Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-04-28

size OF the nat Vas NO. o. IhS Ah"A
A. Edison.
Before us spread that dream in frozen music,
the buildings fronting the esplanade' mali ana
plaza of the exposition. The twilight was done
and the moment had arrived for the night plrth
Of that dream into splendor. For the hrst tl"e
in history architecture was to be made alive at
night, more living than by day. Half a million
incandescent bulbs were hid along the transverse
lines of the buildings. The current was turned
on and they simultaneously doomed. Ensued a
spectacle for which a Caesar would have bar
tered a province-a joy that brought a gasp OF
ecstacy from every one of the millions VINO
saw it.
Edison, bare:headed, squinted his eyes. The
poetry missed him. The gallop of scenic history
over the verge of a new era missed him. Inc
glory Of the spectacle itself missed him. Instead,
he glanced shrewdly and carefully all around on
the enhancing wonder, then cautiously INTO MS
battered straw hat and said:
81 could put every flament into that hat!'
Economics, mechanics-these obsessed him.
That brain, which required a No. 8 hat for cover
ing, could think only Of the compressed fact
that all the space occupied by the vibrating, en-
ergizing and glory-working source of that gigantic
spectacle could be replaced by about two plnts
Of water-or a quart of human brain.
Edison is a rare man. In his speech, OF which
he is as careful as Of his flaments, he pulls the
core from a field of ideas and thrusts 1t at you
as If it were a poniard. You think about what he
says for a week, a month; and in years you don't
forget it.
All of this is leading up to a consideration OF
what the wizard-sage said a few weeks ago when
a select audience sat in his studio and watched
the first performance of the photograph, that
fabulous instrument which is destined to repro
duce plays, operas, public spectacles with the
action, the color and the voice intact.
The great old inventor was g%ratifed once
again. Another thrill had come into his life. His
latest adventure into the unknown had pros
pered, and his friends and associates clustered
about him with congratulations, with questions.
with assurances.
For some time Edison was silent. He is CRATE
full that he is deaf. Then he squinted from one
to the other, and said:
Before long you'll be working that in an aero
plane, for you'll be able to pack 1t into a soap
bubble!"
A soap-bubble! Rather a fragile packing-case.
Rather a small compass in which to place a
grand opera. A curious comparison. Did Edison
mean what he said? Did he know what he was
talking about?
Ever since I heard that Edison said that, I
have been thinking of moving pictures in connec-
ton with soap-bubbles. And not always in the
way he meant bubbles in connection with the
photograph.
A soap-bubble is cheap. 1t is easy to make-if
you know how. 1t is fragile. 1t is very alluring.
1t reflects all colors, all forms. 1t appeals uni
versally to children. Sages ponder over 1t. Poets
celebrate it. Artists reproduce it.
Conundrum.-Why is a moving picture like q
soap-bubble?
First, you find them everywhere.
On the back streets of Reno I saw the pictures
of the bull fight at Guadalajara, Mexico. The
Guadalajarans now look on the moving pictures
Of the prize fight at Reno.
At Punta Arenas, the southernmost port in the
world, l saw Chileans applaud moving pictures
of the Bowery and the New York water front.
On the Bowery I saw pictures Of the battleship
fleet entering the harbor Of Punta Arenas.
On an island 1000 miles out in the Pacific
Ocean the exiled lepers of Molokai gather daily
before the pickering wonders of a world which
before had been but vaguely in their dreams.
The Sunday evening young peoples class of Eau
Claire, Wisconsin, looks in pity on the trans
planted and resurrected life of Molokai which
passes before their eyes-on the screen.
A group Of travellers in the luxurious saloon
the country for which they are bound. The beg
gars who line the pathways of the tourist implor-
ing backsheesh give up their pennies to see the
living presentment Of their prey bounding to
them over the ocean wave.
In Iceland excited Eskimos applaud the hero
ism of a cowboy who rescues a captured maiden
from the redskins. Halfway round the world,
In Northern Russia, fearful peasants sorrow over
the pictured plight of a French lover.
The Bengalee moves down Mowringhee Road
and gives up two pennies to see the funeral Of
King Edward-to see it actually move. The
Moro in the alleys Of Zamboanga goes without
an extra shirt, that he may view the reception OF
Universal as Froth.