Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 7, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 May 1931 — Page 4

PAGE 4

SC* IPPJ-HOWAjtO

The People Win The right of the people to own and operate their own gas plant has been ratified by the supreme court. That is the first final victory. There are still other barriers to be mounted. Greed fights forever. There ’may be other legal complications brought by those who would profit from the toil of others. Bankers and bond holders and privateers do not readily relinquish their hopes of exploitation. The next step for the people is to safeguard the one utility which is theirs. They should own others. They should own the water plant, the electric plant, the transportation lines. Not, of course, at fancy prices. Public operation should do much to advance the common interests. It can, if partisan politics can be kept away from control. Back to the Ox Cart The approval of the additional tax on chain stores by the supreme court suggests that this body believes that the way back to prosperity is a return from the automobile to the oxcart. The chain store is mass distribution. It is the logical sequence of mass production and of mass banking. It is the legitimate child of efficiency. In some form it is necessary. In many states, and in this one, the privately owned chain store is combated by the co-operative chain in which large numbers of individual merchants work together in their buying and are thus enabled to compete with the mass buying of the larger and privately owned and managed chains. There may be a debate as to the advisability of private control of a large number of links. There may be a great argument in favor of the co-operative ao a means of preservation of the traditions of the individual merchant. There can be no argument in favor of a return to the old methods of buying and merchandising. The chain store, privately owned or co-operative, is a step forward because it eliminates waste. Now the state will collect a penalty for efficiency. It adds a heavier tax upon the units of chains for the privilege of doing business. The supreme court has upheld thet legality of what wao an easy way for a perplexed Republican legislature to get money. Mass distribution can not be destroyed. It if has contributed anything to the new order it should not be penalized. This was a tax measure designed to get money without losing votes. The decision may suggest that in the very near future the word co-opera-tion instead of chain must be brought into our distributive system. Taxation based on the simple expedient of taxing those with the fewest votes is not the soundest system. A World Court Job The utility of the world court as a necessary part of international peace machinery is demonstrated anew in the agreement of the powers at Geneva to get its opinion in the Austro-German customs union dispute. This dispute has drifted from bad to worse, until it threatens the friendly relations of the chief European nations. By submission to the court, the dispute is shorn of much of its rancor and danger. A decision by the League of Nations council would be suspected as partisan. The council is dominated by France and Great Britain. Since the question at issue hangs on an interpretation of treaties forced upon the central powers by the victorious allies, Germany and Austria can not be expected to trust the decision of an interested political body, such as the council. Presumably the world court will reach its advisory opinion as a strictly judicial body, and not as a quasipolitical organization colored by the league council or by the nationality of the judges. Indeed, the importance of this case is such that the impartiality of the court itself is likely to be Judged by world opinion on the basis of its handling of this dispute. Even at worst—that is, if the court’s advisory opinion were in the end challenged as unfair—this machinery would have provided that delay and cool-ing-off process which is an essential factor in the maintenance of peace in the midst of national friction. * As to the merits of this particular dispute, it appears to most neutral observers that Germany and Austria are in the right and France in the wrong. A customs union is not a political union. The purpose of the St. Germain treaty and the Geneva protocol provisions, which France claims are violated by the proposed customs union, was to guarantee Austrian independence. Thus the French contention seems to be a boomerang. For, if the former allies of the league council can prevent Austria from entering a beneficial economic arrangement which would not infringe her sovereignty, then are not the former allies or the league council guilty of violating Austria’s rights as an independent nation? Apart from legal technicalities, the case for an Austro-German customs union is equally strong. It is a commonplace, admitted by the French, that tariffs and other trade barriers are pauperizing Europe. Germany and Austria are in serious economic condition. They have waited a long time for a European customs union to bring relief, but that larger customs union probably will remain for many years merely a pious hope. Meanwhile, it would be both unjust and unwise to delay such trade agreements between Germany and Austria and any other nations ready to accept their invitation to join them. The trouble is that France and her allies want to have thfeir cake and eat it. They disarmed Germany and Austria, and, despite their pledge, refuse to disarm themselves. f Having crippled Germany and Austria economically by a self-defeating settlement of conquerors, they now would outlaw a helpful Austro-German customs union because they are too selfish or stupid to join in. That is the kind of international dictatorship which can not and should not last. American Income Except In periods of obvious and serious depression, the current rhetoric' emphasizes the contention that every American is prosperous. Indeed, one reason why a stronger organized labor movement and a labor party never have taken hoi& in this I-

