Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-08
PRAISES ROADS OF FRANCE
Airships Today, He Says, Are IS
Per Cent Man.
DENIES CRITICIsING GERMANS
Alleged Interview Cabled From
Paris Causes Protest-Inventor
Looks Strong and Well.

Special Dispatch 10 The Star.
NEW YORK, October II tell you.
boys. L felt ike kissing the Statue OF
Liberty when | came up the bay" ex-
claimed Thomas A. Edison, the inventor.
who. with Mrs. Edison his son. Theodore.
and his daughter, Madeline, arrived from
Europe today on the liner Amerika.
Il must say that after my visit abroad
am satisfied with my own country. Our
party toured Germany. France and Swift
zerland by automobile and L had oppor-
tunity to inspect the big, wondrous towns
which we touched.
You ask me If 1 saw anything on the
other side which struck me as better
than what We have here. No. 1 did not
Il found the hotels all right-modern
and with all the comforts to relieve the
tedium of travel and transient incon-
veniences. ! actually Travelled like a
Pittsburgh millionaire-and do you know
that ii did not cost me so much? / found
the expenses very small.
French Roads the Best.
1.-The finest roads have travelled over
are in France. And right here let me say
we are pretty raw when IL comes to i'm
proved highways. In the 1000 miles OF
road in France / went over did not dis
cover more than two miles in poor condi-
ton. But. then, France is great big
park. The farmers there can get twice
as much out of their acreage as we can
here They are shy on machinery"
How about the airships over there?"
''Ah. those airshps. Well. the airship
OF today is 80 per cent man and IL per
cent machine This percentage must he
reversed. and the greater burden put on
the machine rather than on the man."
Denies Criticism of Germans.
A storm of protest and denial was
aroused By a cable interview with Mr..
Edison September - in which he was
ported as criticising German ideas of art.
architecture, machinery, business meth
DDS. lack of inventiveness and originality
and facility for copying machinery.
The attributed statement that aroused
the most protest was this:
The Englishman is the highest stand
ard of integrity in the world. Our Ger
man aristocrats are entering largely into
business now to get rich quick and they
don't care how it is done. Their methods
have affected business ideals generally"
Mr.. Edison had not seen the state
ment until 1t was handed him aboard the
Amerika.
.It is not quite correct" said Mr.. Ed
son. II said that the Germans them
selves acknowledged that the, integrity
of their commercial classes was not as
high as that of the English"
They were the best Germans who told
me this-they acknowledged that the in
tegrity of their business classes was not
as high as that Of the English.
Looks Well and Strong.
Before he sailed in August Edison de-
clared that he would live to be a hundred
and fifty years old. and from the way he
looked today he seemed to have q good
chance of finishing the eighty-hve years
he has yet to go. Dressed in black
overcoat, buttoned tightly around tho
throat, and wearing black derby hat,
the same hat that he wore when he de-
parted, Mr.. Edison was easily the most
conspicuous passenger on the America
Mrs. Edison and her daughter were
confined to the Edison suite most of
the voyage through seasickness, but the
inventor was always on deck. whether a
gale was blowing or the sun shining.
Edison's Striking Epigrams.
Mr.. Edison's keen power of observa-
ton finds expression in striking epigram
OF his journey abroad he said:
IT notice that those who Cypress the
people always get the grandest bronze
statues in Europe.
1T is the cigarette that causes degen-
eracy everywhere in France. The curse
of absinthe is nothing to that of cigar
ettes> The Latins are the greatest Gig
arctic smokers, and they are the most
degenerate of European nations.
Paris impresses me favorably as the
city of beautiful prospects, but not as
citv of light New York is far more i'm
pressive at night
Education is year by year making the
false distinctions of class in Europe
thing of the past.