Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-04-12

y
that he succeeded in putting up an expert
mental line, consisting Of half mile of
wire stretched around and around a room,
and exhibiting telegraph in actual opera
tion. with this instrument he could send
and record message only in one direction
By 1887 he had duplicate apparatus, and
now he gave greater publicity to his scheme
| by an exhibition at the University. The
invention attracted great deal of interest,
but very few persons could be persuaded
of its financial value. AT the close of the
year Mr.. Morse went to Washington and
asked for an appropriation to build tele-
graph line from Washington TO Baltimore.
| The House Committee on Commerce, at
the head of which was the Hon. +. o. J.
Smith of Maine, gave him an attentive
hearing and a favorable report, but theses
sion passed without further action, and the
disappointed inventor went TO England
and France. lie met with no encourage
ment in Europe, and struggled on for four
years longer, repewng his appeal at Wash
ington year after year, and still hopeful in
the midst ofpoverty and trouble. On the last
night of the session in March, 1913, he leil
the Capitol entirely disheartcned, after pa
| biOHNlN NdlilIS luIpuBi llt iDuB udN. Dul
the next morning, to his amazement, he
learned that in the hurry and confusion of
the midnight hour the expiring Congress
had voted $50, 900 for his experimental cs-
say.
The difficulties, however, were not yet
surmounted. Mr.. Morse proposed inclos-
ing the wires in lead pipes buried in the
| earth-a plan which soon proved impract-
cable. The expense far exceeded his ex-
| pectations. and he was endeavoring, with
the aid of his friend Mr.. Smith of the Com
mittee ON Commerce, to devise sort of
pow that would both open and cover a
trench for the pipes, when accident brought
him into association with Ezra Cornell, af-
terward so intimately connected with the
progress of the telegraph in the United
States. Mr.. Cornell devised machine,
drawn by yoke of oxen, which, as it
moved along, opened the ground, laid the
| pipe and covered ii with earth and with
this, superintended by Cornell himself, the
work was begun at Baltimore. Ten miles
had been laid when Mr.. Morse was con-
WINGED that the pipe would not answer, and
the story runs that Cornell saved him the
embarassmentof confessing failure by pur-
| posely driving the machine at full speed
against rock and breaking it to pieces.
| The whole year was consumed in fruitless
experiment, At last, when only $1,000 of
the appropriat on remained, Mr.. Morse
gave the mechanical execution of the work
entirely into Cornell's hands; the pipe svs-
tenn was abandoned, and the wires were in
sulated upon po.es.
The first message was sent on the 9th of
May, 1874. Every part Of the apparatus
worked imperiectly, but the feasibility of
the project was established and the long
struggle was over.
There came aiterward long series of
vexatious lawsuits. Morse's patents were
| violated, his honors were disputed, even
| his integrity was assailed, and rival COM
panies devoured for while all the profits
| of the business. But these troubles were
| finally overcome, and though his pecunia-
| ry rewards seem small in comparison with
| the colossal fortunes amassed by other men
| out of his invention, he II vcrtheess OBJ
| tanned full recognition of his services to
| the world, and dies with the knowledge
| that two hemisphercs spoke his name with
| gratitude. Rarely, indeed. in the history
of invention have mank ind been so prompt
and hearty in honoring their bcnelactur.
| All the principal nations of Europe gave
him tokens of distinction. So early as 1918
| he Sultan presented him decoration set
| in diamonds. Gold medals were awarded
i'm by Prussia, Austria, and Wurtembcrg.
France made him a Chovalier of the Leg
ion of No., al l. H.,
cross of Knight of the Dannebrog; Spain
| the cross of Knight Commander of the Or
der of Isabella the Catholic. At the in
stance of the Emperor of the French, rep
resentative ofthe European States France,
Russia Sweden, Belgium, Holland Aus
tria, Sardinia, Tuscany, the Holy Ste, and
Turkey-met at Paris to decide upon coll
| lective testimonial to him, and the result of
their deliberations was vote of 4O00 900
| francs. Scores of learned societies all over
the world admitted him to membership.
In 1856, the telegraph companies OF Great
Britain gave him n banquet in London. In
1858, the American Colony in France en-
tcrtained him at a grand dinner in Paris.
On the Goth of December, 1868, the citizens
of New York gave him dinner at Del
monico's. In June, 1871, a bronze statue
of Prof Morse, erected in the Central Park
by the voluntary contributions of telegraph
employees throughout the country was for
mally unvailed, with an address by VIM.
| Cullen Bryant; and in the evening a re-
ception was held at the Academy of Music,
where one of the first instruments used on
the original line between New York and
| and WaShinofnn DIo
and connected with the wires, that Prof.
Morse might send, with his own hand, a
word of greeting to all the cities of the
| United States and Canada.
1t should not be forgotten that to Prof.
Morse we also owe the invention of the
submarine cable. One moonlight night in
October, 1912, he laid in New York harbor
the first submarine telegraph, anticipating
thus by more than year and half the
actual construction of the first land line.
1t was only an experiment, but ii enabled
Prof. Morse to predict the next year in "A
letter to the Secretary of the Treasury the
certainty Of the great project which so long
ailerward was carried out by the energy of
Cyrus w. Field.
The latter years of Prof Morses life
were passed in quiet comfort chiefly at his
residence in Poughkeepsie. His vonera-
BILE figure was often seen at public gather
ings, and wherever he appeared he was al
ways one of the most honored and distin-
guished guests.
-
The longer / live the more am certain
that the great difference between men, be-
tween the feeble and the powerful, the
great and the insignificant, is energy-in-
vincible determinations purpose once