The Indianapolis Times t IA BCBIPPB-HOWABD SEWSPAPEBi Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indlanapolla Times Publishing 214-220 West Maryland Street. Indianapolis. Ind. Price in Marlon County. 2 ccnta a copy; elsewhere, 3 cents—dellyered by carrier, 12 cents a week. BOYD GURLEY, ROY W. HOWARD. FRANK G. MORRISON. Edltor President Busineaa Manager PHONE—Riley 5551 TUESDAY. MAY 19. 1931. Member of United Press, Scrlpps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

country is this belief that everybody is theoretically on his way to becoming an independent capitalist. A little study of the income tax figures for 1929 would be very cogent and illuminating in this regard: There were something more than 40,000,000 gainfully employed in the United States in 1920. Os these only 4,034,702, or less than one-tenth, had incomes large enough to require any income tax at all. Os this tenth, those who paid, 3,065,701 had incomes under $5,000. They possessed only 34 per cent of the total income reported. At the other end of the line, there were 38,650 millionaires. Some 504 reported incomes of more than $1,000,000 each, averaging $2,300,000 apiece. More than twenty were added in 1929 to the list of those with incomes of more than $3,000,000. The figures present pretty good evidence of how likely the average American is to butt into millionaires’ row, or even tc put any considerable buffer between himself and the sheriff or bill collector. Paying Dues Too Blithely Why is it that Americans protest violently against taxes, but pay dues cheerfully? Generally speaking, the taxes are spent more wisely and economincally than the dues, and those who pay them get a larger benefit. In one American city a group of men has formed, not a club, but the habit of lunching at a certain place on a certain day. A part of the group is permanent, but each week several persons are invited .who can contribute to the informal discussion of the subject of the day. This group has no membership, no name, no dues. Yet those who attend claim that they have seen more constructive civic wprk done as the direct result of the informal discussion of this “luncheon club” than through other ambitious, highly touted organizations of which they are “members.” Dues are not always as necessary and useful as they are represented to be. If we analyzed the results more carefully, we might not greet the tax collector with a kick and the secretary-treasurer of the Royal United Order of Bulls with a glad hand. Faulty Logic Alderman James F. Kieman of New York City proposes to kick all Communist students out of the New York public schools. He was incensed at the report that thousands of school children marched in the May day parade. He offers a resolution demanding that all students be dismissed if they henceforth join any Communist demonstration. Let us for the moment agree with Mr. Kiernan that Communism is an uniquely dangerous thing— Indeed, let us concede that it is tenfold more devilish than the alderman contends.. Would it be wise to turn Communist pupils into the streets? ' If Communism is a bad philosophy of life, then what we want to do is to convince incipient Communists that they are getting off on the wrong foot. And the only place where this salutary conversion can be executed is in the schools. If we turn such pupils loose, they will flock to Communist headquarters and absorb just so much more radical virus. Keep them in the schools and teach them sound civics and economics. If this will not divorce the adolescent reds from the error of their ways, then Communism must be pretty invulnerable or the teaching in the New York schools distressingly feeble. The same reasoning may be applied to the bill in the California legislature designed to withhold diplomas from all students “suspected of being disloyal to the established government.” After all, the schools must take final responsibility for the ideas possessed by students upon graduation. ■Further, the query might be raised as to whether good old Amerircan traditions would permit questioning the private political and economic opinions of any student who had met all formal requirements for graduation. “Keep your hands to yourself,” as the bridge player said to his talkative partner. No, Dorothy, the Wilkins submarine crew won’t drink anti-freeze no matter how cold It is up at the pole this summer. You can usually depend on the Bkbe to give you a run for your money.

