Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-01-05
NATION ON THE VERGE
OF AN ELECTRIC EPOCH
Weird Will Soon See Direct
Process of'PoWer From
Coal, Says Edison
FEED NOT CARRY COAL
Horses viii Become Obsolete IN Fu'
ture-Power in Future Will Be
Cheaply Transmitted by
Wire.

New York special: In the opinion of
Thomas A. Edison, wonders are yet 10
be unfolded in the world of electricity.
we are cropping on the verge Of an
other great epoch in the worlds MS
tory" he said in an interview at ms
laboratory in West Orange, N, j. 1t
would not surprise me any morning TO
wake up and learn that someone. some
group of 800, 900 scientific men who are
investigating all over the group, has
seized upon the secret of electricity by.
direct process and begun another prac-
teal revolution in human affairs.
1T can be done; 1t will be done. ]
expect to see it before l die.
Abolish Coal Carrying,
The first great change in the pro-
duction of electricity will abolish car
rying Goa for that purpose" he said.
Instead of digging gross material out
of the earth, loading 1t on cars and
carrying it, say 500 miles, there to put
it under a boiler and burn, and so get
power. we shall set up plants at the
mouths of mines, generate power there
n transmit II wherever 1t is needed
by the copper wire.
1T is preposterous to keep or put
ting coal mines on wheels. 1t is too
clumsy. 1t is too costly. There Is no
necessity for It. 1t is easier to carry
VIII IN ~ 80 -
waves a second than freight cars full
of crude matter. We car ship 100, 900
horsepower over the wire quicker and
more economically than we can send
the equivalent in coal over a railroad
track.
Eliminate the Railroad.
we 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 1t,
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 ma
terial like coal when we can get a
product delivered to us by wire.
Everything points to The fact that
in the near futre electricity will be
produced for general consumption by
great p~OWerhOuscs at the mouths OF
Coalpits. That is the logical and COM
mon sense outcome of present events,
Nov the truth is. that il will cost
a third less to transport electrical pow
er by wire than to carry it in the form
oC coal in railroad cars. Assume the
price OF Coal to be 81 at the mouth
of the n2ire and assume the freight
to be $3.50. Now. we can turn COa
into electricity at the mine and convey
1t ty wire By less than half of the cosi
CT the f~raightaga Of coal.
Away Wit Horses.
electricity will take the place OF
horses. 1t win solve tho vehicle and
trai file problems of cities. My new
e~lsctric storage battery itself will make
electricity 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 al be stored
on upper floors by means of elevators.
The saving of stable space in New York
will cover at least 100000, 900 worth OF
property.
Not only will electric power be de-
veloped and distributed from coal mines
in the future, but all the w~aterpower in
the world will be used for the produc-
ton Of electricity. That movement has
begun and is advancing rapidly. In
California, where men have nerve
enough to overcome habit. they are
transmitting electric power 275 miles
by wire and running street cars and
lighting cities by II. That Is the sort
of spirit that viii wake the world UP
one of these days. / wish that spirit
in California would spread every
where"