Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-11-04
STE|NMETz PAYS
GREAT TRIBUTE TO
THOMAS A. EDISON
ELECTRICAL WIZARD GIVES APP
PROBATION OF WORLDS
GREAT INVENTOR

1T is true that Edison never went
TO any college," said DIR. Charles Prot
Gus SteinmetZ, wizard OF electricity
but he knows more about the sub
jects taught in college than most col
lege men,"
This appreciation of Thomas A.
Edison by Dr. Charles r. Steinmetz
was written in honor of the thirty
NTH anniversary of the incandescent
electric lamp which was celebrat-
ed through the United States on the
twenty-first day OF October.
THE first time | met Mr.. Edison
was in 1898. at the International Eiec-
trio Congress in Chicago" continued
Mr.. SteinmetZ, MIR. Rudolph Eicke-
meyer introduced me to him, and Mr..
Edison jokingly pointing to me. said,
Pure theory pointing at Eickmeyer,
Theory and practice, and at him
self, Pure practice. This is the at
titude Edison has always taken, de-
claring himself a mere practical man.
The newspaper men have expanded
on this, and so created the popular
belief that Edison does not know any
thing about theory and science, but
merely experiments and tries every
thing he or anybody else can think of.
There is nothing more untrue than
this, and Edison probably never made
an experiment or tried something
where he did not have good theoret-
zeal reason which would justify the
trial even from a strictly scientific
viewpoint.
HE is essentially a practical man
in the sense that wis FEVER he under
takes. he wishes TO know whether and
how II would be of use and benefit to
mankind; but at the same time he is
apparently interested and familiar
with almost any field of human know
ledge. Whether you talk with him
about electrical engineering or other
engineering, organic chemistry or an
thropoIogy or any other subject, you
always find him fully familiar with
the subject and able TO give you valu-
able hints solving your difficulties, as
I have found more than once during
the various times | had the pleasure
to meet him, and that even in the
highly theoretical aspects of the sub
jects Thus, for instance, most cleo
trical engineers now consider the sub
ject OF transients one OF the most
recently explored and most intrinsic
fields of electrical engineering; but
already i'm his first direct current in
stallation Edison met such pheno-
mena, and understood and explained
them. From my experience, | con-
slider Edison today as the man best
informed i'm all fields of human know
ledge" t
To this Waldemar Kaempffert,
editor Of the Scientific American, adds
the following:
Ills work, and particularly the in
vention of the electric incandescent
lamp. must forever remain an inspira
ton to mankind. The long weeks and
months OF tedious experimenting,
the dauntless patience that bravefy
struggled on after each momentary
defeat and the resourcefulness that
turned even failure to account have
perhaps never been equalled and GER
tainIy never surpassed, in the history
of human achievement. No wonder
that this man enriched his time with
one Of its most precious inventions,
the Edison lamp-with form OF
illumination so wonderfully cheap and
efficient that IL has enabled the teaeh-
er and the printer to extend the IN
fiuence of civilization where 1t has
never been felt before