The Electric Age

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 11, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 40.

We have heard of “the stone age,” “the iron age,” “the steel age,” and all men wish for “the golden age.” This, however, seems to be becoming an electric age. Electricity has been called the life-force of all things earthly, and mechanically it is swiftly swinging that way. Generated by some great water-power up among the mountains, the busy, vibrating fingers of the giant propels machinery for all sorts of purposes a hundred miles away. In the parlance of the workshop, wherever the “juice” can be furnished at a reasonable rate, there its marvels are in evidence.

These thoughts were emphasized by a visit to the great electrical exposition held in San Francisco, September 19 to 24. It was an exhibit of electricity applied to almost every mechanical device of human utility and necessity, and in simplicity, neatness, and power always to advantage. We have not space to mention a tithe of the things exhibited, or to dwell upon any of them; therefore a reference to the few must suffice for all. The manager, Mr. Moses, was very courteous, and took pains to point out some of the most wonderful and novel exhibits.

In one section were great drills boring into solid rock and steel as tho they were wood. By five different patterns of vacuum cleaners the housewives’ cleaning woes were lessened. There were beautiful electric automobiles run with storage batteries, clean and odorless. An electric kitchen was in evidence, in which food was neatly and quickly cooked and served. The process of wireless telegraphy was shown, and messages from ships at sea were received. Electricity brought you within hearing of sermons preached and bands playing many miles distant. The telautograph copied in a good imitation of your own handwriting, your letter or autograph, on one sheet, while you inscribed it upon another. The copying machine might have been in another city 1,000 miles away. Another device, patented in San Francisco, writes in a large hand on a distant bulletin-board while the operator manipulates a keyboard or typewriter. If you wish to send a night letter over the telegraph wires, your message is taken, and comes out of the machine in a tape perforated with dots and dashes of the Morse alphabet. This perforated tape is fed into another machine; and 500 miles away, perhaps, an electric typewriter automatically writes out the letter recorded on the perforated tape.

Great improvements have been made in electric lighting, both in lessening the price and making it much more effective in light-producing power, although human invention is yet far behind the glowworm in economy of energy. In one corner two cows were milked twice daily by an electric milking machine. An interesting exhibit was that of a man permitting 100,000 to 150,000 volts of electricity to pass through him. A paper could be lighted by contact with him, and other manifestations showed that he was supercharged. Eleven thousand volts would immediately kill. The secret is that in the high-frequency, alternating current the vibrations are so rapid from each direction that the nerves do not get time to respond, and hence receive no shock.

The whole exposition was an interesting and instructive exhibit, and it brought forcibly to the writer’s mind the ancient prediction of this time, uttered by the messenger of God to the aged prophet by the River Hiddekel, “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. 12:4. In the light of this and other prophecies of the Book, these great discoveries and advancement ought to lead men to Him whose understanding is infinite, and whose lesser manifestations of power and wisdom exceed all human devices.