The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-23
THE TRAGEDY OF GREAT NVENTORS-By Richard Spilane

nearly all of whose clothes and furniture
were in pawn
The news of Tellier's death last month
stirred all France The people may have
neglected Teller alive. put they honored
him dead. His funeral was a national
event. Great men delivered eulogies of
him that were glorious. And now France
is to put up monument to him as one
of its greatest sons-he who has monu-
ments in the shape of industrial plants
and ships the world over.
About the same time that Teller was
dying Rudolf Diesel one of the great
est inventors Germany has produced, fell
or cast himself from the deck of a ship
on which he was a passenger. He was
a broken hearted bankrupt-a genius
without business sense. His engine, the
most economical ever conceived by man,
Is in use in every quarter of the globe
Next to Watt he win be ranked as the
greatest human figure in the develop
ment of power. For all the good he did
in the advancement of science and in
dustry his reward was small indeed
Harassed by creditors, mis- soul tortured
by his urgent needs. ais life had been
one of misery for years.
The tragedy of great inventors is not
confined to France or Germany The
United States has more cases perhaps
than Europe. 1t is rare that a genius is
able to protect himself in a worldly way.
1t is only after he is dead that the world
begins to appreciate his full worth. Some
times even that is lacking.
Without the Rev. Hannibal Goodwin.
photography probably would not have
been developed to the extent it is today.
Without him it is doubtful IL we would
have motion pictures today, yet it is a
question whether any of the great pro-
ducers of the photo play who have made
millions upon millions of dollars in the
last 10 years. or one person out of 10000
of those who go to see the "movies'' know
of Hannibal Goodwin and his work
The Rev. Mr.. Goodwin was pastor of a
little church in Newark, N. j. His nav
was small, barely enough to support his
family. He was great. big, kindly man
with a heart overlooking with human
sympathy Nature intended him for a
scientist. Conditions made him clergy
man. He looked after MS little flock yis-
tied the sick and helped the poor and
did his full duty as only conscientious
pastor can. but he loved to climb to the
garret of his little house and work out
problems in chemistry. When he got into
the garret he forgot the world His wife
or his daughter might call him and he
might answer mechanically, but it is
doubtful If he heard them. He would for
fVt iiio IiSdio, PoSsipiyt SOiiiS, ciiSdStiiicul,
so absorbed would he become. Some
times he would climb into the garret
early Sunday morning and when, hours
later, he would appear in the pulpit, his
hands would be stained with the chem
icals he had been using. Once he went
into the pulpit with his vestments dis
colored by tn acids. He did not know it.
In that garnet the preacher-scientist
developed the Photographic film. Anyone
with knowledge of photography knows
what tremendous part the flexible film
plays in a picture taking today.
Success with his invention brought sor-
row to the clergyman. 1t was in 1887
that he completed his work on the film.
Whatever his dreams of fortune they
were shattered. A great Photographic
company attempted to prevent Goodwin
from obtaining a patent. The company
was rich The clergyman was poor. A
man who is poor has tremendous ham
dicap in such legal fight as the one
that followed. rich corporation can
buy the services of lawyers Of fine ability.