The Washington times., 1923-09-03
SCEPT|CS. HOLD
BACK STEP Of
PROGRESS
Use Of Electrical Devices Also
Hampered by ''Knocks'
of Detractors.
BY SUSAN ELLEN DODGE.

Dy COSAN Ek4AAN DUDUANs
The man who advanced the theory
that the world was round and that
if you sailed to the west you would
reach the east, practically took his
| life in his hands. Ridiculous! The
world was flat. Everyone knew 1t.
Everyone knew, too Though no one
had been found with the courage to
attempt to prove IT'D that there was
Jumping off place. which, when
reached, would plunge YOU forthwith
| into eternity.
Chains, prison, loss Of position and
estates and even physical torture
has been the reward melted out to
the few courageous souls who have
dared to defy the ''they say OF the
mob mind.
Even il the public by and large
has not resorted to violence it has
invariably and inevitably fallen back
| upon an attitude of supreme dis
belief. Even so recently as 1898
crowds congregated upon the shore
of the Hudson river to moot and
howl at Robert Fulton because he
was such an idiot as to imagine q
boat could be run by steam! Why.
1t simply could not be done. Every
one (again) knew that.
Other Dettactors.
The automobile inventors. hackers
and enthusiasts, the Wright brothers
and their faction met with the same
reception from the public. Added to
all else decreed the masses, even If
these two feats, motoring and aero
planning, could be accomplished, they
would ever live through a ride.
Least of all would such modes of
transportation really become pop
u1ar.
Today, as we look back down the
years. such an attitude towards the
march Of progress seems childlike
and absurd.
Yet how many persons, right
among your own friends, can you
recall remarking that a vacuum
cleaner would never be accepted by
the general public for cleaning
rooms; that there was no method of
laundering clothes so good as the
old fashioned washtub and that cleo
trio washing was merely a FAD
that had no foundation in actual
usage?
Sceptics Of Progress.
Go back still a. little farther. AsI
late as 1879. when many folks we're
coming to believe in the commercial
possibility of electric lighting (the
method in which the vanguard OF
modern electric service" generally
was introduced to uS so learned a
man as one of the Fellows of the
Royal Academy Of Science of Great
Britain came out in print with the
following sweeping denunciation:
During the intervening thirty
years l have abstained from further
| meddling with electric light, be-
cause all / had seen then and have
heard since has convinced me that
though as a scientific achievement
the electric light is a splendid sue
cess, it's practical application to all
| purposes where cost is a matter Of
serious consideration is a complete
failure and must Of necessity con-
tinue to be sou
The modern world today, with it's
| maze and blaze of electric lights on
| every hand, refutes those last four
| words beyond the shadow of a
OOuOI. TAU inventors ana expert
mentors rested upon the statement
OF the scientist just quoted we
would not have the marvellous light
ing system that we know today.
Similarly, the detractors of electri-
cal service in general and of such
devices as the dishwasher,. electric
refrigerator and electric range in
particular may have cause, within
the, next ten years. to eat their
words, just as would the learned
British gentleman of the eighteenth
century were he to come back to
earth tomorrow.
Electrical development is still OBJ.
Viously in its infancy. But electri.
cal service, both domestic and COM
merclal, is here to stay. Boosts will
give this service greater Roadway
than knocks. Why not start your
bit of elect rical ssrontiracr,n