Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1908-01-23

York's sireets-indeed. I'm finding
them In such numbers as often to
make the crossing OF thoroughfare
something of problem. The aver
age person, of course. might natural
~ wonder why horses should not be
seen there until his memory is logged
into recalling statement OF Thomas
A. Edison. made last year. to the ef-
feet that by Christmas of 1908 the
horse for commercial uses would have
disappeared from metropolitan
streets. To make room for electric
horseless carts, wagons. drays and all
the other vehicles which handle the
city's trade.
Yet If the metropolis has not arriv-
cd ut an exclusively horseless age
or rather at that of electric transporta-
tion-each New Years Day finds it II
long way further on its progress to-
ward the electrical era. The things
that cannot be done by electricity now
are hardly worth doing.
Indeed, In all parts of the country
the use Of electricity and electrical
apparatus Is undoubtedly increasing
| by leaps and bounds. Whether 1t be
milking q COW or creating tempera-
ture of such intense heat as has never
before been obtained-a mere trile.
perhaps, Of 1900 degrees--,he volatile
agent lured from the clouds by Frank
| lin Is almost invariably called on
| In It's commercial aspect. too cleo
= tricity permcates all business life. 1t
! is not surprising that the United
! STATES not only leads all countries OF
the world in manufacturing electrical
apparatus hut also sends men abroad
' tA ,tf 11n
of the most highly productive manu-.
, featuring districts Of the United States
electric power IL being installed about
ten times more generally than any
other kind The total of sales for
1907 Is not yet available. hut those
! or 1906 of the three greatest produc-
ers or this field in tile United States.
fand therefore, of course, III the world
! the Western Electric Company, the
General Electric and the Westlng-
| house Electr!c-reached the enormous
sim of more than sl60OO0O0O.
The product represented by this biz
total enters into the daily lives of al.
classes OF Americans. Take. for ex-
ample, the output of the Western
Electric Company, the largest of the
big three, the sales of which alone last
year Appropriated S70000000. The
great bulk of these consisted not in
power plants or huge engines, but In
that universal agent OF everyday life
tho ubiquitous telephone. More than
| $50, 100000 worth of telephones and
telephone supplies was produced In
the United States last year. and OF
this sum the Western Electric. manu
facturer under the He'll patents. turn
ed out by far the greater part. With
the country sending over the wires
| something like S15000,000.000 tele-
| phone talks every year. these figures
| give some indication of the extent to
which through the telephone the
whole country Is being electrified.
at about the middle sos. when the
| Western Electric first began to turn
out telephones, the total output for
the year was 10000 instruments. Now
at It's gigantic factories in New York
that total represents only two weeks
output, for the instruments are mann
4, featured ut the astounding rate OF 5000
daily. or say 100000 n year. More
than $4,000 employees of this company
We're kept busy last year In turning
ont the little talk machines and their
accessories. the switchboards and 9TH
er apparatus being manufactured at
the Chicago Headquarters. The re-
suits OF this labor. If combined into
= single instrument. would create
monster telephone nearly 400 miles
thigh and weighing almost 1000 tons
! n colossal monument tn the use of
electricity in everyday life.
I Other uses OF electricity are almost
too familiar to mention. The whole
matter is still scientific marvel
! The business man In his Office looks
nj an electric clock and takes an cleo.
Itrc cay for his home. An electric
bell Is Mt his door: electricity lights
his house. and perhaps warns II too:
IL may even cook his dinner. All the
while the telephone keeps the man
In touch with the world wherever ne
goes. Even the milk left at the door
IN the morning is handled by electric
machinery In the dairy whence it
comes; the flour IN the bread is pro-
duced by electrical machinery: the
cloth which covers ones body owes
its debt to the subtle vibrating me-
dunn.
Indeed. the time has apparently
come when an old saying must he
| revised, for today. ut any rate II is
electricity which makes the world go
round, although some scientists find
that love is an affair OF subtle electro.
cal currents. Herein Uncle Sam has
outstripped Cupid and is again TO the
front
During the latest year covered lY
federal reports electric transportation
lines in the United States carried six
times as many passengers as the
steam lines. although the mileage OF
the latter was approximately eight
times greater. Yankee push. which
has built trolley line to Egypt's py-