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CHAPTER V CIVILIZATION THROUGH PIPES AND WIRES
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 THE economies of a continuous house under one roof and of railroad and steam shovel1, rather than hand and dump cart methods, are sufficient to make the line construction far more economical than any method now in vogue2, but even they are greatly exceeded by the additional saving involved in the installation and operation of the pipes and wires of the Roadtown.
 
Witness the present situation. The farmer’s house is alone in the middle of his farm. For every pipe, wire or rail utility with which he is supplied, he must have a plant of his own. If he wishes steam heat, he must put in a boiler3; if he wishes electric lights, an engine and dynamo.
 
In practice the farmer, with the occasional60 exception of the rural telephone, is limited to the products of civilization that can be hauled home in a wagon4.
 
The city man is a little better off. City dwellers5 are close together, close enough that one electric, gas or steam producing plant will do for many hundreds or thousands of families, but by the present plan which enables them to have these improvements, they pay not only the expense of periodic tearing up of the pavements and the house foundation, but a far greater price in the loss of air, sunlight and privacy.
 
The Roadtown has these God-given utilities of country air and light on two sides of the house. Upon the other two sides it has blank walls, but the examination of the average isolated6 residence will show that there is little to be gained in light or air by the two extra sides and much to be lost in privacy. Upon the two remaining sides, i. e., the top and bottom, the Roadtown house has its sidewalk on the roof and its transportation by rails, pipes and wires that are now in the city streets, it has on a far better and economical plan in61 the basement, now used principally to store old trunks, rubbish and coal.
 
Picture the installation of a new pipe line through a paved street. The expense and the unsightliness, the danger to human life—and this has nothing to do with getting the pipes into a private house.
 
Now suppose you are a resident on that line and conclude a couple of months later to install the utility in your home. Again the pavement is torn up, a gang of laborers7 spend several days on the job, and you as consumer will pay the bill either in a lump or as stiff rates on the utility sold. The result of this clumsy system has been that pipe and wire utilities in the city are limited to those people who use them to a sufficient extent to stand this criminal waste and expense.
 
Moreover, in all large cities the matter of installing pipe or wire conveyed utilities is also a question of reckoning with franchise-selling politicians and private monopolists who generally work “hand in hand.”
 
Compare these conditions, mechanical and political, with the Roadtown where all pipes62 and wires will be bracketed in a runway beneath the floor of a machine-made house on land at farm prices. To put in a new pipe conveyed utility will cost the price of the twenty-one feet of main and a branch pipe leading to the apartment above through suitable openings made when the building is constructed. The expense will be about equal to that of maintaining the red lanterns which are now placed about the torn up city streets.
 
As a result of these differences there will be added to the Roadtown home—and I mean to the home of the man of average means—a number of utilities now available only to the rich, or not available at all.
 
Beginning with the following paragraph I will enumerate8 some of the inventions that will be available in the Roadtown home. I may include in this list some inventions which, while demonstrated on a small scale, may for some reason not now discernible, develop an objection or difficulty in its use. But for every such a one that I may here include, there will be several others that science has already or will yet devise and which can be63 installed in Roadtown as soon as perfected and demonstrated with no more expense than there would be if it were put in when the houses were built. This feature alone is a tremendous argument in favor of the Roadtown, for every previous form of house construction once finished is set in its equipment and soon gets behind the age and must be torn down to make room for the new. At this time considerable humorous comment is being made in the newspapers over the tearing down of a twenty-two story building in Wall Street to make room for a forty story one. The old one is only thirteen years old. The Roadtown will always be “modern,” and increase in efficiency as it increases in length while the separate building is a complete unit with its height and utilities stationary9.
 
Water.
 
The water systems of great cities are enormously expensive, as it is usually necessary to build great conduits dozens and even as much as one hundred and fifty miles long. The trouble with such cities is that a very large64 population must be supplied with water from a very limited area. The Roadtown with a population of about 1,000 to the mile will be able to get its water supply from suitable sources all along the way. The length of line to be supplied from one public station will not be great, but the entire main may be opened so that one station can relieve another in case of excessive use of water at any given point.
 
Sewerage.
 
The sewage system of the Roadtown will, like the water system, be built in comparatively small units, and will require none of the large and expensive sewers11 seen in city systems. Wherever the Roadtown crosses a natural valley in the land the sewage can be led off to a reasonable distance from the house line in pipes and used in irrigating12 non-food crops. The income to be derived13 from the use of this sewage for fertilization and irrigation will be a considerable source of profit and wholly without the expense attached to city sewage disposal works because of distance from the65 land and the fact that the point of the city sewer10 outlet14 is almost always below the level of land available for such uses.
 
