The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-02-12
COOLIDGE BEST
IN FIELD, SAYS
EDISON
inventor, on 18th Birthday,
Feels He Is Good for Ten
More Years.
By JACK CARBERRY,
International News Service.

@-SNs-~NSSANN~~ENA
WEST ORANGE, N. J., Feb. H.
THE 1924 Presidential campaign
situation has not fully developed,
out Of all the. candidates SO far
famed think the best man il
Calvin Coolidge"
Thomas A. Edison. the silver
haired electrical wizard, celebrating
mis- seventy-seventh birthday ami
versary today, made this statement
in an interview granted newspaper
men in his laboratories here this
morning.
The famous inventor arrived at
his desk at $50 o'clock, looking hale
and hearty. He had been up at I
o'clock and had a long walk. He
said he will be prepared for four or
five hours Of hard work, after which
he would attend banquet in his
honor.
Won't Discuss Ford.
Beyond expressing his confidence
IN Coolidge, Edison said he did not
want to discuss the political situa-
ton further. He laughed off the
suggestion that he say something
about his close friend, Henry Ford.
Asked how he felt, Edison smiled
and said:
Like man of forty! I'm a
little more awkward, but I can get
around pretty nearly as well as ever.
I'm seventy-seven today, yes-but
I'm good for ten more years any.
way"
On Edison's desk as he talked
were sheafs of kilograms from adj
miring friends all over the country.
There was one tremendous telegram
printed across a cardboard seven
feet square. 1t contained the sig
natures of $4,000 friends in Detroit.
Radio Next Thing.
Radio, Edison said. is the most
important electrical achievement in
the last year.
will radio supplant the wire
telephone?" Edison was asked.
No" he answered. Neither
will there ever be planetary
communication by radio, nor ever
will the radio supplant the news
"Will the human eye ever be
transmitted over the telephone-will
we have the seeing telephone?' he
was asked.
mot likely-such an instrument
hasn't a great enough commercial
value"
Edison said that when Americas
coal and oil supplies are gone, sci
ence will have perfected that which
will make it possible for the sun.
the tide, the wind, and vegetable
growth to supply our power. But,
he added, up to the present time
nothing has been accepted to con-
serve the suns energy, although
may he developed to
make this possible and practicable.
What will be the most important
electrical invention Of the future?"
was another question shot at him.
"A system Of connecting power
stations and the development Of
water power stations to operate the
system. The system itself could be
applied to farm power and trans
portation. 1t would result in the
identification Of railways"
Your own inventions, Mr.. Edi-
SOM"
II have worked on many things
in the last year, none of which
have come to a head except a lot of
automatic machinery"
Edison aligned himself with the
modernists in the clash over the
Bible, saying it is "a fight marking
the transition from myths to facts"
Regarding the modern young
woman he said:
Generally speaking she is all
right. But the girls Of today are
foolish-but not seriously so."~
He said he had lost some of his
faith in his famous QUESTIONABLE.
There are elements in the ques-
tionnaire, he said. that weaken it
as a means Of selecting good men
for positions. 49,,
Asked his philosophy of life, he
answered:
Work"
Edison said he has stopped read
ing fiction. He has grown tired
of it.
The world, he asserted, is slowly
getting better.
He said he favored a college edu.
cation.
Man, in Edison's opinion, has not
reached his full physical develop
ment.
II believe in the physical rejuven-
Grafton of man." he said, "but-
(smiling1I don't want to try it on
myself, not at IT,"