Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-25
ONE OF THOSE
BIG NUMBERS

THERE have been many exceptional num-
bers OF our SUNDAY MAGAZINE during
the last few months, with an occasional big
number such as the next will be. You know.
from past experience. that the bigness is in
quality rather than in quantity.
WIRELESS POWER describes the mar
velous discoveries OF Niko1a Tesla and what
they mean. The great scientists. especially
the academic ones, know that Tesla and his
work years ahead OF the time. and they
appreciate him. To many others he is
dreamer of wonderful dreams. But if you
regard his revelations purely as romance. you
must be thrilled by them. And yet you will
find it difficult to explain them merely as mag
nihcent fights of magnificent imagination.
1t is quite true that there are set forth
many wonderful things that most of US find
beyond our power to believe Our attitude
is exactly ike that of our iorebears to truths
that have since become familiar facts Per
haps the most tremendous of all the ideas in
this article about Tesla by Richard NJ.
Winans is the humiliation of space. You
know, if you happen to have thought about
it, that the chief factor in civilization is the
process of bringing communities closer to-
gether,-the steamship. the railroad. the tele
graph the telephone. Tesla says he will
have a telephone he can carry about in his
pocket, with which it will be possible for him
to talk to a man in the FIJI Islands. or in
Siberia or in the next block, or in TERRA del
Fuego.
A great waterfall in the wids of Central
Africa can furnish power. and without loss Of
Il +1ar
factory across the street may get its power
from Japan or British Columbia Tesla
doesn't care whether or not you accept what
he believes as wonderful dream or as truth
To him they are facts; although he knows
many years must elapse before all of them are
proved. 1t will take your breath away this
article, and leave you overwhelmed.
ELOTSAM AND JETSAM is tale that
seems really to have been designed to
accompany WIRELESS POWER: for it has
to do with a crewless lifesaving craft. They
are already actualities. Tesla says the time
is coming when crewless cargo boats will be
sent all over the world in perfect safety. But
the author of the story probably knew
nothing of the Tesla article when he wrote
about the two Sans, called Flotsam and Jet
sam by the lifesaving crew of Ships Bottom,
Barnegat-from which you will guess cor
rectly that it was written by S. Ten Eyck
Bourke and Charles Francis Bourke
They are boys of fourteen, amazingly mis-
chievous and competent youngsters, who
hope to be lifesavers themselves some day
and resent the automatic lifeboat. You
would never guess how that boat came to
play an important part in their lives, or how
they arose to big situation. 1t is one of the
most amazing and most exciting tales of
adventure that the Bourkes have written.
dynamite JOHNNY O'BRIEN. that
turer. continues his story of the flibustering
that brought on the Spanish-American War
There is more valuable and amazing history
more excitement, more unselfsh patriotism,
more love of real liberty. in this true story
than in anything that has been published in
a long time. And when there is nothing big
to be described there is always the matching
of wits against detectives-and few things
are more interesting than that.
THE WAY OF THE WORLD. by Cath
crime Schur man. seems at first to be
merely particularly clever satirical society
story; but you go along you will find it
stands for fine things that give it dignity and
beauty. And we like that kind of tale.
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