The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1909)

24 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. are not marvels. They are the merest trifles in comparison with what we ought to have accomplished, what we hope some day will be accomplished. "Notwithstanding all we have done, we are in the infancy of our power to fathom the depths of nature and to learn her secrets. We are groping, but although in the dark we shall unravel, little by little, the mysteries of the unknown. "The trouble is our senses are limited to five. Oh, that we had one hundred! At present we cannot comprehend one-millionth part of the hidden resources of nature. We never discover anything until the force that is responsible for it has come in contact with something that has produced light, or heat, or sound, or something we can either feel, or see, or hear, or taste, or smell. "That accounted for the discovery of the Roentgen ray, which in turn led to the discovery of radium. So far as concerns the discoveries and evolution of scientific projects that have been witnessed this year, undoubtedly the most important up to date is the conquest of the air. But, although many forms of aerial machinery have been devised, aviators have a long road to travel before they attain perfection. Until they have learned the secret of the vulture they cannot say they have mastered the art of flying. Buzzard May Reveal Great Secret. "When I was in Florida last year I noticed these turkey buzzards, or vultures, perform all kinds of evolutions in midair without the quiver of a feather or the assistance of any breeze. They rose and fell, floated or glided at pleasure, apparently without exertion. How they did it I don't know, but I do know that until the secret has been learned by man the conquest of the air will not have been completed. "Still the fact remains that the aviators have forged the first link in the chain that will hold the key to this problem. I am convinced that in the near future some form of aerial machine will be employed for commercial purposes. It doesn't take long after an invention has once been made public for persons other than the inventor to improve on it. Progress from that point is extremely rapid. Probably the first use of the aeroplane will be the carrying of the mails. "Taking that into consideration — the rapid advance in aviation — it is well, perhaps, for the honor and glory of the mariner and the terrestrial traveler that Dr. Cook captured the pole when he did. Otherwise the prize would probably have been wrested from them by a navigator of the air. "Although this year has been noteworthy in respect of scientific progress, that progress, it must be borne in mind, has been more spectacular than solid in its results. The great and really useful inventions are yet to come. These will take the form of discoveries that will lift the 'submerged tenth' to the level of his fellow man. Tn other words, they will 'jack up' the workingman by providing automatic machinery that will perform all the menial tasks and thus compel him to fit himself for something better. Other inventions will provide pleasant and sanitary homes for the rental that is now paid for an unhealthy, dirty, dark tenement. Still others will reduce the cost of decent living to a minimum by detecting fertilization that will make fifty crops grow where one is yielded now. Thinks There Is a Surplus of "Highbrows." "Too little attention is paid to the elevation of the workingman. Our present condition of society is topheavy. We are overburdened with 'highbrows.' We have too many lawyers and professors and academicians. We have too much of the so-called 'higher education' and too many unread libraries. Nothing delights me more when I cross the ferries than the sight of the large number of workingmen reading newspapers. The newspapers constitute the great democratic library from which most of us can derive our education. "The workingman doesn't want charity or professional philanthropy. That's all punk. He wants to be, and he has a right to be, as indepen dent as the proverbial 'hog on ice.' The moment you offer him something for nothing he becomes suspicious. I know that because I am a workingman myself. Give him value for his money, but don't build a house at a cost of $3,000 and sell it to him for $1,000. That's punk, too. Build a house at a cost of $1,000 for material and labor and sell it to him for $1,200, so that the builder gets a reasonable profit and the purchaser gets the worth of his money. "In that connection I may say that I have almost finished my mold for a cement house that can be rented at less than is paid for the cheapest of flats in the crowded tenements of New York." "Why not pour cement warships?" asked one of Edison's cronies jokingly. "Why not?" retorted the inventor, with a twinkle in his eye. "They would be much cheaper than steel, and if they were lost all you would have to do would be to pour a few new ones. If you are going to war why not have twenty or a dozen molds and pour out a cement fleet whenever you needed one? But, joking aside, cement is going to be a much greater factor in the affairs of life than it is at the moment." Cook Shows What American Pluck Can Do. Reverting to the discovery of the pole and the inventions of the year, Edison said: "I do not know that Cook's work has any particular value from a practical and scientific viewpoint, but it has great value as a demonstration of what American pluck and energy and brains can accomplish, and as a stimulus for others to do something that will make their names as famous and aid their fellow man. "Aren't we Americans great people? We call ourselves Americans, but as a matter of fact we are not. We are a lot of crossbreeds, and in that lies our power. 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