The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-12-01

y Interesting Story Of Theodore
. VAN, New Head of Western
Union.

NJ TURK, Dec. l.-When ineo-
Newton Vail became president OF
Western Union Telegraph com
the other. day, the announcement
y accession caused no particular
~ interest among New Workers
Dneral.
- average man figured, most like
NJ the Western Union was per-
NJ Institution, that its president
= faraway, remote figure sitting
mahogany desk and drawing
MARY, and that Theodore New
Wall I'm all likelihood was just as
beating, or uninteresting. char
- as John James Jones or any
~ comfortably fixed corporation
M Uot there the average man went
1&0g- Mr.. Vail Ia one of the most
1cHorkable men of affairs In the
-, and his career is full or the
r1nhatic, the picturesque and the UNI
x1octed. And besides, his becoming
t@E1dent OF the Western Union COM
1o<oe q sort OF romancecycle OF bust
80 Ia which the telegraph and Sam
811 Morse, who invented IT, and the
oI1phOne and Alexander Graham Bell,
yVAtCu thdts al heh'N
w "A more "fictionesque" biography
hnn his cannot be recalled in con-
ox1pory American history.
"a Wirenan" by Nativity.
He q what may be called a wireman
~ nativity and breeding. The birth Of
~ telegraph system was almost coin
GHnt with his own birth, and he was
& Gort OF general nurse and upbringer
E the phone, which came later. And
o0 behold him, at the age OF So, ac-
1vo master of them both!
III. Vail, though born in Carroll
o4nty, o., really is Jerseyman. His
1k all came from Morristown, whore
~ owned the famous Speedwell Iron
(drk6 which constructed most of the
@n61 TOR the first steam vessel that
~ crossed the Atlantic. His uncle
10 Alfred Vail, who was friend, coun-
1|or and partner OF Samuel Morse
No dark days when that genius was
NEEDING to invent the telegraph.
AZ present Mr.. Vail was two years
Elm f847 when Professor Morse sent
~ World-famous message what God
Il wrought" Naturally he didn't
~ much about II, but II was his
1le, Alfred Vail, who was at the
br end OF the wire and received
- message. Theodore, being brought
4 20 to speak. with the telegraph,
<1rally disdained medicine. which
'04 famiIy wanted him to study. and
slime q wireman, working In the
~ Morristown telegraph once.
Hing and receiving the dot and
alphabet, which, by the way,
same Uncle Alfred Vail invented.
~ oousht asaNd N.w Things.
hen he was In his late teens his
1lly migrated, and he with them, to
The Union Pacific railroad was
" built at the time. He got q
Ing job. as operator and station
t It one OF its hamlet stops Then,
Ing mastered telegraphy and be-
. = nrst-rate brass FOUNDER" he
Nod for higher things, and entered
railway mail service, which at the
o was brand new. That was--and
MlWays his way--looking for brand
"A things. Also putting his whole
70 and soul into them. As witness:
x1fhin seven years Mr.. Vail had
- from being q mere railway mail
~ to the superintendency OF the
yay mail system throughout the
ION. This was I'm 1873, when he
g. And even then--again show
h3a desire for new things--he
VA To be operated between New
ana Chicago mail trains which
y the trip regularly In - hours,
- the ordinary passenger trains
beat nowadays One trip. on
Dh he himself rode. was made In
kteen hOurs--the boasted time OF
present flyers.
hong about this time Alexander
mann Bell, a poor teacher OF acous-
discovered the telephone, which
hailed as ''toy"--many present
1rntion readers will remember the
sriments Of 1876 and thereabouts |
interesting, but commercially i'm
cttcable."
Predicted = "Toy's Future.
hcodorc Vail. then az now a man
mick and acute judgment. witness
8sfow DEMONSTRATIONS and said:
Toy Il going to e as great a
n not Ear greater, than the tele-
Xh1ch my Uncle Alfred helped
<elop- And I'm going to help
Mop this'
70 associated with BELL. entered his
10y. andw made almost at once
erai manager of the Bell Teie-
ne Company. He overcame the
ding and ridicule which In those
C met every new invention, He
o1ked capital from its hiding places
build and spread this new talk. |
rwires' scheme. He travelled the |
Infry over, organizing systems In
he great cities and experimenting
financing and construction. lie
1ne. IN short, 20 the telephone
q his famous uncle had peen to
Telegraph the foster
er Of II.
~ foresaw and arranged for long
nsce calls. Men marvelled when.
~ years ago. he announced that
might be carried cvor wires be-
"A New York and Boston or Wash
N Today Mr.. Vail Ia arranging
we perfectly audible calls be.
New York and Denver. 1000
- =