Evening star., 1936-11-22
From 1886 to 1886

From tallow candle to 1,000-watt
lamps, from 10 miles an hour to 200
miles an hour, from wheel track
through the mud to concrete high
way, from mounted messenger to tele-
graph and telephone, from lightning
rod to radio antennae. from an aver
age life Of IS years to an average
life Of go years.
Such is the progress which will be
celebrated and the story which will be
told in pageantry and oratory tomor-
row when leading scientists, inventors,
industrialists and public oficiak
gather here to celebrate the Tooth an
niversary of the establishment Of the
present American patent system. 1t
will be the story, according to mem
bers of the committee who have ar
ranged the program. of the most mar
velous episode in mans 10000 years
of history-in which his strength has
been increased q thousandfold, the
days of his life almost double, the
established ways Of life Of hundred
centuries disrupted, and luxuries made
available to the poorest which were
beyond the dreams Of the richest.
Jackson Signed Bill.
Andrew Jackson was President In
1886. When he came to washington
from Tennessee he rode in a horse
drawn coach, over the worst sort OF
roads. The earliest steamboats, were
rhtfnniyar - ,iu poi1Pao de
were still In the future. So were the
telegraph, the telephone, the radio,
the automobile, the airplane, the gas
oline engine, gas lights, electric lights.
the typewriter, water systems. sewer
age systems. diphtheria antitoxin, and
million other things which since
have penetrated the obscurest corners
Of the world.
When Old Hickory signed the bill
creating the patent law system in force
today he probably didn't think it
mattered further after the wonders of
the eighteenth century. But even then
men were working obscurely on the
frontiers of science. often laughed at
by their fellows. who were responsible
for the wonders to come.
Those who have arranged the present
celebration are making no such mis-
take for they feel that it is highly prob
able that the progress Of the past
century will seem insignificant when
compared with that Of the century to
come.
Washington Focal Point.
Washington will be the focal point
of a celebration that will be Nation
wide with high schools, colleges, Ii
braries and museums all over the
country cooperating with special ex-
hibits of local inventions. Thus at
Columbus will be exhibited the orig
inal model Of John Fitch's steam
engine and the first automobile used at
Columbus; the Edison Institute at
Dearborn, Mich, will exhibit the orig
inal models of the inventions Of
Thomas A. Edison. At the Milwaukee
museum will be staged o complete ex-
hibit of that city's most famous inven-
ton, the typewriter.
The United States National Museum
Is exhibiting the original model Of Eli
whitney's cotton gin and the famous
Selden automobile. The Library OF
Congress will display rare books relat-
ing to American inventions.
There arrived In Washington TO-DAY
from Ithaca, N. Y, Cornell Univer-
sity's most priced possession, the nrst
telegraph instrument on which the
classic message, What hath Coo
wrought?" was received on May "A,
1874. It was on the success Of this
invention that Ezra Cornell, the hrst
superintendent Of the telegraph line
between Baltimore and Washington,
built up the fortune which made pos
sible the founding Of the university.
At the centennial banquet tonor-
row night the same telegraph line