Heating.
 
The Roadtown heating system will be of hot water circulated by pumps. The heating plants will be located every two or three miles, which, according to the engineers’ figures will be more economical than to have them either at greater or less distance. The temperature will be regulated to suit each and every tenant15 by the use of the thermostat16 with a push button regulator in each room of every apartment. This simple, but marvelously useful device, is now in general use in thousands of first class hotels.
 
Refrigeration.
 
The refrigerating system of Roadtown which will be required for food and drinking water purposes could be turned into the radiators17 and a circulation of cooled water or brine pumped through the houses. I do not say that such house cooling will be established, for the66 Roadtown house, through which the breeze will have a full sweep, and in which the electrical fans will be plentiful18, will have little need for a system of house cooling, but if the people in hot countries wish it and care to pay for it, eventually they can have it.
 
Drinking Water.
 
The next utility for the Roadtown house will be that of pure, cool distilled19 water for drinking purposes, cooled only to a healthful temperature. Because of the small expense for piping, this separation of the system of drinking water from that used for bathing and for spraying the lawn will mean that no method known to science for purifying the former need be spared.
 
In present city life the peddling20 of so-called “spring water” in bottles, is a farcical affair, which would have about as much chance to survive in Roadtown as an independent oil producer shipping21 oil in barrels would have in competing with the trust’s tank cars and pipe lines. If the Roadtown is piped for refrigeration, cooling will be very simple. If67 this is not done the coolers may be placed in the basement and filled with ice manufactured at the central refrigeration plant and distributed by train. In either case, the efficiency will be great as compared with any present system.
 
Bath and Toilet.
 
It goes without saying that every home in Roadtown will be provided with good bath and toilet facilities. Because of the fact that the house is of cement and has no lath and plaster ceiling to get soaked, shower baths will probably be much in vogue in Roadtown. If at any time it proves desirable to give up the space for the purpose there can be shower baths installed in every sleeping-room at a cost of only a few dollars for each. The soap for bath and wash basin will probably be liquid, and while there will not be enough used to make it worth while to pipe it, it can be supplied ten gallons at a time by a man who will make the rounds and fill the reservoirs at each home. This is comparatively a small matter and I merely mention it to show the extent to68 which the natural co?peration of line house building will gradually lead.
 
Gas.
 
For light cooking and local heating in the Roadtown home, to such extent as is desirable, gas will be used.
 
Vacuum.
 
During the last few years a great vacuum sweeper craze has swept the country. We are literally22 deluged23 with every type of apparatus24, from systems for installation in hotels and office buildings, or wagon outfits25 that chase about the street and run a hose into the parlor26 window, to the little pop gun arrangement that is worked by hand. The ease of adaptability27 of the best features of vacuum cleaning systems to Roadtown is too apparent to need comment further than to say that a small pipe, with an opening at each home, and a suction fan every half mile, will be sufficient to give the best possible results.
 
A further use of this vacuum may be made in connection with automatic movement of69 windows, doors, etc. Compressed air is now frequently used for this purpose as in elevator doors in office buildings. Vacuum will, of course, work equally well.
 
Disinfecting Gas.
 
A pipe dream of Roadtown that is absolutely practical, cheap and a crying need, will be gas for disinfection.
 
Electric Light.
 
Electricity for lighting28 will, of course, be available in Roadtown at a fraction of the present cost.
 
Electric Power.
 
Electricity will be used for fans, vibrators for massage29, shoeshining, and other household devices that may demand it as time rolls on. Besides this there will be an industrial use for power which I will discuss in a later chapter.[A]
 
[A] Until some cheaper source of power is developed electric heating will remain an expensive luxury.
 
Telephones.
 
70 Electric buttons and signals and bells can be used for the “top” and “bottom” doors of the house, signaling to central stations when preferable to the telephone. The telephone, the cheapest of the pipe and wire group of civilizing30 agents, common though it is, has not yet come into universal use. In New York City alone there are over three million people who have no telephones and in the United States there are 60,000,000 deprived of that great necessity. In Roadtown the cost of installing telephones will be practically the cost of the instruments, switch-boards and twenty-one feet of wire. If the automatic system is used, which is likely, in local service between a public service center and the houses they wait upon, the cost will be but those of interest on installation and cost of repairs. A telephone expert has estimated that the system complete would be less than ten dollars per family, and that the expense of operation or telephone rent less than one dollar a year, net, per family, or eight cents per month. 71
 
Dictograph.
 