REASON

OUR solicitude for the recovery of gangsters, shot in action, is one of the sweetest things in life. Here’s a story of a gunman, shot after he had killed a policeman, and they rushed him to a hospital and summoned the best surgeons to save his hide a a a This not enough; it is all right so far as it goes, but we are taking too many chances on losing these fellows. We should delegate a personal physician, also a surgeon to go with each one of them in his battles; we should eliminate all the hazards of the profession, if it be possible, tt tt a IT is now 2 a. m. and we pause in the writing of this coiuriin and turn round to eat a light lunch, and what do you suppose it is—a small piece of cinnamon toast which one of the kids fixed and brought up five hours ago, on his way to the blankets. a tt a These are the little touches which make an ordinary fellow feel like a million dollars; they are the things that make you feel that helping bring up a j bunch of Americanos is about the most important and : the most satisfactory business on this planet. a tt AND this reminds us some years back when every- j body in Indiana had the flu. We were all horizontal at our house, all of us except one kid of 9 or 10, and he was busier than any number of cranberry merchants. a a a We can h ar him yet as he struggled up the stairs with a tray and dishes and the ham and eggs that *id turned out would have brought any vegetarian to repentance. Cook them? You bet your sweet life he cooked :hem! a a a WE see the ether day where the king of Slam, recovering from his surgical operation, had some of his native music given by a radio station in Bangkok broadcast across the world to him in New York. It’s something of an age, fellow citizens. Music is a wonderful nurse for a set of scrambled nerves. You may remember that when the incomparable George Rogers Clarke had to have his leg amputated back in the days when there were no anesthetics, he nad a fife and drum played as they sawed away on iim. a a a The Presbyterian hospital of Chicago has reduced the cost cf a baby case to $45, but it isn’t the original investment that counts; it’s the jMikeep

DV FREDERICK V x LANDIS

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

If the World Court Can Pdss Only on Questions Where There Is Little or No Disagreement, It Is of Small Value . THE Austro-German union will be placed before the world court if England has her way. That is where it belongs, -and where it should have been placed long ago. The world court was instituted tc decide just such issues. The fact that this one is peculiarly irritating and might lead tc open defiance of the court, no matter hew it was decided, should noi be made an excuse for hesitancy. If the world court can pass onlj on questions which involve little or.no disagreement, it is of small value. A decision with regard to the Austro-German customs union soon would shew whether it is the real thing. tt tt tt Sugar Shows the Way INTERNATIONAL problems have reached a point where we either must allow trained experts to attempt their solution, or admit that they are too big for human intelligence. Leaders of the sugar industry have met and arranged a program which they think will work. Leaders of the wheat industry are trying to do the same thing in their field. It is going to be much harder to handle wheat than sugar, not only because wheat growers are more numerous, but because the industry has not been so well organized. tt 3t tt Difficult Problem SINCE no country has been able to obtain a reduction of wheat acreage, either by force or persuasion, it is difficult to sefe how a group of countries can hope to do so. It is equally difficult to see how a group of countries can prorate the amount of wheat that each will be allowed to export, or that such a course would be economically or morally sound if they could. Somehow or other, arbitrary interference with pro;:. ction of a basic food does not appeal to those who take a positive view of human progress, especially at a time when millions upon millions of people are hungry. tt it

A Costly War SIX hundred fifty airplanes make mimic war for two weeks. It will cost the taxpayers of this country $3,000,000 dollars and, if the law of averages holds good, four pilots will die. Another 650 airplanes will carry passengers, mail and express, as usual, paying their way, if nothing more, and seeking safety above all else. Es ch group is essential to the national defense. If we need organization and training from a strictly military standpoint, we also need the development of those activities and industries which supply and support the military establishment. tt a A Wise Policy SENATOR NYE is right in telling the independent merchants of , New York that they must organize too meet chain store competition. There is no alternative for the little independents today except to join a co-operative or a trust. The real difference between a cooperative and a trust is that the formen leaves some room for democratic ideals. Speaking of stores, the government has decided to permit only two in each class at Boulder City. Boulder City is being built to accommodate engineers, contractors, and workmen for the construction of Hoover dam. So much has been said about this gigantic project that thousands of people have come to look upon it as little less than anew El Dorado. The government could lease hundreds, if not thousands, of lots for stores, shops markets, gardens, and so on, l|ut only to cause irreparable loss to a multitude of foolish investors. / While the policy of restricting leases to only two stores of a kind at this time may disappoint many people, it is wise, and the government should be commended for adopting it. a We’re Not Going feroke IN Many districts of Poland, auto owners either are putting up or disposing of their cars, rather than pay the road taxes recently imposed. Americans will find it hard to understand such attitude. That is because the auto has become a family institution with them, because the wage scale and standard of living have made it possible for three out o! every four households to own an auto, because the auto has become a tremendous factor in their industrial and social life. Steel down to the lowest point in seven years and other stocks showing a sympathetic tendency to fall. Taking this an a text, one could write a gloomy chapter on our financial and industrial prospects. ♦'Still, the country did not go broke in 1924, when steel went down to par, and. the country is not going broke today.

