Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-22
BY the Associated Press.

/
DEARBORN, Mich, october 81
President Hoover's address here last
/ night in Connection with the Edison cele-
/ bration follows in full:
Fellow Country Men and Women:
This ceremony is a part of the cele-
bration Of Mr.. Edison'S invention Of the
electric lamp. 1t is also the dedication
of the Edison Institute Of Technology,
the gift of MFR. Ford. Both are in fact
national tributes to Mr.. Edison.
The multiplication of the amount
Of light in the world thousandfold is
worthy of celebration, for darkness is
forbidden limitation upon righteous
human activities.
When Mr. Edison invented the cleo
trio lamp he may perhaps have thought
Just to produce plain light and more o.
it at less cost. I surmiSe that his Wild
est ambition was to relieve the human
race from the curse of always cleaning
oil lamps scrubbing up candle dripS
and everlaStingly carrying one or the
other of them about. He may have
thought to add safety to Chicago
against a second accident from an oil
lamp. But the electric lamp has found
infinite variety of unexpected uses. 1t
enables us to postpone our spectacleS
for a few years long; 1t has made read
by merely pushing button we have in
troduced the element of surprise in
dealing with burglars; the COLLINS that
lived in dark corners and under the bed
have now been driven to the outdoors;
evil deeds which inhabit the dark have
been driven back into the fartheSt le-
treats of the night; it enables the doc
tor to peer into the receSses OF our in
sides: II substitutes for the hot-wat2r
bottle in aches and pains: it enables
our cities and towns to clothe them
selves in gayety by night, no matter how
sad their appearance may be by day.
And by all its multiple uses 1t has
heightened the hours of our active lives.
decreased our fears, replaced the dark
with good cheer, increased our safety,
decreased our toll and enabled us to
read the type in the telephone book. 1t
has become the friend of man and child.
Illustration Of Value.
In making this, as in other great in
ventions, MI. Edison gave an outstand-
ing illustration of the value of the mod
ern method and system of invention,
by which highly equipped, definitely or
ganized laboratory research transforms
the raw material Of scientific knowledge
into new tools for the hand of man.
venticn had been the infrequent and
haphazard product of genius in the
Woodshed. But science has become too
sophisticated being to be wooed In
such surroundings. Nowadays thou
sand applied science laboratories, sup
ported by industries of our country,
yearly produce host of new inventions.
I can perhaps illustrate this modern
method Of invention. The fundamental
natural laws of electricity were discov-
cred three-quarters of century ago by
Faraday, Hertz, Maxwell and other
great investigators in the realms OF pure
physics and mathematics. Faraday dis
covered that energy could be trans
formed into electricity through induc-
tion-the theory of the electrical gen.
orator. It was one of the momentous
discoveries of history. 1t is related that
Mr.. Gladstone was induced to visit
Faraday's laboratory to see this new
scientific contraption.. When Gladstone
is said to have made the characteristic
practical mans inquiry, will this ever
be of use to mankind?" Faraday re-
piled, Some day you will collect taxes
from it,
Mr.. Edison, using organized, sys-
tematic laboratory research, has been
one of the great leaders who have con-
verted the pure physics OF electricity
into taxable product. Today 5he gov
ernments of the world levy upon up
ward Of so billions OF new wealth
founded upon electricity.
But the taxes and new wealth are