Omaha daily bee., 1915-08-29
Reduction Of Both Will Make the
World Better.
THAT'S WHAT TOM EDISON SAYS
Prospective Increase In Mans Pro-
ductive Power and Poverty
hooked for . Fade
away,

crease It's productive power. for sleep IL
an absurdlty bad habit
ut will have to eat less because the
worlds population win be no great that
its productlveness will not keep pace with
a per capita consumption as great as that
OF the present time.
by eating lcss II will enormously In
crease It's efficiency and happiness and
will do away with poverty"
These statements by the great inventor
were drawn out In the course Of long
talk occasioned by tho thirty-fitth an
n'vorsary OF his invention OF tho electric
lighting system which occurs this month,
Edison expects more rapid progress in
the future than tho past has ever known
asked him to tell me something Of
his estimate OF what his invention OF the
electric lamp really has sccompl'sh shed.
1T seems Co havo been the starting
point for the whole era OF electrical de-
velopmont." he answered. you see." he
went on, slowly, "as soon as the light was
proved 10 he q practical thing II was
plain TINT II was OF paramount import
ance IL was clear that II must speedily
and completely be developed. estimate
that er cent OF the work OF develop
ing our present electric lighting system
was devoted to the perfection OF the lamp
and that ~ per cent was devoted to the
perfection OF tho system which makes
the lamp available for practical useful
ness
The problems involved IN the diptrfbu-
ton of electricity for lighting purposes
throughout largo communities and its
sale TO the consumer, by meter measure
ment, involved an enormous amount OF
study and hard labor. To make each light
independent Of all other lights was a great
task
About tho only help had in the
development OF the electric light lay IN
the fact that the scientific world was
all against me, ana recited ohms law
10 prove the case
1T was an interesting situation. II
turned the ohm's law around and did
what was regarded as the opposite OF
that which II provided for. and found that
It applied to the reversed situation per-
fectly But wasn't satisfied with this
success wanted TO furnish power as
well as light AZ soon a. the wires were
spread through the streets.
Presently we put the worlds first cleo
trio railway into operation at Menio
Park, and ] was sure that the idea was
practical. It's development needed money,
though, and capital was hositant. In
deed. was assured by the grestest Slnan-
cial figures in Wall street that this
scheme OF operating railroads by eloc-
tr'city was the craziest idea that ever
had been advanced by anyone assuming
TO be sane.
II had carefully gathered all the figures
or the cost OF horse cars and their opera,
ton and was sure that the substitution
OF electric power for horse power would
result in an enormous saving Indeed, !
knew. and my knowledge was exact
knew electric traction was the coming
thing. and very big thing. But II fooled
me.
Had Differentiated IL.
1T was bigger than thought II waA
had made better guess than Wall
street had, but my guess had been far
from adequately prophetic. II was 90 bic
that II amazed me. II increased traffic
startlingly As a matter Of fact, electric
traction has increased street car traffic.
] estimate, by 600 per cent.
THE first electric cars revealed a
facility OF operation and q rapidlty OF
movement which no one but myself
seemed to have expected.
Their multiplication OF traffic was
enormous, their effect upon street rail
way receipts was very great Then the
men in Wall street. who had declared
them to be a crazy dream began to spec
ulate In electric traction stock. They
have been at II ever since.
ELECTRICITY Expands Day.
i don't believe the electric light has
ever stirred much sentiment In mo.
had so much trouble and worry In con-
nection with the perfection and introduo-
ton OF the lights that never have had
time for sentiment about them.
II believe they have expanded what we
may describe as day. and that that has
increased the possibilities OF effective hu-
man effort rather like TO think OF that.
Everything which decreases the sum
total OF mans sleep increases the sum
total of mans capabilities. There really
Ia no reason why men should 60 TO bed
at all, and the man OF the future will
spend far less time in bed than the man
OF the present does. just as the man OF
the present spends far less time IN bed
than the Hlon OF the past ulu.
AS a matter OF fact very simple bit
Of arithmetical figuring will show that
by and by humanity will have TO live in
double shifts so that there may be room
upon the earth for all the people"
but war still helps to keep tho poo-
ulation down." 1 commented.
THE day OF life in double shifts will
como in spite OF war. Medical science
win save more lives this year than wal
will take, no matter how terrifieslly muir
derous that war may be-
TN the old days man went up and
down with the sun. A million years from
now he won't go TO bed at all, Really,
sleep is an absurdity. q bad habit We
can't suddenly throw off the thralldom of
the habit. but we shall throw Il off.
Humanity can adjust itself TO almost
any circumstances. Not so very long ago
we had a good deal of trouble here in
the factory while we were trying 10 per
feet the disk record for our monographs