My belief is firm in a law of compensation.The true rewards are ever in proportion to the labor and sacrifices made.This is one of the reasons why Ifeel certain that of all my inventions,the Magnifying Transmitter will prove most important and valuable to future generations.Iam prompted to this prediction not so much by thoughts of the commercial and industrial revolution which it will surely bring about,but of the humanitarian consequences of the many achievements it makes possible.Considerations of mere utility weigh little in the balance against the higher benefits of civilization.We are confronted with portentous problems which can not be solved just by providing for our material existence,however abundantly.On the contrary,progress in this direction is fraught with hazards and perils not less menacing than those born from want and suffering.If we were to release the energy of atoms or discover some other way of developing cheap and unlimited power at any point of the globe this accomplishment,instead of being a blessing,might bring disaster to mankind in giving rise to dissension and anarchy which would ultimately result in the enthronement of the hated regime of force.The greatest good will comes from technical improvements tending to unification and harmony,and my wireless transmitter is preeminently such.By its means the human voice and likeness will be reproduced everywhere and factories driven thousands of miles from waterfalls furnishing the power;aerial machines will be propelled around the earth without a stop and the sun"s energy controlled to create lakes and rivers for motive purposes and transformation of arid deserts into fertile land.Its introduction for telegraphic,telephonic and similar uses will automatically cut out the statics and all other interferences which at present impose narrow limits to the application of the wireless.
This is a timely topic on which a few words might not be amiss.During the past decade a number of people have arrogantly claimed that they had succeeded in doing away with this impediment.Ihave carefully examined all of the arrangements described and tested most of them long before they were publicly disclosed,but the finding was uniformly negative.Arecent official statement from the U.S.Navy may,perhaps,have taught some beguilable news editors how to appraise these announcements at their real worth.As a rule the attempts are based on theories so fallacious that whenever they come to my notice Ican not help thinking in a lighter vein.Quite recently a new discovery was heralded,with a deafening flourish of trumpets,but it proved another case of a mountain bringing forth a mouse.
This reminds me of an exciting incident which took place years ago when Iwas conducting my experiments with currents of high frequency.Steve Brodie had just jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge.The feat has been vulgarized since by imitators,but the first report electrified New York.Iwas very impressionable then and frequently spoke of the daring printer.On a hot afternoon Ifelt the necessity of refreshing myself and stepped into one of the popular thirty thousand institutions of this great city where a delicious twelve per cent beverage was served which can now be had only by making a trip to the poor and devastated countries of Europe.The attendance was large and not overdistinguished and a matter was discussed which gave me an admirable opening for the careless remark:"This is what Isaid when Ijumped off the bridge."No sooner had Iuttered these words than Ifelt like the companion of Timotheus in the poem of Schiller.In an instant there was a pandemonium and a dozen voices cried:"It is Brodie!"Ithrew a quarter on the counter and bolted for the door but the crowd was at my heels with yells:"Stop,Steve!"which must have been misunderstood for many persons tried to hold me up as Iran frantically for my haven of refuge.By darting around corners Ifortunately managed-through the medium of a fire-escape-to reach the laboratory where Ithrew off my coat,camouflaged myself as a hard-working blacksmith,and started the forge.But these precautions proved unnecessary;Ihad eluded my pursuers.For many years afterward,at night,when imagination turns into spectres the trifling troubles of the day,Ioften thought,as Itossed on the bed,what my fate would have been had that mob caught me and found out that Iwas not Steve Brodie!