Arizona republican., 1907-06-24
EDISON PRopHfslEs-

Thomas A. Edison gave to the Amer ican yesterday the first intervisu since his announcement on .is sath birthday last February that he had quit the career of a money-nai..ns is- ventOr for that of seienti-t-
 For the rest of his iase. he .sya hs intends to devote his attention to sci- entific problems With0gs 1. t>J.sss = whether or not thsiS sslu.is.z Sss-4 bring financial ssis
 Though the Wizard sus-l-- -as se- cret the particular task o- s-icA he is at present eXp<ndins ,is lhousht and energy. he otherwise spoke ,feelF Cf his work Re a:~css-ss many of the mysteries into which h- W1s delv- ing. and proDhszisd that even though , he might fail of solution h< firmly De- lieved others would tsiumph Whsre he failed
 MT. Edison. for -Ssmylc. made the prediction that before long sclenc- would enable the farmer n enrich his lands by means 0t rstyossT-s rom the air
 "The element necessary for making land fertne.~ he said. is nitrogen. which exists in almost inexhaustihie quantities in the atmOsDhsre- CatI recently. however. the utilization of atmospheric nitrogen was regarded as merely laboratory demonstration Business men said it could never he obtained cheap enough Go sell Co the farmer as fertilizer.
 But the day Is just about to dawn when the air will be made co give its nitrogen to the earth. and 10 make ir yield more abundant harvests and fat ter herds of cattle. In Norway a plant has been established which has been conducted with such good results that I expect tO see atmospheric fertilizer on the market in this country within the next ten years.
 That such a product Will soon be imperaJively necessary there is uE doubt Every shipIoad of wheat and corn which goes abroad leaves the- United States so much poorer. not in gold, but in nitrogen
 sir William Crookes. when he was president of the. British association far- the Advancement of Science. p-0phs- sled that in another quarter of a cen tury the earth would be drained of nf- trOgen to such a Gegree th.as the-e would be famine in many regions of the world He may have taken t0-, discOuraging a view of the subject. but nevertheless his statement had a true basis of fact.
 At the present time the bull. Of ths worlds supply Of nitrogen comes from the saitDeter beds os South Amersa. but these are being dug up se fast i- will not be very long. before they wsI bc exhausted.
 Another scientific disc0ver- urhl-. I expect to see before I die coutinuei the man whose own inventions *.-- done so much to revolutignize ulg-e.-a life. -is the direct generation of .,-.- trieity from coal This has ss--ssy been achieved in an ezt~ss-r-Et.f -ay. have heard of several ne. she As-e done it- I n-seif have s=-~-.t--s sn electrical current bg slss-is. s-ss~-s and Chilean salr1etey toxethser In .a eiectrolite. although Sf az ..x~a--r which made the prsscsss a ss---n -srtal impOssibility.
 Imagine what sriIl se srs -a.>~- Quences- Then Locomotives ssy t-. thrown into the scrap A-~ss ar s-asnS Will be run by elect-icitr Na a..ss-r will coal be laboriossly f-ss.<s =.r.i E., the cities, but there win H. z--.. t-.s.- er plants established sr h. --e-.s. ..f the mines from whichc .s= ...-sss-;tS will be sent out over "a. r.s-.ry by wire
 There will be no ha-~- s= s.r streets, no stables. no fIies- .>s- will be propelled oy elecss5cits-- s:ou-.-S. VIII be lighted entirely. by elecr-lcitv. for il will be s. cheap it can b-- nd by the hUmblest tenement uEeIler
 ships will no longer be driven l.- steam Electricity .viu be their mo- tive power. And then it win b. pa~si- ble to cross the Atlantic in three days
 At the present time nine-teuths ss the power obtained from coaf ss I1sr bv the use ot boilers wheels al-- dvs.a- most With the direct generation of the electrical current therefore. ta,- world wiH have ten times more e-ers1. tEan now