Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-02
Gibbs

the wall, they would have heard the
click-but where was the electric light?
Could they have taken down the re-
ceiver from the book, what sound OF
distant voice could have echoed in the
ear? Were they to sit in the tonneau
seat how would 1t move without the
horse? Should Jenny Lind or Patti
sing all day their cherished strains into
horn, what would have then con-
served the tones for reproduction after
ward at will? Go back a little farther
and whose life would have been secure
who should say, II can touch key IN
London or New York and send spirit
wave around the world in an hour, or
Less? Or, You may ride like the wlnd
and go to the uttermost parts of the
earth, both by land and by sea- II you
will keep me supplied with fuel ana
water? And our fathers would have
reproved us for telling how it would
be possible to communicate through the
air with a fleet of ships thousands OF
miles away, without the trace of a WIRE
to carry the message. How anyone u
us would have scoffed only little
while ago at the idea of getting power
and heat and light from a tiny speck
of shine deep down in the dark earth!
Why my good friends, we are depen-
dent upon scientific discovery Tor every
item of the difference between our ap-
pliances and necessities and those II,
possession of the birds of the air ana
the beasts of the field.
You may tell me that invention, often
by those outside the pale of science
has been the touchstone-not the dis
coyeries of science itself. wrong
again. You are far off the track. SEN
jamin Franklin, not as inventor, put
as scientist, was the discoVereT OF
fact in nature, without which KNOW
edge, added to what other students DIS
covered none of the fruits of electric
inventions would be at our call. Joseph
Henry of our Smithsonian institution
was the scientist who discovered prln-
ciples which have made possible the
telegraph, telephone and other lmpor-
tant adjuncts of civilization.
"Out of a full heart the mouth SPEAK
eth" l do not take it as sign OF the
tines but as a relic of bygone days,
this propensity to measure things from
fear of their evil instead of by the
growth and beauty that spring from
decay. The best flowers, the sweetest
fruits, the noblest deeds in al! the
earth, come just where rotten fertil-
izer, disagreeable odor or vilest disease
and suffering are most evident.
A man kills a woman as far above
him in worth as heaven from hell.
Would you abolish men for this?
Today there Is no excuse for dwell
ers in thickly settled parts of our coun-
try to hold f1ippant or half-formed Judg-
ment on matters and events There Is
no longer need or reason for the pet
ter half of the race to beg for just and
worthy treatment from that sex which
has often reaped undue advantage in
it's brute strength ability to coerce.
Not here, at least, although still in
many benighted parts of the world Wo-
man has been schooled to worship false
standards, because there her power lies
most in her weaknesses, not in the
wonderful strength of her glory and
honor.
What your sex has not achieved of
what it may need or rightly desire, is
not without it's grasp, whenever the
mothers and daughters and the sisters
and wives of men-the best OF them
are agreed upon the issues. And in
spite of all the criticism and the mis-
understanding, the woman's clubs are
doing more than any other institution
to break down the barriers. Men must
often fight for what they get; women
lose more than they gain by this meth
cd, although they must learn the neces-
sity for logged perseverance in their
gentler efforts.
1 have no desire to decry invention.
1t is meanly enough rewarded, even by
us WHO owe IL every lulilBs bul SOlllS
important scientific discovery-some
new knowledge of what had hitherto
lain unsupported about us-this dis
covery must be made before the most
ingenious inventor can make progress
in his work. The reason we fail to
appreciate this is the usual inability
of the real scientific observer to put
his discovery to immediate practical
ends This is not weakness of intel
lect, only genius for work in one di-
rection. The inventor is usually linn
tied to a practical idea, and he may
happen to hit the right one.
Science foretells what will happen
under given conditions. Invention en-
deavors, by experiment, to fit appli-
ances to known conditions. This should
be introduction enough to explain why
we now have certain advantages and
why some we might like to have are
not rapidly Forthcoming.
Darius Green and his flying ma
chine" with many other misguided eff
forts, are traceable to lack of scientific
knowledge. You never hear of Keely
motor men stumbling upon the truth
accidentally. Yet had this man known
of the properties of radium, soon after
ward made known by the CURES, he
could have accomplished honorably far
more than he sought by duplicity.
Some one remarks: "Why did not your
Wanted scientific prediction come to
the rescue of Inflated Martinique, San
Francisco, Jamaica, and Messina in
advance of the event?"
Well, there is even fit answer to that
question. What science has not ac-
complished Is no proper measure OF
the value of what it has done. More
over, these are cases in which scient-
lists did predict to the extent of ascer-
tanned facts. Biologists determined the
weakness of the structure and the di-
rection of the fractures through the
West Indian islands. They knew and
reported the faults and fracture lines
of the Pacific coast, including the re-
gion about San Francisco and about
Los Angeles, and they actually gave
precise warning of the approach of the
late Sicilian disaster. Such knowledge
comes slowly and is difficult and ex-
ceedingly perilous to acquire. But it
it is now possible to do very much to-
ward anticipation of such phenomena.
1t is almost true that one has to be
killed by an earthquake in order to OBJ
serve it properly, and there is very
much that is not yet understood in this
field Of observation. 1t is now clear
that heat and molten lava underneath
US are results rather than direct causes
of volcanoes and earthquakes, and that
knowledge will go far to guide us in
our search for the spots of greatest
danger. Courageous and capable men
are devoting their lives to such study
and the time will come when earth
quake warnings will be as reliable as
the weather bureau reports have now
become.
There is no cure for such maladies
of the earth, but 1t may be possible to
prevent people from counting destruc-
ton by reckless habitation of unsafe