The Washington herald., 1908-05-18
HOPE IN ELECTRICITY
Lamentable Conditions Pre-.
dicted by DR.. Steinmetz.
FEATURES TALE IS DREADED
Anthracite to ne Dissipnted Before
This Generation Dies-PoisOnous
Gas of Soft Coal Menace that WIN
Stop It's Use-Rivers VIII BE ABB
sOrbed for Power and Electricity.

New York. May fL-Dr. Charles P.
steinmetz. well-kuoWn professor of cleo
trical engineering at Union College,
Schenectady, and consulting engineer of
the General Electric Company predicts
the present generation will see the ex-
hausuon OF our supply Of anthracite.
The natural course then viii be TO rely
upon our deposits of soft coal for protec-
ton against freezing The government
in DR.. steinmetz's opinion. viii be obliged
to prohibit this or the air we breathe
VIII become permeated with poisonous
gases.
The hope of the future generations for
life, as DR.. Steinmetz sees it, lies in cleo
tricity.
The United States that is to come will
be a country entirely devoid of present
river beauty. The rivers of the future
will be merely a succession Of sluggish
lakes. with electric power stations be-
tween. All little streams will have been
wiped out and their combined strength
converged into the great bodies of water
that are to supply heat light. and power
OF the future,
Other Economics Necessary.
But even thus outstanding all water
power won't be sufficient. There must be
economy along other lines The energy
of Old Sol himself must be trapped and
saved. Provision will have 20 be made
for the utilization Of the suns rays in
the heating of homes. That's probably
where glass roofs will come in.
Dr.. Steinmetz also sees. in his minds
eye. the city of the future-a collection
OF Office buildings, factories and bachelor
apartments. All the married men, with
their families will have moved u the
country The development of the uses
OF electricity is already bringing this
change about
DR.. Steinmetz took this look into the
future in a lecture this afternoon at the
American Institute of Electrical Engi-
neers. The lecture was held under the
auspices Of the New York Electrical Trade
School Most of the big audience were
students from That institution.
Future of Electricity.
DR.. Steinmetz's subject was The future
Of electricity" He said the handicap
against the use Of electricity now is its
high cost of production That high cost
was oecasioned largely by the Irregular
nature of the distribution
Electricity supplied for twenty-four
hours to mill could be obtained al /
cent per kilowatt hour, whereas the cleo
tricity used for lighting purposes would
cost ten times as much.
The cost of production, said DR..
Steinmetz. depends on the distribution
Of the loads When they can be evened
out over the twenty-f0ur hours in a sys-
tematic way the end will have come for
kerosene and gas as illuminants."
The same conditions viii usher in the
age of cooking by electricity, if the coal
supply hasn't given out before then.
Soft Coal Poisonous.
The nation VIII have TO wake I'd 70
the problem Of poison that escapes in the
burning Of soft coal Look out around
Pittsburg, where We see the pine trees
dying. They have been poisoned It may
be even before the soft coal is. gone that
We may have 10 drop its use; that We win
wake up to the viciousness Of the prac-
tiee of burning il
And what does this mean? It means
that we must use electrical power"
In Dr.. Steinmetzs opinion there is a
vaster problem facing the nation Of the
world-a problem which only electricity
can solve. That has TO do with the ex-
haustion Of the soil in this and other
countries.
Soils Capital Wasted.
It's a cardinal principle that you've got
TO put back into the soil what you've
taken out Of it, If you are going 10 keep
the soils capital intact. That has not
been done in this or other countries.
New England, for instance, is no longer
farming country. The time will come.
too, when the West viii be exhausted.
and we can go no further.
When the capital of our farms" said
the speaker. IS exhausted, we viii have
20 produce fertilizer A large part of
what ne take out OF the soil we dump
into the rivers as sewage. Billions of
dollars OF capital are carried down into
the ocean. But we cannot hope 10 utilize
all this.
Electrical power is the only means
that viii combine the elements Of the air
necessary for a fertilizer"