Daily'Thought

He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, right and just is he.— Deuteronomy 32:4. Love of truth will bless the lover all his days.—Theodore Parker. What process is used in the hand etching of glass? Glass can be etched by using hydrofluoric acid. It is covered with beeswax, paraffine wax or some acid-resisting ink or varnish; the name or device is etched out of the wax by means of a stylus and the glass is dipped in hydrofluoric acid, which eats away the glass at those parts where the wax has been cut away. Can rats climb trees? Rats can climb anything on which they can get a foothold except a flat surface. This includes wire screens, ropes, wood casing and trees.

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Salt Is Important in All Diets

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor. Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hyereia. the Health Magazine. PURE sodium, one of the two elements in sodium chloride, or common salt, seldom is found except in chemical laboratories. It is a very active substance and extremely dangerous to handle. Many combinations of sodium with other substances are much usqd in diet and in industry. Baking soda is sodiym bicarbonate. It is estimated that the average man takes in his diet about half an ounce of sodium chloride every day. There are, however, other combinations of sodium secured in foods. No one knows exactly the minimum or maximum of sodium chloride that any one person ought to

IT SEEMS TO ME

MANY have expressed regret because Yale has dropped Latin out of its requirements. We will hear a good deal from now on about the value of the classics as a sort of intellectual calisthenics. And we will be told of the rich meadows which are open only to such scholars as know the prose and poetry of ancient days. In this there is a little truth and quite a bit of Bunkum. Undoubtedly the world has known some wise and happy raen who delighted in Virgil and in Homer. But these men who grew up with the classics almost invariably chose this field of their own volition. I am certain that not every snubnosed youngster who is shoved into Caesar eventually will develop into a man whose later years are warmed by his acquaintance with Greek and Latin. It is well to remember that the action of Yale university and of other colleges affects not sd much the college student as the boy in high school. ' Within a reasonable period It now seems posible to lift Latin off the backs of these youngsters. Greek is pretty well gone already. tt tt tt Nothing From Greek I SHOULD not generalize too much but speak for myself. And I can say without quaver that Greek

Questions and Answers

What is a person with a single track mind? When a person is so constituted that his mind runs in a single channel, that is to say he thinks only of one subject at a time and is not able to occupy his mind with diverse subjects, it is said of him that he has a “single track mind.” Some persons have the faculty of carrying a number of subjects in their heads at the time, while others can only think of one thing. Is a person born in the United States of alien parents eligible to become President? The fact that he is bom in the United States, regardless of his parentage, makes him a natural bom American citizen, and if otherwise qualified he is eligible for the presidency. What is Babe Rath’s salary this year, and when will his present contract expire? His contract calls for a salary of SBO,OOO a year, and it will expire at the close of the 1931 season. Wh at are the definitions of optician and oculist? An optician is one who makes and deals in. optical instruments; an oculist is one who is skilled in the treatment of diseases of the eye. What is the difference between a pure blood and registered horse? A pure blood is one of unmixed strains; for example, the offspring of an Arabian dam and sire are pure blood Arabian equines. A registered horse is recorded in the American Stud book showing its sire and dam. It must be the offspring of a registered mare and stallion of the same breed.

Careful, Samson!

have, but fortunately the human body is equipped with factors of safety so that it can get rid of excesses of various substances. The average human body contains at all times about three ounces of sodium chloride. Many vegetables contain another salt with an element similar to sodium, namely, potassium. A person who subsists on a vegetable diet craves salt because vegetables contain less sodium than does meat. The moment the salt in the human body falls below, the amount necessary a craving is set up. Salt also is important for suplying the chlorine element, since hydrochloric acid is secreted by the stomach regularly as an aid to digestion. Pepsin works as a digestive sub-