At the present date there is in practical operation a loud speaking telephone called the dictograph. If this modern invention is installed in the Roadtown home, it will be possible by simply pressing a button to talk over the telephone while sitting in a chair or lying in bed. This instrument has been most successfully utilized31 in conveying music, which, if received through a horn can scarcely be told from the first-hand product. This wonderful invention, as many other similar ones that now exist, cannot be put into practical use on a large and systematic32 scale, because of the present city construction, the conduit and other trusts.
 
Since the preceding paragraph was written, M. K. Turner, the inventor and proprietor33 of the dictograph, has donated the use of all of his wonderful patents to the Roadtown, and in addition has offered to design an entire system of loud speaking telephones especially adapted to Roadtown use, because of the great72 uplifting influence he recognizes in its principles when put into practice.
 
This donation, together with the house pouring scheme of Mr. Edison and the Boyes Monorail, gives to Roadtown fundamental patents on house building, transportation and intelligence transmission—the three great essentials of a new civilization.
 
Telegraphone.
 
The telegraphone, or recording34 telephone, is also a most wonderful invention. The telegraphone records any sound sent over a telephone by means of magnetic changes in a disc or wire. These steel disc records or wire records can then be reproduced any number of times with no loss of distinctness. As the dictograph may be used to give a sermon, lecture or piece of music to any number of people at one time, so the telegraphone may be used to record and repeat it any number of times.
 
