Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, February 15, 1903, Page 27

d Edison Tells of Intended Vacation (Copyright, 1903, by Allen V. Gillespie.) HOMAB A. EDISON, In a staine spotted suit and an old slouch hat, drawn well down on his e forehead, straightened up from a dilapidated little table over which he had been beuding, threw a stub of a pencil down on a yellow pad of paper, and settled back in an arm chair. “At last,” he said “I've finished work on my storage battery and now I'm going to take a rest.” He gazed thoughtfully out of a window of his laboratory office for a moment. “For I'm tired—very tired,” he added gimply. “I'm all worn out.” Next second his eyes twinkled merrily. “Yes, I've planned for a great vacation,’ briskly and enthusiastically, “and it will tegin after I've spent a few weeks in Florida, where I'm going in a few days. And the best part of it all is this—it will last two years."” Mr. Edison rubbed his hands in anticl- patory joy. “I'm going to have a fine time—splen- did time during these two years. I'm just going to rest. Yes, sir, that's what I'm going to do, and I'll tell you how I'm going to do it. Up in my house across the street I've a big book of over 400 pages filled with notes that I've jotted down from time to time during the last fifteen or twenty years. They relate to things that I've observed while working out my va- rious inventions, and I've simply put them down and done nothing with them because I've not had time to investigate these va- rious incidental phenomena. Now, how- ever, I'm tired—thoroughly tired—and I've made up my mind to drop industrial seci- ence for two whole years and rest myself by taking up pure science—by investigat- ing the thousand and one properties of metals and chemicals that I've got notes abgut in my book. “‘Strenuous vacetion? Not a bit of it. All I'm going to do is what every pure sci- entist does—the fellow who finds out the actions of metals and ¢(hemicals under di’- ferent conditions and in various combina- tions by experimenting, but who does not apply the results inlustrially. “Guided by my notes, I'm going to mix things in laboratory mortars and chemists’ tubes and what not and “vatch for results. That’s all pure science does. It never thinks things out, like industrial science. It just blunders, stumbles against discov- eries, while industrial science is the resvlt, in gredter part, of concentrated and con- secutive thought. “It will be fun and maybe I'll find out something worth while—who can tell? Any- way, I'm looking forward to a real good time, and, I believe, that by hustling a lit- tle I'll be able to investigate everything that I've notes about in my book.” What his notes relate to Mr. Edison will not disclose, except to say that one of his investigations will be conducted toward finding a wood that will be a good substi- tute for coal, when that fuel becomes more scarce and a great deal more cxpensive than at present. “I firmly believe,” said Mr. Edison, ‘‘that the time will come when we in this coun- try will secure mott of our heat from wood in some form or other. The wood that will be used will come largely from tropical South America, where sprouts spring into full-grown trees in three or four years. Then the vast Amarzonian forests will be worked and nourished on a scientific basis by capitalistic syndicates and the world's fuel supply thus conserved for all time. And science will find a way to make the wood almost, if not as good, for heating purposes as coal. Perhaps it will be used something after the manner of charvoal—I believe that charcoal will some day be pretty generally used in the place of coal. “But don't think that we'll live to see all this. The coal supply in this country is ST. VALENTINE'S MESSENGER—Photo by a Staff Artist. for greater than most people imagine. Im- mense deposits in the Hudson bay region are waiting to be opened, and great lignite beds are stiW unworked. Only ¢fter these and the present mines are worked out will people turn to the forests of tropical South America for their fuel. When that will be, time alone can tell-—perhaps not be- fore the days of our grandchildren's grand- children. But sooner or later it will*come, and it won't do any harm for me to follow up certain observations about tropical wood as a fuel that I jotted down in my book vears ago. It'll all be a part of my rest, you know, and recrcation means pleasure, doesn’t it?"” Mr. Edison thinks that the growing of wood for fuel on land in temperate Amer- ica would not prove remunerative enough for serious urdertaking. ‘““There are thousands of acres of now uncultivated land in this country admirably adapted for such a purpose,”” he said, “‘but the scheme is impracticable for the simple reason that our climate is not tropical enough to insure quick growth to the trees. After an acre was once cleared of wood, it would take sprouts six or eight or ten years to attain sufficient size for fuel pur- poses. This fact alone militates against such a plan to provide a substitute for coal. “Some enterprising fellow, though, could make a small fortune by securing control of several thousand acres of land of this de- scription already wooded and harvesting the crop. I have about 25,000 acres of stunted woodland up in the Orange moun- tains, and I've figured out that each acre is capgble of supplying the. fuel equiva= lent of a ton of coal. Just now in my lab- oratories I'i burning a iot of this wood, thus outwitting the men who these days are gecting two