The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-09

Il would put the United States perma-
nently on a war footing against inva-
sion. l would make it a vast storage
battery charged with war forces which
might be liberated on the instant"
This is Thomas A Edison's new dec
laration of Americanism as he con-
cluded the unfolding of complete,
radical plan for an ever-ready but I'M
burdensome defense of the United States
against foreign aggression, says the New
York American.
Edison the superlative inventor, the
man of unceasing brain activities, is a
household word to the American people.
We know him as one plunged amid the
mysterious forces of nature, Harvesting
them to his will; We know him as a
simple, hard working man who has
achieved more in his line of effort than
any other man in the world. He seems
in the quiet of his laboratory as re-
moved from the ordinary things of life
living in section of rarified atmosphere
in which the things of every day con-
Germ cannot live. But the war and the
problems that confront America have
brought forth another Edison.
The war has absorbed Edison; he Is
intensely interested in its. every move
ment and detail, and nowhere on the
globe are the newspapers and bulletins
read more eagerly or more intelliSently
than in West Orange, n. j., in the great
room which is library and mental work.
shop to the American genius and whence
came so many of those discoveries and
devices which make the world better
one to live in.
Edison a Thinking Machine.
Edison is no abstract thinking ma
chine: he is intensely human and he is
intensely American. 1t is going too
far to say that Mr.. Edison values being
an American more than he values the
totality of his inventions; the world
owns Edison the inventor. but the
United States alone owns Edison the
citizen. And it is because he is an
American that he sees the danger of a
defenseless America. The war news has
brought to him the position of his cOun-
try and, with a wholly characteristic
vigor, he has set about seeing what
could be done to make his home and the
home of his fellow citizens invulnerable
from invasion. Hence his plan, which
is eminently scientific and practical
as are all of his own inventions.
As the struggle abroad becomes daily
more terrible. more complex. more
battling. two elemental facts stand out
clearly. The first is that the world is
still prlneNal ana predatory ana the
second that war has dissolved in part
nership with the Great Hurrah." and
is a sordid. soulless matching Of bust
ness efficiency.
These are the two facts upon which
Mr.. Edison has builded his plan of de-
Tense. He keenly feels that his coun-
try is at the absolute mercy of any
foreign foe. he knows that mere words
Will not halt a nation bent on war
fare. and he realizes the awful fate
of a defenseless America. Mr.. Edison
has a concrete mind: he visualiZes his
thoughts: he has visualized the condi-
ton Of the United States in the event
of war. and the picry a terrible one.
Therefore. he has II the warrior.
but only to resist aggression.
There is no reason TO believe that
there will never be another war" de-
clared the great scientist. We know
that man is still a predatory animal
the present war has proved that; he was
just wearing a mask of civilization to
hide his natural characteristics. With
two millions of men dead on the firing
line. there is little opportunity to speak
% the progress of human nature
No. man seems to be about the
same inside as he always was: when
an individual turns predatory the po-
lice arrest him. and when a number
government steps in. But there is no
curling nations.
There is no international authority