Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1879-11-28
MORSE THE INvENTOR.
His Belief I'm His Projects-What 1T
Cost to DEFEND His Patent.


It is worth while to pick up now,
while it is still possible, some few an
ecdotes Of Samuel Finley Breese
Morse. the inventor of the telegraph,
and to record them. Such incidents,
trif1ing though they may be, allow US
to form some slight estimate Of this
remarkable man. Perhaps the most
salient point that Morse had was the
positive belief ia the necessity of his
invention There was no haIf-heart-
edness about him. Such men as Ber-
rlard de Palissy are few in this world.
The French potter was willing to burn
his baby's cradle, providing it would
furnish fuel for heating his Kiln. Pnt-
ting aside as much as we may the diff
erences Of age and time, Palissy seek
ing to perfect his dish, or More to de-
velop his telegraph, he divergence
between the two is large. I he form
er was cropping for perfection in a
physical thing. Men had eaten from
earthenware. had siascd their thirst
from aooteroe. ever since the world was
known 1t behooved Palissy, per-
haps, to invent new glazes, new forms,
new ornaments. But with Morse it
was to convince the worId Of new
method of imparting information, t,
project something which was ia a Ger
tain measure ahead of them. 1t was
a novel mental process, which was to
be driven through peoples heads IF
10 as the sum total of the diff
culties in the way Of the introduction
of the telegraph, lie Morse instru-
ment, the system of wires, these can
hardly he said to have represented
more than quarter Of the trouble
Of course all this has been written
and rewritten, but this element of ia
must place Morse on u
higher plane than that accorded To-
mere inventors. 1t was some time IN
IS43, while the first work was being
that some faborers near
were digging trench, in
which. the lead pipe was to be placed
which incased the wires A heavy
thunderstorm came up Prof ssor
Morse was watching the men. 1t
rained so hard that Morse and son
of his sougit refuge in a neighboring
shed. "The time will come" said
Morse, ''whcn we will have to hang
these wires on poles" Nowadays
wires in the air have accumulated so
fast that we are devising methods Of
them again. 1t has been de-
clared that Morse felt elated when
Congress granted him the desired pc
,uniary aid, some $4,000. AS far as
can be learned-for Professor Morse
was a God fearing man-the senti
pent of gratitude only was prominent,
put as to that wild exultation, which
would carry away weaker men. the
great electrician felt none Of it. At
hat very time he was so poor that on
lis return irom Washington, where he
lad gone so as to understand more
some of the clauses gov
'rninS the money appropriation, hav-
ny been met by young lad, pne Of
lis family. the uoy said iucoseiy To his
ather,. Now. father. YOU ought toI
rcat en- that" $50 ! world, was the
eply. thut this is all the money II
ave ia the world" aud silver quar-
er of dollar was produced 1t was
luch earlier than this that Morse,
5hen with u friend In Wall street,
ONE time before 1910, when in addi-
ion to the news brought by steamers,
had posted on them the
IF ..fsal-s ti,at ft,o fo.cnr