Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1916-02-09
THOMAS EDISON AT sIXTYNINE.

| nc luGdAS do LluIn " lIlS
at siXty-nine as it does to you at
twenty-five, young man. said Mr..
Edison to young friend not long
ago.
In other words, Edison is still go
ing strong at six5y-nine. Not day
passes that he does not spend from
twelve to eighteen hours in his labor
atory He shows no signs of slow
ing up the pace he has held for over
fifty years. He is alert and not de-
tail of the business around him es-
capes his eye and attention. To
those who are associated with him in
business he is "Our Old Man" Edi-
son, white-haired, stepping briskly,
lis a familiar figure in every corner
of his vast laboratories at Orange,
New Jersey.
1t is a difficult matter to corner
Thomas A. Edison, to get him really
to the point where he will give up
few minutes to an interview. He
is naturally averse to interviews,
anyway. He has distaste for pub
licity He is a poor press agent. Like
Napoleon, he will gladly give up al
mos anything except time. And when
visitor is lucky enough to corner
him somewhere in the laboratory,
the inventor is usually occupied with
something that demands his atten-
ton every minute.
where's the old MANI" asks
someone who just must see Mr. Edi-
son on impCrtan business.
I'm the Lab" is he usual answer.
well, I've just got to see him.
Not a chance. He's been in the
Lab all morning and he'll be there
all afternoon and part of the night
from the way things look Left orders
mot to dis urb him."
That's the way Edison spends
most Of his time. In the Lab. And
that's how he will spend his birth
day.
Where do you intend to spend
your birthday, Mr.. Edison?" asked
a friend the other day
at just depends replied the in
ventor with a smile. "Over in the
new Recording Laboratory maybe
Mr. Edison's new Recording Lab
oratory is a place to which visitors
are not admitted, but from all &C
counts is a curiously constructed
place, built according to the invent
or's specifications to overcome GER
tain problems of acous: les in record
ing large orchestras.
Il think / am going to be able to
give you records Of the great SYM
phonies before the year is out" Mr..
Edison said. 1--WE already have rec
ord on which they can be recorded
and a phonoraph and reproducer
that will re-create them. 1t is now
merely a problem of recording the
large number of instruments used in
} a symphony concert ! believe we
can do this in the new Recording
Laboratory"
Asked for a little birthday talk,
Mr. Edison replied: THE way to be
happy and healthy is to be busy all
the time. ] find that as | approach
siXtv-nine l have jus. begun to live.
If you are busy you don't have time
to grow old. | don't work by the
clock and accordingly | don't feel
that / am getting any older. ] work
till ] finish a thing and then" here
Mr.. Edison smiled. eff there is moth
ing else to be done, | go home.
81 hope hat everyone will feel as
young and as pleased with life as
do when their sixty-ninth birthday
comes along"
1t is safe to say that no man on
earth has ever crowded so much use
fulness into single lifetime The
genius Of Edison which evolved the
elec ric light-a single invention
which practically turned night into
day throughout the world and did
more to suppress crime than all the
laws passed in the last century--is
still undimmed, Just a few years ago
he gave to the world his latest and
favorte inven ion. The Diamond
Disc Phonograph, which actually Re-
Creates music. as DISTINGUISHED from
mere mechanical reproduction of
musical sounds
Edison was born at Milan, Ohio.
on February II. 1847. He early
evinced a love for chemistry and its
kindred subjects. Few men have ever
run at swifter pace up the stepping
stones 70 fame. His first employ
ment was AS newsboy on the Grand
Trunk Railway where he started a
small weekly paper which at one time
had four hundred paid subscribers.
He next took up telegraphy and soon
became an expert telegrapher. After
five years of telegraphy he came to
New York where after a short time
he sold his first invention for about
100000 Then he plunged into the
; realm of invention where his genius
seemed to run riot. Take his major
inventions as they come:
The Duplex and Ouadruplex Tele-
graphs and the Northumberland,
which revolutionized telegraphy; the
Cylinder Photograph in 1877, now
} the Diamond Amberola Photograph {;
in 1879 the Electric Light which
needs no words to tell it's wonders
in 1891, the Moving Picture. which
today, as THE Movies" are furnish
ing amusement to thousands upon
thousands method of crushing ore,
by which rocks weighing as much as
ten tons each are reduced to bits in
a few seconds: the Storage Battery;
then his last and favorite invention,
the Diamond Disc Phonograph. From
1869 to the present time Edison has
: filed more than 1,400 applications