New-York tribune., 1908-01-19
LIVING BY
ELECTRICITY.
WHAT MODERN MAN OWES
TO FRANKLIN.
Steadg Increase in Use of the Mys-
terious Agency That Works
.4pDarent Miracles.

This is the motor age. but the casual 90
server has difficulty in still discovering horseS
on New York's streets-fndeed. in finding them IA
such numbers as often 20 make the crossing OF a
thoroughfare something OF a problem The average
person. OF course. might naturally wonder Wny
horses should not be seen there until his memory
Is logged into recalling statement OF Thomas A.
Edison made last year. 10 the effect that by
Christmas of 1873 the horse for commercial uses
would have disappeared from metropolitan streets.
to make electric hOrseiess carts. wagons
drays and all tine other vehicles which handle the
citys trade.
Yet If the metropolis has not arrived az an ex-
cusiveIy horseless ageor rather that Of electric
trspsportation-each New Years Day finds IL long
way further on its progress toward the electrician
era The things that cannot be done by electricity
now 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 II be
milking a COW creating a temperature OF snch
intense heat has never before been obtained-a
mere trife. perhaps OF 7.2Oo degTees-the volatile
agent Iured from the clouds by Franklin IS almost
invariably called
In its commercial aspect TOO. electricity per-
meates all business life. 1t is surprising that
the United States not only leads all countries OF
the world in manufacturing electrical apparatus
but also sends abroad To DO the construction
work many Of the most highly productive
manufacturing districts OF the United States cleo
trio power is being installed about ten times more
generally than any other kind The total OF sales
for 1907 is yet available. but those Of 1905 OF
the three greatest producers Of this field in tbs
United States. and. therefore. of course. in the
worId-the Western Electric Company. the General
Electric and the Westinghouse E1ectric-reached
the enormous Of more than SlS0.000.0aO-
The product represented by this big total enters
into the daily lives Of all classes CT Americans
Take. example the output Of the Western Eiec-
trio Company the largest OF the big three the sales
OF which alone last year approximated s0,0oo.0eo
The great bulk OF these consisted not IN power
plants or huge engines. bat in that universal agent
Of everyday Hfe-the ubiquitous telephone Mors
than sS5000Go0 worth of telephones and telephcns
supplies produced in the United States lest
year. and OF this the Western Electric mani
facturer under the Bell patents turned out by far
the greater part With the country sending over
the wires something Ike 15.0o0000.000 telephone
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 orput for the year $1,000 Instruments
Now at its gigantic factories New York that total
represents only weeks output, for the instru-
ments manufactured at the astounding rate or
5000 daily. or say L590000 year. More than 2Set9
employees of this company were kept busy last year
in turning out the little talk machines and their
cessorfes. the svitchbcards and other apparatus
being manufactured at the Chicago headquarters
The results OF this labor if combined into sngls
instrument would create monster telephone
nearly 9O0 miles high and weighing 4o9 tons
"A colossal monument to the OF electricity IN
everyday life
Other uses Of electricity are almost TOO familiar
to mention. The whole matter is still scientific
marvel The business in his Office looks at an
electric clock and takes electric TOr his
home An electric bell is at his door electricity
lights his house and perhaps warns it too; 1t may
even cook his dinner All the while the teIephons
keeps the man in touch with the world wherever
he goes Even the milk left the door in tbs
morning is handled by electric machinery in the
dairy whence II comes; the -four in the bread IS
produced by electrical machinery; the cloth which
covers ones body its debt 10 the subtle
vibrating medium
Indeed. the time has apparently come when
old saying must be revised for to-day. any
rate II is electricity which makes the world go
round although some scientists find that love Is
an affair OF subtle electrical currents Herein
Uncle Sam has outstripped Cupid and is again to
the front.
During the latest year covered by federal reports
electric transportation lines n the United States
carried six times many passengers the steam
lines. although the mileage Of the latter was aP-
prOximately eight times greater Yankee push.
which has built trolley line Egypt's pyramids,
the earth's Oldest monuments. is to-day supervising
electric transportation all over the world Every
year through this agency alone the electric age -
being brought millions
An electrician of international note recently rs
marked. The single agency Of electricity has in
can be accomplished in it. 20 many times that oS
our forefathers. Judged either by communication.
transportation production, through elec-
tricity can do in hour than could thsI
In day