The Detroit times., 1915-11-26
The Electric Century
BY Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

The nineteenth century was the age
of steam. The twentieth century will be
the age of electricity.
Electricity is like Diety. Nobody
knows what il is. Yet its powers are UNI
miStakable. We can learn its ways, adj
Just our machinery to its influences. and
| by 1t perform miracles. But il is like
the spirit that fills the twce-born:
Thou nearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh nor
whittier it gOeth"
II seems to be the eventual common
denomination of all physical forces BY
and by tide-power, steam-power. hand
power, and horsepower, will become
transmitted into electric power.
Already we are on the road TO this.
! Where once was the lonely grist mill by
the dam there now is an electric power
house that reaches its wire arms out
over hundreds of miles Of territory,
| turning all manner Of wheels, lifting,
transporting, heating, lighting
We have not begun TO utilize the vast
resources of water power. When all the
streams shall have been harnessed and
the electric yoke put on the neck of fall
ing water there will be such an increase
of mechanical creative activity as the
world mas not seen before.
In an address before the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers at st.
Louis. NJ. w. Storer of New York, made
the prediction that within the next few
years all steam railroads in the United
States would be electrified
AS the steam locomotive ousted the
prairie schooner and the stage coach, so
the electric engine will replace steam.
As one man with steam can do the
work Of 100 men with horses, so one
man with electricity can do the work Of
100 men with steam.
With electricity the mechanical prog
resS Of the race changes from arithmeti-
cal TO geometrical progression.
What have we not already done with
this uncanny force, divinely potent as
it is divinely hidden! BY it the myriad
tram cars of the metropolis speed
through the streets, under the streets.
above the streets BY it the innumer-
able homes and offices of the city become
intimate and we talk as if face to face.
BY it distant capitals are brought into
immediate communication.
Ships speak, out of sight, through
storm and wind Continents converse.
Distance is annulled. Humanity sits to-
gether in one room.
! No prognosis seems too wild to be
true For the possibilities of this strange
sap of the world appear inexhaustible.
From the central power plant towns
soon shall draw all their needed energies.
/ Housewives will cook with electricity. for
it will become cheaper and better than
wood or coal All homes shall be lighted
I with it. abandoning candles. kerosene,
and gas.
All mills shall run by it, all lathes
turn, sewing machines operate, ice
plants function. and radiators heat by it.
/ IL will be the heart sending blood and
life 10 the remotest capillary of the
community.
The greatest battleship of the world,
/ now building, is 20 be run entirely by
electricity.
Already wires are being discarded.
! Wireless messages flash half way
around the earth.
The modern dynamo is only about 81
years old Men now living remember
when there were no telegraphs, tele-
phones, arc lamps, incandescent bulbs,
electric trolleys, subways, and railway
engines, no X-rays. electric heaters. nor
wireless stations
Before long every automobile will be
electric and every airship and ocean
/ liner. The name Of Thomas Edison is
suggested by the story Of electricity. It's
development is almost measured IN
terms of that one human life.
New generations will bring new Edi-
sons. -,
The hearts of men will learn to thrill
in unison by this strange force, and shall
( flow together, and the wretched provln..
cialism of war, and the fanatic heats OF
patriotism shall dissolve into the 'one-
ness of humanity working together,
each for all. all for each.
Who knows? Possibly by electricity
...l.,.lL rnnu discover Christianity.