gave nothing to me and that I returned perhaps a little less. Back in the year 1906 it was possible to get into Harvard without Greek. But you had to substitute such a lot of other things that Greek seemed the easiest way. With other conscripts I sat in a classroom and listened while a bored young woman tried to fire us with enthusiasm for the adventures and the escapades of Xenophon. I can remember that on very many days he marched a certain number of parasangs and that he had the Euphrates river on his right hand. Sometimes this monotony was varied by the fact that he came to an uninhabited city. It was not particularly thrilling. Just why Xenophon marched and where he- was going now escape me. Ihe parasangs I marched with him seem to have been among the most pedestrian journeys of my entire lifetime. And so it was with all the rest. By an extraordinary miracle I got C minus in the entrance examinations, which was enough to get me by. That portal having been passed, I dismissed Xenophon and all his illustrious countrymen. tt a a Grammar Barred Gate AND here. I think, is one of the fallacies of the theory that the study of dead languages brings the youthful scholar closer to ancient civilizations which were glamorous and important. If I had read of Xenophon in a lively English translation, I might have had some interest and feeling for the fellow. Greece itself would have commanded my enthusiasm much more readily if I had been permitted to appioach it without climbing over its irregular verbs. And to dart for a moment into Latin, there is no question of the romantic role which Caesar possesses in the imagination of ail mankind. His commentaries serve not to lift, but to reduce him. I never have felt quite as en-

DECISION ON VOLUNTEERS May 19

ON May 19, 1917, It was announced that President Wilson had decided not to avail himself of the authority to organize volunteer divisions. A provision in the draft bill gave him authority to form four divisions of volunteers if he so desired. It was understood that former President Roosevelt was to head this volunteer army. What the President did announce, however, was that a division of the United States regulars would be sent to Prance at the earliest date practicable, to be commanded by Major General John J, Pershing, who had been in command of the expedition to Mexico. - The secretary of navy also announced on this day that 26,000 marines would accompany the Pershing expedition, ■‘ - T

stance only in the presence of hydrochloric acid. However, hydrochloric acid should not be taken by the average person in that form except on advice of a physician. Various diets have been developed free from large amounts of sodium chloride, because it is believed by some that there is a definite relationship between salt in the diet and the occurrence of various conditions affecting the blood pressure. Unless a person is greatly concerned by the presence of either one of these diseases he need give little attention to his salt intake. However, in the presence of unusual craving for salt, or, in fact, in any disease condition, it is well to be guided in such matters by competent advice.

nv HEYWOOD BROUN

thusiastic about him since the days I had to decipher lumbering sentences in which he said quite unfunny things and underscored them for himself as something tossed off “not unwittily.” And least of all did Cicero stir my youthful imagination when he conducted a city, affairs investigation into the life ;nd methods of Catiline. What was Catiline to me? I even began to doubt the sincerity of Cicero himself, because his sentiments were much too rounded to suggest an honest passion. It may be that in ancient Rome the thing called politics was • not unknown. (Copyright. 1931. by The Times)

People’s Voice

Editor Times—Several days ago I read in The Times that the present state police force was to be increased by forty new members, and that deserving Democrats would get the appointments. What we like to know is why Mr. Mayr Jr. doesn’t give some of his license department jobs to some deserving Democrats, instead of having it full of that old Jackson bunch, or does the state police force cover more political ground? TENTH WARD DEMOCRAT. Editor Times—lt generally has been conceded, even by the farm board itself, when it’s president said there is no hope for the wheat farmer unless acreage is reduced, that the farm bill has failed. Now, Mr. Watson and others are advocating the equalization or the debenture plan. Will Mr. Watson or seme one who advocates these plans explain them through the colums of the press, taking as their basis a crop of 900,000,000 bushels of what? In your explanation, senators of the equalization plan, please tell the farmers how the price will be fixed, how the loss on exports will be figured, and how the handling charge will be taken care of. FARMER.

For the Bride Our Washington bureau has ready for brides a packet of ten of its helpful bulletins, particularly interesting and valuable to the June bride* The titles are: 1. Love, Health and Marriage. j 6. Good proportions in Diet 2. Marital Happiness. 7. Menus for 50 Days. 3. Cooking for Two. 8. Budgeting Household Accounts. 4. Calorie Values of Foods. j 9. Household Hints. 5. Care of Food In the Home. 110. Safety in the Household. If you want this packet of ten bulletins, fill out the coupon below and send for it. Dept. A-l€, Washington Bureau, The Indianapolis Times, 1322 New York Avenue, Washington, D. C.: I want the Bride’r Packet of ten bulletins, and inclose herewith 30 cents in coin, or loose, uncanceled United States postage stamps, to cover return postage and handling costs. Name St. and No City State I am a reader of The Indianapolis Times. (Code Na>

Ideals and opinions expressed in this column are those of one of America’s most interesting: writers and are presented without regard to their agreement or disagreement with the editorial attitude of this paper —The Editor.

