The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1910-06-16

Mr.. Edlson's Rosy View Of the
Future.

true prophet. We have just begun to
| realize, he says, what electricity and
mechanical appliances can do for us.
In an article contributed to Popular
Electicity Chicago, June) he an
nounces himself as one who is inter-
cSted In the future of electricity rath-
er than in It's past. He writes:
1T Is those That will work at the art
IN the next nifty yoars that are to be
envied. We poor propcrs OF he last
fifty are like the struggling farmers
among the bare New England rocks
before the wide grain-felds OF the
west were reached. The crops have
been thin, without reapers or thrash
ers to harvest them. We haven't gone
very far yet beyond Franklin or Fara-
day.
Look at the simple chances OF inn
provement in what devices are known
today. They are endless. About one
hundred million carbon filament lamps
are made here every year, much the
same in all essentials as quarter Of a
century ago. We must break new
lground. Lately the art has gone back
to metallic filaments bringing down to
one-third the amount of current need
ed for the same quantity of light, That
is only step. The next stage should
be to one-sixth, and, as .Steinmetz. says,
carbon is still In the game, for many Of
its qualities render it superior to
metal. 1t is the same way with cleo
trio heating and cooking appliances,
very ingenious even now, and better
than any other means; but ten years
hence they will be superseded and in
the museums with bows and arrows
the muzzle-loaders AS for the cleo
trio motor, it will be perfectly utilized
until everything we now make with
our hands, and every mechanical mo-
ton; can be effected by throwing a
swith. am ashamed at the number
of things around my house and shops
! that are done by animals--human be-
4 ings, | mean-and ought to be done
by motor without any sense of ia
i tlgue or pain. Hereafter motor must
do all the chores
The same remarks, Mr.. Edison goes
/ on to say, apply outdoors. There is
4 absolutely no reason, he asserts, why
horses should be allowed within the
city limits, for between the gasoline
and the elecric car, no room is left for
them. They should go where the COW
! and the pig have already gone. A
higher public ideal of health and clean
Illness is working this out very swiftly;
"and then we shall have decent streets
instead of stables made out of strips
Of cobblestones." We read further:
Electricity is the only thing I
know that has become any cheaper
the last ten years. and such work as
have indicated, tending to it's univer-
sal use from one common source, is
: all aimed, consciously or insensibly,
I, sf, T
: impressed with the agitation and talk
about the high cost of living, and
am convinced pretty firmly that a
large part of our heightened expense
of living comes from the cost of de-
livering small quantities to the 'ulti-
: mate consumer
My poor neighbors in Orange pay
four or five times what | do for tor
: of coal because they buy in such small
quantities; and thus the burden falls
on the wrong shoulders. This appeals
to my sselfishneSs as well as to my
pihanthropy, for the wOrkingman
hasn't much left to buy my phono-
: graph or to see my moving pictures
: with, if all he makes is swallowed mp
in rent, clothing and food I'll speak
! about rent little later In clothing
! we have got onto the universal ready
made basis which has vastly cheap
ened dress while insuring fastidious
fit. When we come to food, let us note
how far we have already gone in ceu7
= tralized production of the package ]
: believe family could live the year
around without using anything bu1
! good package food What is needed
q is to carry that a step farther and de.
q else automatic stores where the dis.
. ltributing cost is brought down to 6
Y minimum on every article handled.
Q few electromagnetic controlling chutes
: and hoppers, and the thing is done.
0 wonder the big five andten-cent stores
) don't try the thing out, so that even 6
Q Ismall package CT coal or potatoes
v would cost the poor man relatively nc
) more than il he took a carload IF
:, get the time / hope to produce vend
] ing-machine and store that will deliYel
}, specific quantities of supplies as pail
Q for, on the spot.
0 Butchers meat is one Of the ele
= ments in high cost of living that thi!
plan may not apply to readily; but i
is amazing how far, even now, auto
matte machinery goes in carving up.
carcass We shall simply have tt
:. push those processes little farther
: Thousands of motors are now in ust
. running e-machines, for exam
ple. Besides~~f-afn- .net-partiea4sFl.
anxious to help people eat more meat
| would rather help them eat less.
II AS for rent, that is going to bt
| brought down, Mr.. Edison tells us, b,
| the nodded or poured" houses of con
crete that he. has devised which cal
| be built SO cheaply, Measures us, al
to rent for about $40 to $12 month
with fair profit. He ends by asking
who would not forsake the crowd
ed apartment or tenement on sucl
terms for rootny, substantial houses
fitted with modern conveniences, beau
titled with artistic decorations, wit
no outlay for insurance or repairs
and with no dread of fire or firebugs