tze s4u,eoO in less tndn thirty d,,1s on
the transaction but that won't make
Lay cetsh on hand look any &. ettier 10
C...t bank examiner. Now can-t
s-3"- him those notes. fer they're iusr
Ina.n notes Of hand without any Sc
S&:.'y - siSht, but yUU Enox We Y
wen that Pink Ross and J.m Fisncr
a e t"o OF tne fEest white men COD
ever made, and they'll DO The square
tE-i,S- lou remember Jim hisher-he
Vas Ine one who snct that faro dealer
IL III Paso- 1 wired Sar. AsraQsA4 y 5
bSnk TO send ne Sz0.OCU, a. IL will
SCI IN on the mar. Ow-gauge at 10 50.
~ cant let a bank examiner In 10
cCCat s-.-O0 ana close your doors. Tom.
you cold thai examine Hold him.
uOid hirn II you have 70 rope him
and sit On his head. Watch our front
window after the narrow gauge gets
IN. and when We " got the cash in
side Wen pull down the shade tcr a
The Washington times., 1906-06-03
CONTINUED from First Page)

the big power houses which will be
scattered along every line to be
electrified, though, OF course, each
construction company can build sew
eral at the same time.
After the New York Central and
the Pennsylvania have got their
suburban lines in good working or
der electrically. It will be in order
for the Central to extend the new
traction TO Albany and the Penn
sylvania TO Philadelphia. At these
points the electric locomotives will
be uncorpled from the through
trains and steam locomotives cou-
pied on. Still later Buffalo and
Pittsburg will be the points of
change. 1t is because the extern
sion Of electric traction must in
the nature of things be gradual
that the operation Of trunk line
trains will differ IN one important
way from the runnir- of subway
and elevated trains in the cities.
The Washington times., 1906-06-03
Juice Direct From Coal (? No.

steinmetz does not believe in the
schemes being tried constantly to pro-
duce the electric current directly from
coal at a profit.
The steam engine" he says. is
the most economical apparatus yet
devised 10 transform heat into power
and is likely to remain so. 1t deliv-
ers to the electric wire from 10 10 %
per cent OF the energy Of the coal
consumed in the transformation.
While there is A waste or from so
TO 80 per cent OF energy In changing
coal TO steam. there is a waste Of
only from 10 to % per cent in develop
Ing the power OF the steam. The cleo
'rie current, which. Il must be re-
men1bered. is not a power al all, mere
~ taxing tie power you give it at
one place and delivering il at another.
wastes less IN the operation than any
0lher known transmission agency
Its economy in transmission may be
improved, but probably not much. The
The Washington times., 1906-06-03
A Blessing to the Poor.

But thar day viii not come until
after beth consumers ana current pro-
duosrs have gone through a long and
severe course or education. The manu-
Iacturer ana the public will have 10
learn that electric power is cheaper
than steam and otherwise superior.
then they Will use II IN such increased
quantities that IL can be produced
much ChCapeT than now even
Some way or making its consunap-
ton fairly uniform throughout the
tWenty-fcur hours must be found out:
then II can be sold at a fraction OF
The present cost II might be sold much
cheaper now than IL actually IS but
tor the fact tfat the power plants
have TO cater tO such a variable de-
mand. the cali Ior power 81 the day
Tine being much less than fo- light
In the nighttime. while the expense
goes on BY day the same as al night
At present comparatively few can
afford 70 use il for cooking and other
domestic purposes. But when. through
growing consumption by the rich and
the well-to-do. the demand brings
down its price, II VIII prove a bless
ing 20 the poor. Then electrical cook
ing will be the cheapest method for
al. classes
Even in the tenement ho1ses?"
There more ce tainiy than al, where
else Coal IS used by nobody so waste
fully as by the poor IN cooking, Tor
the fire Is net hot enough 20 cook with
un,il much or the fuel has been burned.
While daring all the latter part OF
the fire there Is also too little heat to
use. But even with a much cheaper
current e-eC-ric water heating will
stin Re relatively high. II is not easy
to explain why without being techni-
cal: just say that water absorbs
ar a5ton:sh,nsly large number OF heat
units before il begins apparently 10
get hot at all, and let il 80 at that
The Washington times., 1906-06-03