.MAY 19, 1931

SCIENCE -BY CkVIP DIETZ—-

The Whole World Is a Field for the Genius of Edison. Thomas a. edison i* known to, most people as a rather kindly old gentleman, who once upon a time invented the electric light and the phonograph, and who more recently spends hi' time thinking up trick questionnaires to confuse school students. It is also pretty generally known that he gets along on very little sleep and that he is hard of hearing. It is to be doubted, however, if most people realize how large a part Edison has played in ushering in the Age of Electricity. Edison began his career as an in-' ventor by making improvements intelegraph machines, although his first patent was for an electric vote' recorder. The patent was awarded on Oct.11, 1868. From that day on. the whole world, practically, has been" Edison’s field. His inventions include basic inventions in the field of electric dynamos, the electric light, the motion picture machine, the telephone, the telegraph, the storage battery*the electric railway, the talking movies, and the motion picture camera. One of the amazing things of his career has been the ease with which he turned from one field to another and the amazing rate at which he turned out his inventions. * a tt ‘ * Stock Tickers IN 1869, Edison went into partnership with Franklin L. Pope as an electrical engineer. This was thr year after he had obtained the pat-' ent upon his electric vote recorder.' His next inventions were improved stock tickors In 1870 he received $40,000 for some inventions, the first money which he received for In 1872 he assisted Sholes, the inventor of the typewriter, to make the first working model of that machine. During the next four years he made some dozens of inventions, ranging from paraffin paper to the quadruplex telegraph, which made, it possible to send four telegraph messages over one wire. He also invented many other, electrical devices during this time, During the course of his expert-, ments, he recognized the existence:, of certain electrical forces, thq, exact nature of which he could not, ascertain. He called them “etheric force.” Today we know that Edison had' come upon the electro-magnetio-waves which made radio possible. In 1876 he moved to Menlo Park, N. J„ where he located his laboratory. in the same year, he invented the carbon telephone transmitter. This transmitter made the tele-* phone a commercial possibility. This invention alone would have been enough to make him famous. But in the next year, he built his first crude phonograph. It used a coating of tinfoil wrapped around a brass cylinder for a record. The cylinder was removed by turning a crank by hand. It caused a tremendous sensation, and when first exhibited at a meet-., ing of the French Academy of Science, brought charges from one prominent member that a ventriloquist was hidden in the room. The phonograph was a great in-, vention to follow upon the heels of. the telephone transmitter. But be-" fore the year was up, Edison wasworking on the electric light. a Lighting System ALTHOUGH Edison made thefirst electric incandescent lamp,.* he did not makfe the first electric lighting system. The first lighting system employed arc lamps and was the work of Charles F. Brush of Cleveland. It was ideal for outdoors, and although a number of stores tried to use them, they were unsatisfactory,' because of the great heat. Edison put his first electric light” in operation on Oct. 21, 1879. The lamp burned for forty hours before giving out. Edison’s work only began with theinvention of the electric light. The. commercial use of the light required, the subsequent invention of suitable., dynamos or electric generators, meters, switches, and many other piece#of auxiliary apparatus. Edison opened an office in New ' York ot 65 Fifth avenue and beganto make plans for the commercial manufacture of electric lamps and the generation and distribution off electric power. A plant was established at Harrison, N. J., for manufacture of the lamps. The first commercial sta- * tion for the distribution of electric power was opened in New York on Sept. 4, 1882. In the next five years Edison took out more than three hundred pat--ents covering fundamental details ofthe electric power industry. Between 1887 and 1890, Edison took: out more than seventy-five patent* on the phonograph, his interest ap-’ parently having shifted back to that device. ;* In 1891 he patented a motion picture camera. Between then and 1900 he worked on a number of patents for the iron ore industry. The next ten years found Edison’#, attention chiefly upon the subject of the storage battery. During the war Edison worked, on forty-two different problems for; the United States govern; nent.