The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1916-10-14

pleted his work on the storage bat
! terry, Mr. Edison decided that he
would try to develop means of re-
Icording and reproducing sound which
4 would make the reproduction indis-
ltingushable from the original. 1t
Iproved to lie the longest and most
lcostly research work ever undertake
en- by Mr. Edison. He spent near
lily $4,000 00 in experiments alone,
land these experiments were not com
When the new invention and new
lrecord were perfected, Mr.. Edison
said, Now we shall find out what
we have. Rent Carnegie Hall, New
York city. and get Madame Rappold
lof the Metropolitan opera to go over
There. Have her stand beside the
new photograph and sing in actual
comparison with our records of her
Ivoice. Insite the music critics and
ttflt HttSi- tOftt5 VI eN3H iVih tiiy
Get the most critical audience you
lean possibly get. If ! have succeed
ed in doing what | set out to do,
they won't be able to tell Madame
Rappold's voice from the phono-
graphs reproduction of he. voice"
While Mr.. Edison's associates be-
tlieved that he had produced Won
jderful invention, they doubted wheth-
err in place like Carnegie Hall, be-
fore an audience of critical musi-
clans, it would sustain the acid test
OF direct Sof this kind.
The test was made on April 2S
before an audience of 2.5o0 people,
land just as Mr.. Edison had prophe-
tsied. it proved impossible to distin-
guish Madame Rappold's voice from
IEdlsons rerroductionSof it. Next day
the New York papers We're enthusi-
lastic in their praise OF Edison's new
Invention rhe New York Tribune
lsaid: Edison has shared the soul of
music" The Globe referred to il as
1.-the photograph with a soul One
writer stated that Edison had devel-
loped new Mlsic's Recreation.
Similar tests were made with other
|artists in Boston. Philadelphia and
Elsewhere and with the same result.
lone OF Mr. Edison's associates col
Ilected all of the newspaper reviews
land found that the music critics OF
more than zoo newspapers had testi-
flied to the fact that Mr.. i1dison's So
icalleo Recreation of Music could
not be distinguished from the origin
lal music. These newspaper reviews
were neatly pasted in a scrap book
land shown to the inventor. He
lglancedA through the scrap book and
Ithen remarked: 1.-The opinions of
these experts prove that we have ac-
lcomplished what we set out TO ac-
|complish, but somehow or other the
|opinion OF layman is always more
to me than the opinion of
Ian expert. When | complete an in
Ivention ] like to know what the man
lin the street thinks of it and how
he thinks it is going to benefit him.
Mr.. Edison's associates remember
ing this remark decided to get the
|opinions of non-eXpert and non-tech-
lnical people. without Mr.. Edison's
knowledge they arranged through
merchants OF this city, and merchants
lof several other cities, to place a
humber of these new instruments in
various homes and get the untechni-
cal opinions of typical American FAM
lies
To stimulate interest in the matter
Isl, 900 in prizes are offered for the
best opinions This contest occurs
Iddlin. Edison Week The first prize
lis $500, The second $500, and the
third S100 Then there is a eonso-
llation contest with prizes aggregat-
ling $2oo 1t is proposed to print
he prize winning opinions in a book
let and present il TO Mr. Edison as a
souvenir OF Edison Week. Opinions
which do not win prizes, but which
are nevertheless considered worthy
.of Ruhllesiion, viii be purchased at
~ cents sses word No opinion is
10 exeeesl seV. words in length, Lit
.erary excellence viii not be eoi.sid-
,ered Professional writer's ard al
persons connected with the phoao-
graph industry are barred from the
coEAelitpn, rs Il IS desired te sbtair