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

secured from the courts an Injunction
which Mr. Vanderbilt was anxious to
have set aside. Unless Il were set
aside Mr. Vanderbits New York Cen.
trial system could not buy the West
Shore, and that seemed to be the only
way by which this disastrous railway
war, which was cutting down enor-
mously the Vanderbilt roads earnings.
could be terminated. Mr.. Vanderbilt
retained Joseph II. Choate as counsel
to appear for him in the Syracuse
court and ask that the injunction be
set aside.
u wish you would bring all your pa
pers, your briefs and any documents
that may enlighten me as to the case
to my ROOM" said MIR. Choate to
Chauncey NJ. Depew, Vanderbilts re-
gular counsel, on the evening before
his argument was to be made to the
court Mr. Choate thus confessed thai
he knew little or nothing about the
case excepting what he had read in
the newspapers, and naturally there
was anxiety on the part of Mr.. De-
pew lest, through lack of preparation,
or rather the eleventh-hour prepare
ton that he had planned to make, Mr..
Choate might fail to make a success
full argument.
The briefs, which had ben pre-
pared by clerks and subordinates, and
the various papers appertaining to the
case were handed to Mr.. Choate, as
he requested early in the evening.
Two Triumps of Reasoning.
He sat immovable until long past
midnight. Nothing distracted his
thoughts; ne gave himself up to sew
eral hours of intense concentration
From that state Mr.. Choate finally
awoke, threw himself upon his bed,
slept, and when the court opened be-
gan an argument which, Senator De-
pew asserts, has not been surpassed
by Choate in clearness, logic and alb
solute command of the subject. And
it was an argument that was suffi-
cient. A few days later the West
Shore Railroad passed undisputed in
to the possession Of the New York
Central, and one of the famous rail-
road wars of the country was at an
end.
Through the inventive ingenuity of
George Westinghouse a railroad train
has been put absolutely under the con-
troll of the locomotive engineer. who,
by the turning of little lever, is able
through air pressure to bring a train
running at sixty miles an hour to full
| stop within the limits of safety. Mr..
| Westinghouse received the inspiration
which led to his air brake almost by
intuition, in an instant, in the twink
ling of an eye, so that this triumph did
not require any intense concentration
of mis- mental faculties. All that was
| necessary for him to do was to work
out the factors which constitute the
air brake apparatus. But Two of his
great inventions were given to the
word as the result of his ability abso-
lutely and intensely to focus his mind
upon a scientific subject until IL was
solved to the exclusion of all else.
Nearly all of the men of science had
said that it was impossible to use the
alternating electric current to COM
mercial advantage Edison himself
was so convinced of this that he wrote
one of his most carefully prepared ar
ticles for publication in an important
review, in which he asserted that the
alternating current could not be made
to serve any practical commercial pur-
pose. When Mr.. Westinghouse saw
this article he said no more than this:
1--WE shall see. l know that the alter
mating current can be used CONNER
cially, and l purpose showing how this
can be done"
At night, as he travelled in his pri-
vate car between New York and Pitts
burg, he frequently lay awake for
hours, his mind absolutely concentrat-
ed upon the alternating current. He
probably saw as well in the dim light
of his private car as he did in the full
daylight, when he was also thus occu-
pied. Then he sat at his desk with a
queeA. clairvoyaHt-nke light is his
eyes-the reflected light of his mental
operations. He seemed to see nothing
and to hear nothing. His associates
could walk about the room without
disturbing him; he was almost in a
trance-like state.
At last, coming out, as it were, of
this preoccupied condition, he said
simply: 81 think l have got it. l
think | know how IL can no dona " In