GREAT SOCIAL CHANGE.

Franklin Times, 3 January 1923, Page 5

GREAT SOCIAL CHANGE.

(By Charles A. Goff in.) ' Electricity, Mr Coffin points out, made the big city, and the distinguished head of the 'General Electric Company, now retiring, adds v that electricity may be expected to unmake the big city. It was necessary that the city come into existence first. Without cities we have found it impossible to attain a high degree of hlman culture. All the advantages of the city will-soon be possible on the farm without having rto put up with the unendurable iniquities oij city life. Economy, efficiency, and culture will soon he broad-casted.

These views were set forth by “the man who put electricity over,” and they are given to everybody by Charles W. Wood through the. New York “World.” It is just 40 years since Charles A. Coffin retired from manufacturing' to become head of the Thomson-Houston company, which later combined with the Edison Company, to become the General Electric, of which be. was president until his recent retirement. Electricity, he feels justified in saying, wiilf be the instrumentality through which the next great social change is to be wrought, and when Mr Wood asked ‘\How T the eminent electrician, replied : • “Electricity is not only the cleanest and most efficient servant that mankind ever had,, it is also the cheapest. It works for less than & coolie’s wage, and ifs wages are going dowty every day, while its i efficiency is being constantly increased. In addition to this, it does its own travelling, alt the rate of 186,000 miles a second, and doesn’t have to be transported. Heretofore we, have been compelling ft to take us to the city, and it has done so beautifully, mope quickly, and comfortably than we have ever been moved about before. Hereafter, we shall simply just touch a button and have to take the city out to us. “Heretofore,” he went on, “we have been mining coal and \ carrying dt across the country to be turned into power. Soon we will be sending the power across the country. If we persist in getting the power from coal, we shall at least bum the coal where it is mined, converting into electricity, and not use a big fraction of the power, as we do Ito-day in thie process of transporting it. “But there is eveiy indication that we shall go much further than that. In the country where our food grows is the best of all places to eat •it. Sending ity to the city costs much ■more than getting it out of the ground, and it has lost a lot of flavour by the time it has reached the ultimate consumer. Also, there, isn’t fooiri to live in the city, especially for children.' * They can’t have real homes. /They can’t stretch and grow, physically and spiritalty, as human children should. The city has almost destroyed the home, but it has provided other advantages which the modern man can hardly do without. If only these advantages could be brought to the countjry village and farm—we watch v what electricity is going tq do next.”