Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1915-02-05
Two YEARS. WAR,
DECLARES EDISON
Days Of Thirty Years. Contest
Passed, Says Wizard.
SUBMARINES ARE effective

Their Exploits Teach Lessons In
Building Of eattissh,ps-eoom In
Business Here to Be Tremendous
After the War Worry3 Think Of
The Kaiser!
The year 1914 dealt a staggering
blow to civilization. the arts and the
sciences" said Thomas A. Edison at
his laboratory In West Orange. "But
civilization will recover from the blow
very soon after the war ends"
"And that will be?" asked a CORE
spondent Of the New York World.
Not for two years. fear" said the
great inventor This war has taught
the world that the killing of men In
war Is scientific proposition now.
With all the implements of destruction
and plans for offensive and defensive
operations SO carefully mapped out and
with the great number Of men that can
be drawn into the fray by both sides.
the conflict will be long drawn out
There have been wars that have
lasted thirty years, but those days are
past Killing men is different prop
osition today. bnt | believe the present
struggle will not end for at least two
years. although ! pray It will end
sooner than any Of US expects"
MIR. Edison added that the subma-
rine has been the greatest offensive
instrument In the world conflict and
said:
while the submarine has not OBJ
Waited the necessity Of the Dread
ne. But you can bet the ships Eng
land Is constructing now are 50 built
that they will be protected against
submarine torpedOes. The effect of q
primary explosion can be greatly min
imized by the interior construction of u
Dreadnought. and this. In all likeli
hood. is being done by the allies now"
The hearty old gentleman. from
whose pockets the destruction OF his
plaut by Gre took $3.OOO.OOO short
time ago. seemed entirely happy.
did your loss persuade you to
make any New Years resolutionsw
be was asked
Worry3 Think Of the kaissrl
"ResoIutions? be repeated. Non
sense: Years ago formed my rules
Ut life and | have adhered to them.
The chief Of them all ia Work. No.
the loss Of the money does not worry
me. Nothing was burned that cannot
be replaced ! was up against harder
proposition when we built the first
electric lighting plant In New York.
II was something new-electric light
ing-then. fortune had been Invest
ed and the whole world was awaiting
the outcome. Everything depended
upon the success Of that plant. but as
result OF It the world bus become
electrically illuminated at night as II
were.
when any one talks about worry
be might apply my new standard Of
worry lust think of the kaiser, now
on the defensive. with nearly 500 miles
Of battlefront, all told. on the east and
west Why. the average mans wor-
ries sink into insignificance compared
TO this Another standard OF disaster
Is Belgium-little, gritty Belgium!
ut has surprised me to see how
Americans have become weakened
over this war. They seem to be strick
en- with a sort Of commercial paralysis.
They want to- get out and do some
thing; now Is the opportune time.
Why. you can put building up cheap
er today than you could before the
war, and yet many Of our supposed
good business men will wait until the
war is over as sign Of prosperity and
pay more for the building. The wise
man will prepare now for the boom in
trade that we will soon experience and
which will be tremendous after the
war"