The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-12-19
WORK OF YOUNG MEN.
A MIGHTY ENTERPRISE AND THE
POWER BEHIND 1T.
Short but Remarkable business Careers
Nearly Five Hundred Million Dollars In
Ono Projcct-Thc Scheme to Harness Nj
nEara's CLINT Force.

Nearly Five Hundred Million Dollars In
Ono Projcct-Thc Scheme to Harness Nj
ngara's Ginnt Force.
Especial Correspondence
NEW York, Dec. Tho influence of
young men i'll the development of cleo
trlclty Tor commercial purposes was very
strlklnglJ illustrated on the occasion of
q recent eNa;nnation by II company of
distinguished public men and capitalists
OF the work which is being done ut Nj
agaf1 falls to utilize the colossal power
winch has hitherto gone to waste over
that prccipice. The capitalists in the
party were for the most part men of ma
ture years. Some of them represented
the great business ccnterS of the west,
New York, Philadelphia and Boston,
The aggregate capital commanded by
them and those with whom they are as
sociated is nearly half billion dollars
But those of that party who had
tempted these capitalists TO invest many
millions of dollars in these works were
young men, none of them being over 40
years of age. One, Mr.. Frank Hawley,
is just 30, and i'll comparatively short
business career has revealed that tho
republic and especially electricity COM
mercially developed afford opportuni-
ties i'll which any persevering young
man taking advantage of can find for
tune. 1t is only few years ago that
Mr.. Hawley, being II poor boy in Roch-
ester, or, as he now smilingly says, hay
ing had curbstone education in his
youth, was working 10 hours a day in
order to conquer adverse circumstance
he was accustomed to rise by 4 o'clock
every morning to take care of three or
four horses and to do other work around
place which could be done in the carly
hours, and for this he received - IL week.
AT o'clock he entered Il law office,
where he was employed as clerk, and
where he studied law when his duties as
clerk would permit. There he staid all
day, and for that service received IL very
small sum-
In the early evening Mr.. Hawley be-
gan the duties in connection with one of
the Rochester newspapcrs-stting at his
desk or reporting in the evening until
midnight. then turning in for Il few
hours sleep. The capacity for such la
Dor after Il few years brought Mr.. Haw-
ley to the attention of men who appre-
clated his diligence, and he was placed
executive qualities Of the highest order.
But he had secured this victory at very
great cost. His work had produced pa
ralysls OF the optic nerve of one eve and
sympathetic trouble of the other, so
that 1t has caused him partial blindness.
With his first considerable earnings
Mr. Iawley purchased the country place
OF the late Jarvis Lord, who was very
prominent in New York state affairs for
many years, and there he has been teach
ing lessons to the farmers of New York
state, which some of them have been fol-
lowing with very great profit. With
great herd of Jersey COWS he supplies
butter contracted for long ahead and Mt
high and unvarying price the year
around to two of the greater hotels in
New York, and III his herd he possesses
some of the most famous Jersey cattle.
The stock farm itself has very wide
repute, and yet iJ is only an incident of
Mr.. Hawley's business career On Sun
day or Monday night he is Oh a sleeping
car, at his place of business in New
York city the following morning, and OH
Friday night is again on Il sleeper OH his
way to his stock farm. In New York
he is associated with those who expect
to solve the problem of the development
OF electricity as il towing or propulsive
force for boats upon canals, and it was
he who recently conceived and demon
strated the feasibility of electricity for
such purposes. Yet he is only 30 years
of age.
Another member of the party was
Nicola Tesla, one of the wizards of cleo
tricity but n little over 80 years of age,
and few years ago a student and en-
ployee i'll some of the Edison works.
Tesla is the young scientist who aston
tshed the world OF electrical experts by
demonstrating that it was possible to
create an electric current which would
pass through space without any other
medium than ether, and in doing so would
light an incandescent lamp held in his
hand. The future possibilities which lie
IN this discovery it is impossible now to
estimate, but incidentally ont of them
there is one which may be of immediate
commercial advantage, for it seems to
have solved problem which has per-
picked electricians for some years. That
Is the problem of the transmission of
electric power for great distances with
out such loss as to make it commercially
impracticable
Tesla's discovery and his mechanical
appliances for the utilization of it NAV
possibly give to the United States ulti-
mately, or at least to that portion of it
east of the great lakes and north of the
Potomac and Ohio rivers, the power
which now flows over Niagara falls and
goes to waste. 1t seems to be fairly we'll
demonstrated that this mower can no