I could add other inventions to the list, but will not, for these already given, though all practical existing devices, will be so wonderful73 in application that I will not extend the list to any less thoroughly35 proven inventions, lest the reader who can but judge from the viewpoint of the present imperfect city civilization, confuse the Roadtown which is the plan grouping of proven inventions with the dreams of novelists who revel36 in inventions yet to be.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 shovel cELzg     
n.铁锨,铲子,一铲之量;v.铲,铲出
参考例句:
  • He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
  • He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。
2 Vogue 6hMwC     
n.时髦,时尚;adj.流行的
参考例句:
  • Flowery carpets became the vogue.花卉地毯变成了时髦货。
  • Short hair came back into vogue about ten years ago.大约十年前短发又开始流行起来了。
3 boiler OtNzI     
n.锅炉;煮器(壶,锅等)
参考例句:
  • That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
  • This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。
4 wagon XhUwP     
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
参考例句:
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
5 dwellers e3f4717dcbd471afe8dae6a3121a3602     
n.居民,居住者( dweller的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 isolated bqmzTd     
adj.与世隔绝的
参考例句:
  • His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
  • Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。
7 laborers c8c6422086151d6c0ae2a95777108e3c     
n.体力劳动者,工人( laborer的名词复数 );(熟练工人的)辅助工
参考例句:
  • Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
8 enumerate HoCxf     
v.列举,计算,枚举,数
参考例句:
  • The heroic deeds of the people's soldiers are too numerous to enumerate.人民子弟兵的英雄事迹举不胜举。
  • Its applications are too varied to enumerate.它的用途不胜枚举。
9 stationary CuAwc     
adj.固定的,静止不动的
参考例句:
  • A stationary object is easy to be aimed at.一个静止不动的物体是容易瞄准的。
  • Wait until the bus is stationary before you get off.你要等公共汽车停稳了再下车。
10 sewer 2Ehzu     
n.排水沟,下水道
参考例句:
  • They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
  • The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。
11 sewers f2c11b7b1b6091034471dfa6331095f6     
n.阴沟,污水管,下水道( sewer的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The sewers discharge out at sea. 下水道的污水排入海里。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Another municipal waste problem is street runoff into storm sewers. 有关都市废水的另外一个问题是进入雨水沟的街道雨水。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
12 irrigating 0ed70a12fb6b41d2ac997bf4b7f6026b     
灌溉( irrigate的现在分词 ); 冲洗(伤口)
参考例句:
  • Derrick and I have been laying out the system of irrigating ditches. 德里克跟我在一起修建那个灌溉网。
  • He had been in command at the irrigating ditch the day before. 上一天,在灌溉渠边,是他担任指挥的。
13 derived 6cddb7353e699051a384686b6b3ff1e2     
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取
参考例句:
  • Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 outlet ZJFxG     
n.出口/路;销路;批发商店;通风口;发泄
参考例句:
  • The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
  • Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。
15 tenant 0pbwd     
n.承租人;房客;佃户;v.租借,租用
参考例句:
  • The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
  • The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。
16 thermostat PGhyb     
n.恒温器
参考例句:
  • The thermostat is connected by a link to the carburetor.恒温控制器是由一根连杆与汽化器相连的。
  • The temperature is controlled by electronic thermostat with high accuracy.电子恒温器,准确性高。
17 radiators 3b2bec7153ad581082a64cd93346b77f     
n.(暖气设备的)散热器( radiator的名词复数 );汽车引擎的冷却器,散热器
参考例句:
  • You can preset the radiators to come on when you need them to. 你可以预先调好暖气,使它在你需要的时候启动。
  • Stars are radiators of vast power. 恒星是强大的发光体。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
18 plentiful r2izH     
adj.富裕的,丰富的
参考例句:
  • Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
  • Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。
19 distilled 4e59b94e0e02e468188de436f8158165     
adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 );从…提取精华
参考例句:
  • The televised interview was distilled from 16 hours of film. 那次电视采访是从16个小时的影片中选出的精华。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Gasoline is distilled from crude oil. 汽油是从原油中提炼出来的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
20 peddling c15a58556d0c84a06eb622ab9226ef81     
忙于琐事的,无关紧要的
参考例句:
  • He worked as a door-to-door salesman peddling cloths and brushes. 他的工作是上门推销抹布和刷子。
  • "If he doesn't like peddling, why doesn't he practice law? "要是他不高兴卖柴火,干吗不当律师呢?
21 shipping WESyg     
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船)
参考例句:
  • We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
  • There's a shipping charge of £5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。
22 literally 28Wzv     
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
参考例句:
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
23 deluged 631808b2bb3f951bc5aa0189f58e3c93     
v.使淹没( deluge的过去式和过去分词 );淹没;被洪水般涌来的事物所淹没;穷于应付
参考例句:
  • The minister was deluged with questions. 部长穷于应付像洪水般涌来的问题。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They deluged me with questions. 他们向我连珠发问。 来自《简明英汉词典》
24 apparatus ivTzx     
n.装置,器械;器具,设备
参考例句:
  • The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
  • They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。
25 outfits ed01b85fb10ede2eb7d337e0ea2d0bb3     
n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 );一套服装;集体;组织v.装备,配置设备,供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
  • Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具,因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句
26 parlor v4MzU     
n.店铺,营业室;会客室,客厅
参考例句:
  • She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
  • Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店?
27 adaptability 6J9yH     
n.适应性
参考例句:
  • It has a wide range of adaptability.它的应用性广。
28 lighting CpszPL     
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光
参考例句:
  • The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
  • The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。
29 massage 6ouz43     
n.按摩,揉;vt.按摩,揉,美化,奉承,篡改数据
参考例句:
  • He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
  • Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。
30 civilizing a08daa8c350d162874b215fbe6fe5f68     
v.使文明,使开化( civilize的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The girls in a class tend to have a civilizing influence on the boys. 班上的女生往往能让男生文雅起来。
  • It exerts a civilizing influence on mankind. 这产生了教化人类的影响。 来自辞典例句
31 utilized a24badb66c4d7870fd211f2511461fff     
v.利用,使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • In the19th century waterpower was widely utilized to generate electricity. 在19世纪人们大规模使用水力来发电。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The empty building can be utilized for city storage. 可以利用那栋空建筑物作城市的仓库。 来自《简明英汉词典》
32 systematic SqMwo     
adj.有系统的,有计划的,有方法的
参考例句:
  • The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
  • The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。
33 proprietor zR2x5     
n.所有人;业主;经营者
参考例句:
  • The proprietor was an old acquaintance of his.业主是他的一位旧相识。
  • The proprietor of the corner grocery was a strange thing in my life.拐角杂货店店主是我生活中的一个怪物。
34 recording UktzJj     
n.录音,记录
参考例句:
  • How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
  • I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
35 thoroughly sgmz0J     
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地
参考例句:
  • The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
  • The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。
36 revel yBezQ     
vi.狂欢作乐,陶醉;n.作乐,狂欢
参考例句:
  • She seems to revel in annoying her parents.她似乎以惹父母生气为乐。
  • The children revel in country life.孩子们特别喜欢乡村生活。


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