The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-03-30
Newton's idea of gravitation into a

biography gave way to his enthus-
iasm over his idea of telephony. He
ana watson hired rooms in Exeter
Place; and there they worked until
the telephone became an accomplished
fact. N
Three months after the first message
had been delivered by telephone Bell
exhibited his invention at the Cent
ennial in Philadelphia. 1t made a
great impression on the scientists who
visited the exposition. Sir William
thomson (now Lord Kelvin) report
ed: Il need hardly say that was
astonished and delighted. So were the
others, including some judges of our
group, who witnessed the experiment
and verified with their own ears the
electric transmission of speech. This,
perhaps the greatest marvel hither-
TO achieved by the electric telegraph,
mas been obtained by appliances of
quite homespun rudmentary kind"
The first telephone was indeed, a
rude affair compared with the COM
pact and convenient apparatus that
nowadays stands on the business mans
desk, but, appearances aside, it was
serviceable. The question in the minds
OF the two young men who were at
work perfecting it was how far it
could carry sound. Finally in October,
1876, they decided to make their first
experiment in long distance" tele-
phony. Previous to that time they had
been telephoning only from one room
TO another in their apartment in Exeter
Place. Now they arranged for the use
OF a private telegraph line belonging
to the Walworth Manufacturing com
pany. The line ran from the COM
pany's office in Boston to the factory
IN Cambridgeport, a distance of about
two miles.
On the evening of October 3, Mr..
Bell took charge of the Boston station
and Mr.. Watson OF the Cambridgeport
station, and, at Il signal given by
telegraph, they connected their tele-
phones with the wire and began To
converse. The experiment was entire
ly successful. Mr. Watson reports that
on his way back to Boston he could
scarcely restrain himself from telling
the other passengers in the car of the
unprecedented achievement in which
he had Just taken part AS for Bell.
some idea OF his feelings may be
CLEANED from the fact that when he
burst into the laboratory at Exeter
AeASS hC 81 ttSpCtl uSSOCldlC Dy lnG
shoulders, whirled him around the
room, and exclaimed, Watson, this
nights work will make me famous"
In May, 1877, the first Bell Telephone
company issued circulars announcing
that it was ready for business. The
stockholders were Mr.. Bell. Gardiner
Green Hubbard (Bell's fathcr-in-law).
Thomas Sanders of Salem, and Mr..
Watson. There was trouble in the air
over patents, and the prospects were
anything but encouraging. At one time
the company presented to the Western
Union Telegraph company, which
threatened to become its most for
midable opponent, proposition to
sell all its patents, rights andproperty
for 100000; but the telegraph men
rejected the proposition and prepared
to fight the matter out in the courts.
1t was lucky for the Bell company
that the proposition which it had made
In moment of doubt and discourage
ment was not accepted, for. though the
ensuing lawsuits were costly, the re-
suit, in every instance, was a victory
for the Bell side; and thus stimulated,
the telephone company pushed for
ward to developments the like of which
the world had never seen.
Yet this overwhelming popular sue
cess came as surprise. In moment
of enthusiasm, after the company was
started. Mr.. Watson said to a friend:
why, by 1900 there'll be 100000 tele-
phones in this country" When he
thought this over little later he felt
almost ashamed of his extravaganza.
Neither he nor Mr.. Bell, nor anyone
else connected with the telephone in it's
infancy, ever dreamed of living to see
the universal application of the in
vention. But facts are stranger even
than dreams. In 1900: instead of the
100000 telephone subscribers madly
predicted by Mr.. Watson. the Bell
company had nearly 100000 subscrib-
ers; and today they have more than
100000. The original Bell company
advertised that it was prepared to
furnish telephones for the transmission
of articulate speech through instru-
ments not more than 20 miles apart"
Today the record for long distance in
business transactions is 1850 miles,
made over the Bell lines between Bos-
ton and Little Rock. Arkansas.
In the old days, even in the circular
issued by the first Bell company, the
wires were referred to as telegraph
lines" What at first was meant by
the telephone was simply the apar-
atus for transmitting and receiving,
whereas today the term telephone in
cludes not only the transmitter and
receiver, but the wonderful switch
board with its thousands of jacks or
switchsockets for connecting one SUBJ
scriber's line with another and the var
ious other pieces of apparatus and in
pay stations. But the principles dis
covered by Mr.. Bell and developed
under his direction and for which
patents were granted to him are still
as essential to the art of transmit
ting speech as they were 80 years
ago.
Both Mr. Bell and his assistant have
retained their interest in scientific
pursuits. Mr.. Bell, as is we'll known,
is devoting himself to the study of
aeronautics. Mr.. Watson, who few
years ago organized and a time served
as president of the Fore River COM
pany at Quincy Point, which built
several battleships and destroyers for
the government, keeps up his scienti-
f1c work on his estate at East Brain
tree, near Boston.