Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-03-05
STORY OF TELEPHONE HEAD AN
INTERESTING ROMANCE OF
MODERN BUSINESS.
OCEAN TO OCEAN LINE
RESULT OF HIS EFFORTS
Crowns Achievements With Record
Long Distance Talk Cover
ing 400 Miles.


Company enjoys the distinction of hav-
ing sent the sound of his voice over a
| greater distance than any man who
| ever lived.
Or January 25th, when long distance
telephone records were being smashed
right and left at the celebration of the
completion Of the transcontinental line,
it was the talk between San Francisco
| and Jekyl Island that had the honor
| Of breaking every worlds record for
long-distance transmission. President
Vail is spending the winter on Jekyll
Island, and when he spoke to San
Francisco, his voice had to travel 1000
miles up the Atlantic seaboard to New
York before it started on it's transcon-
tinental journey. When it sounded in
the receiver at San Francisco it had
gone 4,4O0 miles in all.
Mr.. Wallis Statement.
After he had finished speaking with
San Francisco, Mr.. Vail made the fol-
lowing statement concerning the new
line:
cat the centennial exhibition at
Philadelphia, the exhibit of the Bell
System consisted of two telephones
| capable of talking from one part of
the room to another. Faint as the
transmitted speech was, it became at
once the marvel of all the world, caus-
| ing scientists as we'll as laymen to ex-
claim with wonder. Starting with
| these feeble instruments only, the Bell
| Company, by persistent study and in
| cessant expenditures of immense sums
Of money, created an entire new art,
inventing, developing and perfecting,
| making improvements, great and
| small, i'll telephone transmitter, line,
| cable, switchboard and every other
piece of apparatus and plant required
| for the transmission of speech. AS
| the latest product of this unceasing
| organized effort, there has been dedi-
| Gated to the service of the public to-day
| transcontinental line 3,400 miles
| long, joining the Atlantic and the Pa
cifc and carrying the human voice in
| stantly and distinctly between San
Francisco and New York and Boston
| and Washington. This telephone line
is part of the Bell System of 100000
miles Of wire connecting 100000 tele-
| phone stations located everywhere
throughout the United States and CIV
ing to the American people telephone
service unparalleled among the ma
tons of the earth
A Prominent Figure.
Theodore N. Vail is one of the most
prominent figures in American bust
ness life. In 1873 he took hold of
Bells invention, when few others saw
more than local possibilities for it, and
built up the greatest telephone system
in the world.
| In 1887 Mr.. Vail retired from the
presidency of the American Telephone
| e. Telegraph Company. In 1890 he
resigned from the presidency of the
Metropolitan Telephone and Tele.
graph Co. of New York, and, laying
aside business cares for a time, pur-
| chased a large farm in Vermont, which
| he devoted to the raising Of fine live
stock.
In 1893 Mr. Vail made trip to
South America, where he became much
| interested in the Argentine Republic,
and, obtaining a government conces-
| sion near Cordoba, he built an electric
power station. He also bought a
horse-car line in Buenos Ayres, con-
verted it into trolley line, organized
a company and equipped it with the
best cars from the United States,
i bought out all competing lines, and
| gave the city a complete service. A
| company was organized, composed of
! British capitalists, who operated the
| road. and for some time Mr.. Vail had
! his Headquarters in London; but final
lv. believing that the undertaking no
longer needed his personal attention,
he retired from the company activities
in 1904 and returned to his farm at
Lyndon, Vermont.
| Returns to Bell System.
In 1907, urged by prominent officials
of the Bell Telephone Company, he re-
entered the telephone field and again
took the presidency of the American
Telephone & Telegraph Company.
Besides being president of the Amer
lean Telephone & Telegraph Company,
Mr.. Vail is director in many of it's sub
| salaries and also of the Bell Tele-
phone Company of Canada.
He is a director of the Astor Trust
Company of New York, trustee of
the American Surety Company of New
York; president and director of the
New England Casualty Company;
president and a director of the Lyn-
donville National Bank and of the
Lyndonville Creamery Association.
and many other corporations.
Besides his business activities, Mr..
Vail has founded the Lyndon Agricul-
tural School at Lyndon, VT, in which
he takes keen interest. He is also
trustee of the Boston Museum of
Fine Arts and director of the Boston
| nnoro H0nga