Just soft enough 10 keep the con-
stable of and just hard enough to
help old man Gray no a r6aS 1ffice
business. In short, he had made rome
thing that the other fenow could not
make, and something that his neigh
Dor wanted 10 buy. He had planted
those crab apple trees when he was a
boy and kept the sassafras sprouts
from growing around their roots. His
neighbors could have done the same
thing If they had begun early enough
and worked as hard.
I'll tell you, these people who are
making things nowadays must al
ways keep grubbing up sassafras
sprouts. and if a man can. let him
try TO make something for the ma!
ket that the other fellow can't pro-
duce.'
Yes, you're right about that"
chimed In a halter. in lay line OF
business there are scores and scores
of people making hats. OF course
there are a few" and here the mas
ter hatmaker let a CLEAN slide over
his face-"who make stuff in my line
better than others do, but still, no
one Of them has any very great ad-
vantage over the other. But In some
lines it's different. Just LOOK at these
incandescent electric light globes, for
instance. The company thct makes
these has a cinch. Edison had an
idea He worked out this idea and
put It into practice.
The Washington times., 1906-06-03
URE OF THE MAGIC JUICE BY DEXTER MAR SHALL

Trunk line trains cou:1 be made
up in the way. but II would not be
economically practicable, and they
will be hauled by locomotives. no
matter what traction system is used
No current being available beyond
the electric zone, trains containing
motor cars would have TO be taken
apart and made over at great loss of
time before the steam engines were
attached at the points of change; be-
sides, cars Will have TO be inter
changed at various points where the
main stem is Joined by branch lines
still run by steam
Steinmetz thinks there will be diff
fering practices in the use of the cur
rent for a long time. The alter
mating current" he said, is mucn
preferable for TRANSMISSION ever long
distances. and SO may be used on
those lines whose traffic is so infre-
quent that the power houses must
be far apart, but most trunk roads
will use the direct current on their
suburban and main lines, where the
traffic is heavy and the power uses
nearer together.
why must the power houses be
further apart where the traffic is
light? So that there may always
be something for the current to
do. If they are scattered at in
tervals of, say, ten miles on a
road having few trains a day, there
will often be times when there will
be no train on the stretch of track
supplied by each power house; yet
The Washington times., 1906-06-03
win SaUe MoHey.

With the power houses set at
twenty-mile intervals, say, there will
always be trains TO serve with
the current. The New York sub
way system has one big power
producing plant and several trans
forming stations. at each of which
an alternating current is received,
passed through rotary transformers
and fed out 10 the train motors
as direct current. The use OF
the direct current in the motors
will always, in my Judgment. be
more economical wherever the traf-
fic is of any great density. No
matter how the motors are built,
the direct current will do th1 re-
quired work less extensively than
the alternating.
Mr.. Steinmetz holds very strenu-
ously to this view, but says that no
matter which current IS used in the
motor IT will be of the alternating
type as transmitted, and for some
time the change TO the direct form
will have TO be accomplished by the
use of revolving transformers.
But when the mercGr- rectifier
has been perfected. said Mr.. Stein
metz. the revolving transformers
will no longer be necessary. The rec
tifier is already in practical use for
the transformation of currents of
small volume, such as those used in
comparatively small lighting circuits.
In the rectifier's present development
glass is the only material of whicn
it can be manufactured. IL some
other material could be used a rec
tif1er could be placed on every troll
ley car, the car could be served with
an alternating current. to % trans
formed on the car for the motor. bat
rectifiers made Of glass are too frag-
lie to risk on trolley cars.
The use of glass in making recu-
fiers large enough TO handle heavy
currents is impracticable- Such cur
rents generate great heat in going
through. and no method OF cooling the
Tectitier. except by the Application OF
water. has been devised, and that
would break the glass. Porcelain
wouldn't do; II also would be broken If
water were used 10 cool IL with. The
perfection Of the rectiher Will be very
important forward step"
OF the new easoline-eIectric locomo-
tives, on which the current Is gener-
ated by a dynamo moved by a gasoline
engine and then used 10 operate the
motor, Mr. Steinmetz said:
''As a power for connecting branch
lines of small and infreqUent traffic. in
mountain or desert regions where the
population cannot support more than
one or two trains each way daily, the
gasoIine-electric will be useful. but il
will never be suitable for trunk line
work, nor can IL take the place OF
the trolley in ordinary conditions.
"Gasoline-electrich horsepower can be
counted in hundreds only. trolley or
third ran power may be counted in