Volume Vi Part 20 (2/2)
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Guglielmo Marconi and his wireless telegraph.
German experiments developed an electric surface car with a speed of two miles a minute. Wireless telegraphy came into use. By means of high masts rigged, with wires diverging to the earth somewhat like the frame of a partly opened umbrella, it was found possible under favorable atmospheric conditions to telegraph hundreds of miles through the air.
The most notable use of this invention was to communicate between s.h.i.+ps and the sh.o.r.e or between s.h.i.+ps at sea, a particularly desirable facility in fog, storm, or darkness, when other signals were useless.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Four steel towers and some small buildings.]
Marconi Transatlantic Station at South Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Ma.s.s.
Electricity and the gasolene engine were applied to bicycles, vehicles, and boats, often generating sufficient power to run a small factory.
Bicycles somewhat pa.s.sed from vogue, but automobiles became fas.h.i.+onable, partly for rapid transit, partly for work formerly consigned to heavy teams. Auto-carriages capable of railway speed, varying indefinitely in style and in cost, might be seen upon the smoother roads about cities all the way from Maine to California. They exerted great influence in inducing communities to macadamize roads, for which the pa.s.sing of the stage-coach and the spread of railroads had diminished the demand.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Man standing on a metal frame beneath a balloon about fifty feet long and fifteen feet in diameter.]
Courtesy of Scientific American.
The ”Arrow” getting under way.
Effort with flying machines was incessant but only partially successful.
No air-s.h.i.+p had thus far been devised which could undertake a definite voyage of length with any certainty of reaching its destination. The best feat yet was that of the air-s.h.i.+p Arrow, which, October 25, 1904, at St. Louis, made a ten-mile trip. On the other hand, the development of boats able to carry life for hours beneath the surface of the sea added a new form of attack and defence against the well-nigh impenetrable sides and enormously powerful guns of modern naval s.h.i.+ps.
About 1890 the use of the Australian ballot system became general, and thus the purchase of votes became more difficult. But this reform did not eliminate the evils of machine politics. State laws were extended to the control of party affairs, with severer punishments for corrupt practices, the control of lobbying, and the requirement of publicity for campaign expenses. In a few States the primary election system was put into operation. Public officers won popular approval in numerous States and cities by their activity in revealing ”graft” and by their fearless enforcement of the law.
These reforms were made possible by the increase of independent voting in State and city politics. Politicians must reckon, as never before, with the demand of the average citizen for honesty in public service.
The influence of corporations in governmental affairs received a check, and there came to be a growing demand for the more complete control of public utilities, and for the public owners.h.i.+p of them in cities.
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Courtesy of Scientific American Baldwin's airs.h.i.+p ”Arrow” at a height of 600 feet over the Exposition Palaces, St. Louis, October 25, 1904.
The prominence of the moral element in the business and political reforms mentioned above characterizes this as an era of ”awakened civic conscience.” Both moral and economic considerations may be seen in the protest against the excessive use of alcoholic liquors that has resulted in the prohibition of liquor selling in a number of States and parts of States, especially in the South. Educationally, the period showed increased attention to the industrial and practical aspects of school work. Courses in manual training came to be regarded as necessary for the complete development of mind and body. Physical education received greater attention. The establishment of public libraries, aided by the munificent gifts of Andrew Carnegie, was rapid.
Millions of dollars, also, were contributed to the cause of education and research. Among the most notable of these gifts were those by Mr.
Carnegie for the establishment of the Carnegie Inst.i.tution and the Carnegie Foundation, and the contribution to the General Education Board by John D. Rockefeller. In 1902 the Carnegie Inst.i.tution at Was.h.i.+ngton was established by a gift of $10,000,000 by Andrew Carnegie. This sum he afterward increased to $25,000,000. The work of the inst.i.tution is to carry on scientific study and research. Material is being collected for the economic history of the United States, and students of American history have been aided by the catalogues showing the location of doc.u.mentary and other source material. While the head-quarters of the Inst.i.tution is in Was.h.i.+ngton, important departments are located elsewhere throughout the country. There is a laboratory at Tucson, Arizona, for the study of desert plant life; a biological laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island; a marine biological laboratory at Tortugas, off the Florida coast, and an astronomical observatory at Mount Wilson, California.
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Atlanta, Ga.
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