Calls Tesla a Fanatic

German Inventor of the Spark Telegraphy System Discusses Possibilities.

Special Cable Despatch to THE SUN.

BERLIN, Jan. 30. — Prof. Slaby of the Technische Hochschule sald in an interview today that he expected to revolutionize telegraphy if he was successful in applying his etheric system, which he calls spark telegraphy, to the present system of transmission by wire. He added that thousands of telegrams could then be transmitted simultaneously by the same wire. He characterized Nikola Tesla's expectations of an enormous reduction in the cost of electric currents as those of a fanatic, and said that the immediate future does not promise an improvement in the cost of conduction.

Continuing, he said he had the greatest faith in the future of electricity, and that it would become the motive power of ships and manufactures. Italy, owing to the abundance of its rivers, has a brilliant electrical future. Some Installations in the Italian Alps were already furnishing one horse power at a cost of a penny an hour.