THE WORK OF THE PROMOTER. 



BY EDWARD SHERWOOD MEADE. 



[Edward Sherwood Meade, economist, born Medina, O., Jan. 25, 1S74; educated 

 at Oberlin college, DePauw university and the University of Chicago; fellow in 

 economics, University of Chicago and University of Pennsylvania; instructor in 

 commerce and industry, Wharton School of Finance and Economy since 1900. 

 Author of Trust Finance, and of many monographs and articles in magazines on 

 the economics of modern industry.] 



Every week of the year deposits of minerals are dis- 

 covered, franchises are obtained, patents are granted. Rail- 

 way extensions are constantly bringing land, timber and coal 

 into the market — increasing population offers a basis for 

 water, light and transportation plants. New inventions 

 stimulate new wants and these wants in their turn produce 

 new means of satisfaction. The field for investment, either 

 in new enterprises, or in the extension and diversification of 

 established industries, is infinitely various. To take but one 

 field, the production of power, we find a vast range of oppor- 

 tunity for profitable investment. We have first of all the 

 mechanical draft and the mechanical stoke, the use of super- 

 heated steam to reduce condensation, the inside firing boiler to 

 prevent radiation through the fire box, the steam turbine to 

 Utilize the direct pressure of steam, and the various devices 

 which purify the water before it goes into the boiler, and to 

 cleanse it for future use by condensing the exhaust steam. In 

 other divisions of the field of power we have the development 

 of electrical power transmission, which is bringing into the 

 field of investment a large number of water powers which 

 until recently were worthless and wasted, and we have the 

 general introduction of the gas engine which promises not 

 only to solve the question of the small power plant, but to 

 double the efficiency of coal by using it in two forms, coke 

 and gas. In other fields similar opportunities are multiply- 

 ing. Improvements long since discovered are forcing them- 

 selves into general notice. New improvements are attract- 

 ing instant attention. Never before in the world's industrial 



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