The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-27
EDISON MEDAL PRESENTED
0orfous Achievements in Electricity.

lia.n Stanley eS Great Harrington, Mass, electrical inventor and engin- ger, was presented last night with the Edison medal awarded by the Aneri- for meritorious achievement in cleo trtcity. Previous awards of the medal, which is of gold and confers the highest honor of the kind accord ed in this country, have been made to Professor Elil1u Thomson, of Lynn, Mass, Frank J. Sprague. of New York, and George Westinghouse, of Pittsburgh, MT. Stanley is honored as pioneer in electrical work, especial ly as the devisor of the alternating current system and for inventions connected with the distribution of current in the electric lighting field.
 ''The past generation is notable for the discovery of many phenomena and for the application of new form of energy (electrictty) to the service of man, said MT. Stanley in his speech of acceptance. These applica- tions largely deal with the transpor- tation of material, energy and thought. We have been occupied in widening the sphere and increasing the freedom of activity of the individ- ual in order that we might increase the opportunities of life. It is worth while to consider carefully whether or not modern organization assists or op- poses these ends-whether the spirit of concentration so eagerly advocat- ed by many may not tend towards the control of the individual through the power vested in industrial com bina- tions, and so defeat the very purpose the arts were designed for, substitut- ing for the control of brute force of the past centuries a control through economic necessity.
 ''The engineer is eminently quail I.S r.. @,@ determine the present and probably future value of these forces. I trust he will assume a full share of respon- sibi1ity and participation in. our so- cial and economic questions, for, in deed, many of the problems of the ma ton sadly need careful analysis and constructive imagination.
 '@The present generation will ever be remembered for the insight into the nature of matter. the constitution of the atom, and the discovery of the enormous energy which it contains, and which, untfl quite recently, was unknown. These discoveries, am confident, will furnish the engineers and inventors of the future with vir- gin fields of phenomena which, after they have explored them, they will apply to useful purposes and SO will extend our command over new arts and new professions just as you, gen tlemen, have built up our profession by applying the research of the past to the arts of the present.
 ''But the 1abers of the engineer and inventor bear a deeper meaning than the material welfare of the race, for if we look over the history of the peo- pies of the past and search among the guiding motives of their thinkers and philosophers, we hnd,I think, that nearly all attempts to elevate the race were built upon supernatural founda- tions-were founded upon a hopeful faith in the supernatural, unsupport- ed by the evidence of phenonena which the mind of man could meas ure.
 ''As science has progressed, we have learned to widen the field of its application, and many Of us are be- ginning to believe that all phenomena, physical and intellectual, are subject to definite laws and therefore may be understood, and that in the far fu- ture a time may come when we shall study and perhaps experiment in realms of thought that we now ap- proach only through faith and be- lieve logically unapproachable. In short 1t some etines seems to me that all attempts to elevate the race based upon supernatural structures will have but a temporary influence and will give way to the influence of sci ence, which, based upon the pursuit of truth. the search for the funda- mental causes in nature, will lead us, at some distant day. to a permanent uplifting of the social, intellectual and spiritual condition of mankind"