The Washington herald., 1912-01-07
Telephone Transmitter, 7 alking Machine,
Pure Milk, and Revolving Cylinders
Are His Pet Hobbies.

Tho electromagnetic, financial. electri-
cal, and clerical-was composed OF Theo-
dore N Vail. now president Of the Amer
lean Telegraph and Telephone Company
and the Western Union Telegraph Com
pany; two other men. and myself Three
years later, established telephone fac
tory in Hanover, Germany, my birth
place. putting two OF my brothers into
the business. A decade thereafter. I
built a talking machine mandatory in
Hanover. A brother Of mine has the
technical management Of the works"
What did your transmitter accom-
plIsh?'
1T made the telephone operative and
reliable. I often go TO Montreal Al
though there may be snow IN that city,
fog in New York, rain In Philadelphia
and clear weather in Washington. I can
telephone 70 my home khrough all those
meteorological conditions and be plainly
heard because of the transmltter I hap
pened to guess"
And by and by you worked out a ma
chine that could talkY'
yes; in 1881. was engaged on that
Job, however. for seven years. It was
not difficult to make a machine that
caught, held. and gave back the human
voice, but it was tedious and bothersome
to find way of duplicating a record
once it was made. Eventually. however,
discovered an etching process that was
simple and inexpensive. The talking ma
chine Immediately became a means of
education and entertainment The best
bands played for US. and the best vocal
lists sang for us, and we passed their
music up and down the earth"
''Will there be important electrical in
ventions in the future?''
II think SO. The goal to-day is to get
heat direct from an electric current A
little machine. some time. with a fiame
Of gas or coal. set up in ones cellar. viii
light and heat ones house and supply
ones wife with power with which to do
her sewing, launder here linen and run
her sweeping and busting apparatus.
Electricians are working on that prob
lem. Those who are not working are
prophesying its solution. 1t will simplify
housekeeping, and cheaper II, too,
think. but Il will be hard on the coal
dealer and the owner Of gas stock"
why Germany Lays Behind.
Why is It that most of the great dis
coveries in electricity have been made
by young men?"
That is an interesting subject, and I
am glad you brought it up. discussed
it a long while ago with James J. Star
row, the celebrated patent attorney, who
received a retainer OF $4,000 year from
the Bell Telephone Company. besides his
regular fees, when he did any work. He
said, and I agree with him, that youth
is the period Of construction. adventure,
and Imagination. Difficulties are depre-
ciated and not exaggerated. Great poems.
We know. were written by young men.
Persons in Germany. who had heard OF
me, said they expected TO see an old
codger with a long, white beard. That
country has been glorihed for the
achievements OF its scientists when. as q
matter of fact, It has been actually COM
mOn-place IN everything but chemistry.
Germans are skilled IN the work Of
developing an idea. being patient, precise,
thorough and technical, but they do not
originate. Young men there are kept
back and the old men stay at the front.
The old men are in command, doing the
thinking, writing and talking, and, be-
ing past the age when they can create
Germany discovers little that is new and
useful In electricity or physics. On the
other hand. the United States is a young
mans country, or, rather. any mans
country. no matter his age, and so we