or three times the usual price for coal. “The scheme to secure heat by boring down to the earth's center also appeals to me as being impracticable, except in vol- The Great Western Stove compsny has just completed its new building, 66x 182, five stories high, on Harney street, between Ninth and Tenth, and have moved futo seme. The sbove cut shows the structure. Jobu Latenser was the architect. canic regiong. There the earth's crust is thin and the molten matter comparatively near the surface; hence, it could be easily reached and obtained by means of pipes sunk down to it and utilized for manufac- turing and heating purposes. In the non- volcanic regions, the crust is too thick and the molten interior so far distant that to reach it by boring would be a too prob- iematical undertaking for invested capital. And that part ¢f the world is non-volcanic where heat is needed for bodily comfort and fuel consuming industries thrive. “But while many men are busying them- selves with these and other schemes to se- cure heat, on the other hand, if the signs of the times count for anything, I be- lieve that the next few years will wiinees a great development of hitherto unworked coal ficlds by big manufacturers. The late coal strike has proved to them that they must have their own mines and in this way be independent of outside operatore and in- sure against enforced closing down of their mills for lack of fuel. “I happen to know of several owners of industrial establishments who are al- ready seeking to secure and work coal lands, and these men assurc me that many ¢! their rivals are aiming in the same direction.” Here Mr. Edison reverted to his vaca- tion. “Now that I'm about to take a rest and am beginning to get a true perspective of the last twenty years of my life, I begin to realize more than ever before how very little I know—how very little I have ac- complished. Why, witn all my work in electricity 1 don't know what electricity is. True, I've thought out several inven- tions and made my brain and body weary thereby, and 1l've got my name noised about, but what have I done—what do I know—after all? Why, simply this—very little, hardly anything, when we think of the things etill to be done and still to be learned--of the forces all around us ) W W The George H. Lee company bdbroke 44x132, three stories high, on Harney John Latenser is the archbitect. that we don’t understand in the least, that we scarcely dream of. ““Yes, sir; that's gospel truth. But say,™ Mr. Edison's eyes laughed merrily—they are eyes that never lose their sparkle and fire, no matter how tired the rest of their possessor’'s body may be—'‘perhaps 1'11 ‘learn a little bit of the unknown dur- ing my two years' vacation. Anyway, I'm going to work hard to do so, and 1'm going to have a fine rest.” Prepared for Him “What have you to say for yourself?"' ex- claimed the angry father as the prodigal put in his long-deferred appearance, “I knew you'd ask that,” the young fel- low replied. ‘“‘You thought you'd have me at a disadvantage. You remembered that I wasn't anything of a talker. But I'm pre- pared for you, father. If I can't say any- thing for myself I've got somebody here who can do the tatking for me. Come in, Gladys. Father, this i your new daughter- in-law.” His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper as he impressively added, “And gho's a professianal elocutionist, as you'll mighty soon find out.,”—Cleveland Plain Dealer. Exterminate Gypsy Moth The gypsy moth fight seems to be on once more, says the Springfield Republican. The gypsy moth committee of the State Doard of Agriculture in its report declares that the moth was under coutrol when the policy of extermination was abandoned. It holds that at present the abandonment has re- sulted in immense loss and in the im- pending danger that everything in the cast- ern part of the state will be eaten up. Now comes the mayor of Malden and peti- tions that the work be taken up once more and that the state pay $100,000 for the be- ginning. An Editor’s Journal The woes of a Billville editor are summed up in tne following memoranda: “Monday—Struck on the left ear with a rock, thrown by unknown party. “Tuesday—Mayor threatened to horse- whip us, but we were on the roof when he called. “Wednesday—Received one dollar on sub- scription and paid out six on the grocery bill. “Thursday—We have been officially in- formed that there is some chance of our being appointed postmaster before the next president is elected.”’--Atlanta Journal. A Young Old Man “I have had all the experience 1 want in politics,” said Senator Jones of Nevada, “and 1 think I had better begin and make some money by giving my entire time to business.” This is the declaration of a man 70 years old, who will retire from the senate with the termination of the present congress, and is next to the oldest senator in con- tinuous service in congress. What a text for some of our young men who feel old at 60 and whose minds dwell largely on peusions.—Boston Globe. Got the Worst of It A prominent Philadelphia clergyman tells this story on himself: “It was Sunday morning, and I had started for church. The family were preparing to follow, when the youngest, a Hh-year-old, protested, ‘I d) not want to go to church.’ ‘I don't feel much like it myself, Fred, this morning,’ replied his mother, ‘but we must go. Father has to go—has gon» al- ready, and he has to preach.’’’—Philadel« phia Ledger. ground this week for thelr new building, street, betwecn Eleventh and Twelfth,