The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-12-17

spirits, for the excursion seemed to
them to be sort of brief vacation, a
pleasure "trip.
But when Edison, on arriving at his
destination, stood in front of a new
electrical apparatus his whole manner
changed instantly. He stood before
that great piece of machinery which
was creating, or at least capturing
electricity of great volume, utterly I'M
conscious of his surroundings.
He was in fact, under the complete
domination of absolutely concentrated
thought. He was another man-almost
supernatural when, later in the day
his friend called to him, saying that it
was time to take the return train, then
only did Edison seem to awaken from
what appeared to be almost hypnotic
or somnambulistic state. And then he
said simply: 81 think have solved the
secret of the divisibility of the electric
current so that we may have the in
candescent electric light"
The secret had, in fact, been pene-
trated by Edison. All that remained
for him to do was to work out the de-
tails, to discover the material by
means of which the divided electric
current could be made incandescent.
The light was an accomplished feat in
1879, and it was first publicly exhibit
ed the next year. Several years later
Edison told me, my incandescent
lamp has brought me a capital of 49,
100000, the first capital 1 ever pos
sessed."
All of Edison's achievements reflect
the amazing power of intense and COM
plete concentration of the problem be-
fore him, and he is now regarded as
probably the best living example of
| that type of genius which is power of
concentration.
Rockefeller and the Standard Oil.
/ 1t has been said that Flagler, Arch
bold, Andrews and one or two others
were the real intellectual forces which
made the development of the Standard
Oil Company possible. If you are of
that opinion you will not hear Mr..
Rockefeller denying it's accuracy. Yet
in Mr.. Rockefeller's career as an or
ganizer of his pet corporation there
occurred a time when, chiefly by rea-
son of his power of intense concentra-
ton, it was possible to overcome the
gravest of>all dangers which beset the
Standard.
That was when the rivals of the
Standard in the eighties, made their
last desperate legal fight to put the
trust out of the running. 1t was an
attack that seemed likely to destroy
the prestige and impair the efficiency
of the Standard Oil organization. Mr..
Rockefeller appealed to his lawyers
for counsel, but got none. His asso-
ciates were also unable to give him
advice which might point the way by
which the adverse litigation could be
met and overcome.
Then it was That John d. Rockefeller
realized that if he were to succeed he
must rely upon himself He shut him
self up in his chamber. He paced the
floor back and forth, walking with
measured and ceaseless tread, almost
like Gagged animal. His whole vital
ity seemed to be absorbed in the prob,
lem before him. He had no knowledge
of the life that was about him. He
apparently could not tell whether it
lect was focused upon the one point
of saving himself from business enc
mics.
At last he opened the door of his
chamber and came forth, almost lrem-
bling from the violence of the reac-
ton and the return of his mental fa-
culties to their normal condition. But
he had triumphed. He had the con
centration of genius by which was re-
vealed 10 him the way in which the
dangerous litigation could be met and
parted, and from that moment John
D. Rockefeller's associates paid to him
the tribute which goes to complete the
triumphant leadership.
choate's Overnight Feat.
In the year 1885 there was intense
excitement throughout the United
States, and especially in railway cir
cles, on account of the dangerous rail-
way war carried on, on the one side
by William H. Vanderbilt and on the
, other side by the originators of the
West Shore Railroad, which paralleled
the Vanderbilt road from New York
city to Buffalo. The interest of the
public was in part centered on VIII
liam H. Vanderbilt, on account of his
commanding personality and because
It. was thought and rightly-that the
/ greatest crisis in his career as a rail-
road man was before him. But, after