ting methods were unconsciously and
unwittingly prophetic of the latter-day long-distance transmissions at
high pressure that, electrically, have placed the energy of Niagara at
the command of Syracuse and Utica, and have put the power of the falling
waters of the Sierras at the disposal of San Francisco, two hundred
miles away. But within city limits overhead wires, with such
space-consuming potentials, are as fraught with mischievous peril to the
public as the dynamite stored by a nonchalant contractor in the cellar
of a schoolhouse. As an offset, then, to any tendency to depreciate the
intrinsic value of Edison's lighting work, let the claim be here set
forth modestly and subject to interference, that he was the father of
underground wires in America, and by his example outlined the policy now
dominant in every city of the first rank. Even the comment of a cynic
in regard to electrical development may be accepted: "Some electrical
companies wanted all the air; others apparently had use for all the
water; Edison only asked for the earth."

The late Jacob Hess, a famous New York Republican politician, was a
member of the commission appointed to put the wires underground in New
York City, in the "eighties." He stated that when the commission was
struggling with the problem, and examining all kinds of devices and
plans, patented and unpatented, for which fabulous sums were often
asked, the body turned to Edison in its perplexity and asked for advice.
Edison said: "All you have to do, gentlemen, is to insulate your wires,
draw them through the cheapest thing on earth--iron pipe--run your pipes
through channels or galleries under the street, and you've got the whole
thing done." This was practically the system adopted and in use to
this day. What puzzled the old politician was that Edison would accept
nothing for his advice.

Another story may also be interpolated here as to the underground work
done in New York for the first Edison station. It refers to the "man
higher up," although the phrase had not been coined in those days
of lower public morality. That a corporation should be "held up" was
accepted philosophically by the corporation as one of the unavoidable
incidents of its business; and if the corporation "got back" by securing
some privilege without paying for it, the public was ready to condone
if not applaud. Public utilities were in the making, and no one in
particular had a keen sense of what was right or wha