The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-19
Every Town To Have
 Its Own White Way

All through the country, and espec- 1al1y in the great and growing West, papers announce the agitation for more and better light in the business sections. Little White Ways are to furnish eases in the desert of dark ness, to greet the weary eyes of the traveller by train, in place of the scat tered street lamps that now flicker d1rnly as the cars roll westward.
 Speaking of the lighting systems of this and various cities, and with de- mand for more and better lights that business may be carried on more ad- vantageous1y it seems almost incon- ceivable that only 100 years ago men and women went about the streets of London and New York bearing Ian- terms and torches.
 When one reflects upon the pro- gresss which science has made in this one particular the senses are almost stunned. One hundred years ago street illumination was practically 1n- known, says the Kansas City Journal The introduction in London of manu- factured gas. as an i1luminant was the beginning of an epoch which today finds our homes and business streets brilliantly lighted by a clean and un- seen agent that. responds to the light est touch.''
 Strangely enough, gas was not well received at first in London. It was such an unusual innovation that su- perst1t1ous people considered it a manifestation of the evil one, and, in fact, for long time the gas flame was referred to generally as 'the eye of the devi1.' But the gas system of London survived all prejudice because 1t deserved to do so. The sickIy little yellow flame of the gas jet was a marvellous improvement over candle. and no doubt people thought the acme of scientific achievement had been reached when a match applied to a pipe would bring continuous and steady illumination, weak though it was. But for many years gas was used only in the larger cities In the country and smaller towns people still depended upon candles until the in vention of the kerosene lamp There are many persons still living who can remember when the coal oil lamp was a great novelty. It was imperfect smoky and dangerous; but it was far better than the tallow dips in general use up to and even after the Civil War.
 The age of electric lighting dates from one day a little more than thirty four years ago, when that greatest of modern electrical scientists, Thomas A. Edison, produced his first success full incanlescent lamp. What an achievement that was, but how little was it appreciated at the time. MT. Edison is said to have confessed that the incandescent lamp was really a sort of side issue with him He had had the idea in mind a long time be- fore actually making such a lamp, and he did not himself fully realize what it would mean to the world. The first incandescent lamp, like the first gas jet and the first kerosene lamp, was far from perfect It had a horsesho oe hIament of carbonized thread, which broke easily and gave a rather poor light. But it was, in it's turn, an i'm mense improvement on what had gone before, and other scientists were des- tined to make the incandescent lamp nearly perfect and a thing to be of universal and worldwide use and en- joyment. The arc light was also brought to perfection, and thus our white ways" represent interesting evolution which has covered a. rather short stretch of time Today lighting is so cheap, so convenient and so per feet that it is hard to realize that our grandfathers groped about with can dies of tallow dipped on strings.