Otis Elevator Co. The most important industry in this country to–day is that of transportation, and great is the public interest in the methods of going from place to place. Whenever the schedule time between two cities is cut down, or whenever any device to make railroad travel safer is introduced, considerable publicity is given to the fact. Transportation up and down, quite as important as transportation to and fro, has not received the attention from the public which its importance deserves. Probably this attitude is due to the fact that improvements in the means of going up and down—that is, improvements in elevators—always keep abreast of the demands for such service, and the public takes it as a matter of course that elevators have been perfected, without giving proper credit to those who have perfected them. But to those who have considered the matter it is evident that to certain citizens of Yonkers great honor is due for the contribution they have made to modern progress. It is due to Mr. Elisha G. Otis and his successors that the available floor space in our cities has been increased fivefold, for had it not been for the perfection of the modern high–speed elevator “sky–scrapers” would be unknown and buildings would be limited to four, or at most five, stories in height. Seldom has the evolution of an important piece of apparatus been confined so closely to one group of men as has been the case with the elevator. While many men in all parts of the country have contributed their share in the improvement of horizontal transportation, the perfection of vertical transportation is due to a group of engineers of whom Yonkers may well be proud. Nor should credit be denied to the skillful mechanics of this city who have so well carried out the ideas of the engineers. The first passenger elevator worthy of the name was invented by Mr. E. G. Otis in the early fifties. In 1853, at the World’s Fair in the Crystal Palace in New York city, he exhibited a small elevator embodying the improvements made by him up to that time, the most important of which was one for preventing the fall of the car in case of the breaking of the lifting rope. In 1854 he started a small establishment at Yonkers for the manufacture of elevators. Since that date the business has continually expanded, and the business founded in a humble way by E. G. Otis has become the world–famous Otis Elevator Company, with the magnitude of which every citizen of Yonkers is more or less familiar. In addition to the great local establishment, branch factories have been built in several of the large cities of the country. To meet the foreign demand for Otis elevators, factories have been established in various industrial centers in Europe. In Mexico, in South America, and in far–off Australia branches of the great Yonkers concern may be found. In short, throughout the civilized world the name “Otis” is synonymous with high–class elevator engineering.