The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-12-02
CAREER OF 7. N. VAIL.
SKETCH OF FAMOUS RESIDENT
OF VERMONT.

A Description Of Lyndon Mans Rcla-
tions to Enormous Development Of
the Telephone Business.
A recent issue of the Boston Trans
cript contains long article on THE
Growth of the Telephone Monop DIV"
by Harry A. Bullock, which gives an
interesting account of the connection
of Theodore ~ Vail, of Lyh-
don, with that corporation. Such por-
lions as deal with Mr.. Walls career
are reprinted herewith:
This is a ntory which runs directly
counter to the ordinarily accepted
theory Of evolution. The big fish did
not swallow the little fish, but the lit
tie fish grew large and strong, and
now at the end of thirty years is in
process Of swallowing the big oso.
The big fish is ;he Western Union
the little fish used to be the b I'll Tel
ephone Company, although in these
later days of it's strength and magni-
tude we must know it as the Ameri-
can Telephone and Telegraph Com
pany. We are going to see how it all
came about and the story may take
on little interest beyond that of
the narrative itself if we remember
that it has never been told before, but
is now put together so far as con-
Germs the telephone, from wide va
riety of data, CLEANED from many first
| hand sources.
| So right here, at the beginning, let
us pay our respects to Theodore ~
| Vail, the big man of the telephone
world. who steered the little old Fell
Telephone syndicate through its ear
Hest days when the telephone bust
ness was largely made up of the hope
and hustle of less than half a dozer
enthusiasts, then went on his way
down to the Southern countries tC
build him a fortune of many millions
while he built street railroads ant
lighting plants for Argentina and Bra
I'll, and now has come back again tt
take the headship of the great sys
TEN that he helped to found, grown
into one of the greatest of corpora
tons even in these days of mammoth
aggregations of capital. The billion
dollar telephone trust is not phras
which presents any great degree o
exaggeration; company which cal
show actual assets that are $4,000,
900 in excess of it's capital obliga
tions of $6OO,O0OOO held by the pub
lie, does not have to expand so yer.
much farther to reach the billion
dollar stage.
And when the Telephone Trust get
there it will have one. important dis
tinguishing feature from other bill
lion-dollar propositions of which W
have heard in the last half-doze
lyears. 1t will not be compan
which has had to grow up into it
capitalization while it's security hold
ers waited hungry for dividends or in
terest Its bonds and notes hav
never been in default; it's stock ha
always borne substantial returns, an
it's entire capital today, as soon a
pending bond conversion plan
completed, will represent cash pal
into an amount exceeding the entir
par value of all of the securities out
standing.
Four men met in Washington in tn
early seventies, from whose effort
the telephone originated. They were
Prof Alexander Graham Bell, Gard
ner G. Hubbard, (his father-in-law)
Thomas Sanders, and Thomas A. Wa
son.
, The Story of Mr.. Vail.
r In July, 1877, trust or associatio
was formed to take over the telephor
= invention. Hubbard was presidel
= and Sanders was treasurer. The me-
year it was determined to form tw
J. companies, Olt III ANcW I@h6iuhu "hiN
y was known as the New England TIE
ephone Company and another to CO.
|. er the territory of the United State
| outside of New England, to. be know
as the Bell Telephone Company Hell
was where Theodore n. Vail entert
the telephone field. Among the orig
nal four men no one contributed ii
powers of organization The invento
the mechanic, the capitalist and II
promoter-still they needed the o
ganizer, and it was this need whit
led them to draft Theodore N. Vail
He was born out in Ohio in 49,
:, from English Quakers who had Sc
tied there from Massachusetts. ii
| l,a hf