The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

From theWashington Post.
 ' F the new substance, .'bakelite,'', can
 fulfill the claims of it's inventor and
 \ revolutlonize the development of long, distance, hgh-speed electric railways then
 it may take its place beside the electric | current and the steam engine as one of
 the miracle workers of the modern world
 It is said to be coal tar product, com
 bining the properties of amber, cellu-
 Ibid, and hard rubber. but a more per
 feet insulator than either. It's use by
 electric roads will result in an immense saving of electrical energies and make practicable long-distance roads where
 power houses must necessarily be far apart.
 Thus it may be that the new substance
 will solve problem which electric en-
 gineers have been at work upon for a
 considerable time without any very en-
 couraging results. The world moves
 rapidly; already 1t feels the need of high power electric engines to take the place
 of the steam engines mad it's commerce
 demands long-dstance trains in place of
 those compelled to depend upon a power
 house every few miles. The inventive genius who can fulfill the worlds demands for better and speedier transportation will
 at once be ranked among the first bene- factors of the present race. But scien- tifc and mechanical inventions have at
 all times played probably the foremost
 part in the progress of mankind. The invention of the art of printing flung
 the world in a day from medieval dark
 ness into modern enlightenment; the de- veopment of the steam engine and tele- graph hurled 1t farther forward in 5o years than it had advanced In three cen- turies before.
 Just now the whole eye of civilization is being taken up with two new and won- derful inventons-that of wireless tele- graphy and of the dirigible airship. They promise unimaginable benefits to human ity, and though they are largely factors of the future they have already per- | formed at least enough to show forth | their powers with some certainty. The | triumph of wireless over the perils of the | sea, in the disaster to the republic,
 amazed the world The flights of Bald win, Zeppelin, and the Wright brothers 1 have indicated that future generations of
 mankind may find great a benefactor | in the airship as past generations found | in the horse.
 | The possible combinations of the two 1 last named inventions are of so remark l able nature as to nearly defy imagina- | ton. Experiments appear to have demon | strated that the rudder of dirigible | balloon in the air can be helmed through 1 the use of wireless, by an operator upon
 the earth at considerable distance away | Development of this suggests possibilities
 nothing short of ardazing. It means that 1 in war time balloon may be sent up and
 over an enemys position, unaccompanied
 by any man; that it's movements can be
 directed by an operator miles away from it; that through this same wonderful agency of wireless, photographs may be | taken from the balloon and dynamite dropped upon the camp of the enemy,
 without exposing a single life to danger
 from the enemys fire.
 | But the last decade has been literally
 packed with other inventions and dis coveries probably destined to do as much
 for mankind as these. Who can measure 1 the possibilities for good of the, Roent- | gen says? Or of radiumf or Koch's ] lymph? Thousands of lives will be saved | through the discovery of the mosquito
 which carried the germs of yellow fever. | Probably nearly as many will be de- | stroyed If ever Maxims noiseless gun l comes into general use. but even though | this terrible weapon be sometimes put to a horrible practice, its very existence may. work to the good of humanity by