The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-04-29

ability to cling to a fixed purpose ana
hide his time when he KEPT at MS par
ents for permission to enlist IN the
union army Two years after ne hao
tried to slip away and had oeen
brought back he enlisted at the age Oh
l6 and served three years, TO the emu
of the war. Soon after his return from
the war the sight Of train on the
track suggested to him the Invention
Of replacement frogs. He secured cap
|ital with which to start factory. ana
married on the strength of his expeo-
tations. On account Of quarrel with
his partners he abandoned the factory
TO them and, still holding his valu-
able patent, moved to Schenectady 10
Pittsburg. with which city he has been
identified ever since.
The invention of the air brake Is
Westinghouse greatest claim 70 fame.
He had been working over the problem
Of a way to stop trains quickly when ne
read in a magazine of the use OF COM
pressed air in constructing the Mont
Gents tunnel. He saw at once that here
was the agent more reliable than
steam and more powerful than any me-
chanism which could be controlled from
the engine with which to bring train
TO a sudden stop. It was hard to find
any one to listen to him. one famous
railroad man threw away fortune by
contemptuously refusing even to con-
slider way of stopping trains with
air. But Westinghouse kept at the
search for capital to float his inven-
ton with the same pertinacity with
which he had pursued the idea. and
finally. in April. 1869, was able to see
it adopted and used TO advantage.
The same pertinacity led to his dis
covery Of way to control the flow OF
natural gas and make it possible to
pipe it to a distance. To bring 1t from
the we'll in small pipes under great
pressure and then distribute it by
larger pipes under less pressure was a
simple thing. but it took Westing-
house to think Of it, BY this method
there is less waste from leakage. and
the area within which natural gas may
be used has been greatly increased.
But the most important application
of this principle was not to gas. but
electricity. At one time only the direct
current was known in the transmission
of electricity for power. and the diff
ficulties in it's use limited the field for
electric power from natural sources to
the immediate vicinity Of the manu-
facture of the electricity. One day
Westinghouse happened TO read of the
experiments Of two English scientists
with an alternating current. 1t struck
him at once that they were doing with
electricity just what he had done with
gas. sending it to a distance under
great pressure and then transforming
it for use Within twenty-four hours
his agent was on his way to Europe to
buy the American rights Of the discov-
cry. Electric power for factories. rail-
roads. and other purposes was made
possible. and the range of the use OF
the current generated by the falls at
Niagara or in the heart of the noun
tains increased from half dozen miles
to hundreds of miles.
There are now twenty-six West !
inghouse companies, fifteen of which he !
There are 10000 workmen in
his employ. But his importancesto the |
world does not lie in the excellence or
the quantity OF MS I1aNuIdctuTpS. ne
has given the world three gifts. First. !
the air brake, which has made speed
with safety possible on the railroad. |
Second the way to convey natural gas |
or electricity from one place to an |
other profitably, thus building up lit !
tie towns to great cities and making |
electric transportation commercially |
possible. Third, the example of sue
cess obtained honestly. There have
been no scandalous financial tales told !
about him. He has never had anything |
to DO with dubious schemes of promo !
ton. He has never taken part in the |
of watered stocks and
bonds. He has not been a manipulation |
of the stock market. Nobody has ever |
accused him Of stealing a railroad. He
is millionaire, but he did not become |
one by devious and tricky methods. He |
owes his fortune exclusively to his in |
dustry. ingenuity. skill and devotion to
business, and especially to his great |
ability as an organizer. No faint at |
tacfes to his money.