The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1915-03-12
CARLY, WIZARD OF
WIRES, SPANS j. S.
At 7. n. WALLS NOD
FAMOUS ENGINEER, WHOM RUL.
ERs HAVE HoNoRED, DIRECTS
TITANIC TELEPHONE TASK.
EFFORTS OF THESE MEN
UNITE EAST AND WEST
Commerce and Society Benefited by
New Line That Extends From
Coast to Coast.

The building Of the Transcontinen-
tai Telephone Line, which was recent
ly completed, depended on the solution
or no one isolated problem, nor will
the glory of it be given to any one
isolated individual, but there are few
names that will always stand out
above the rest in connection with 1t.
There must be great generals for
armies that win such victories.
For many years this line from ocean
to ocean has been the dream of Theo-
dore N. Vail. president of the Ameri-
can Telephone & Telegraph Company,
the goal toward which he has pushed
and toward which he has steadily led
his associates and the army of his en-
ployees. Not the dream of dreamer,
but the prophetic vision of practical,
forceful, capable man, a man of unlim-
tied business energy and knowledge.
who could see anything in telephony
except impossibilities. He not only
cannot see them, but will not admit
that they exist; he does not find the
word impossible" in his dictionary
OF engineering terms. Almost from
the beginning Of the telephone. his en-
ergy and enthusiasm, his dauntless op-
timism and ambition in everything re-
lating to its perfection and promotion,
and his idea of universal service"
have dominated the company and
made enthusiasts of every one con-
nected with it in great things or in
little.
Rulers Honor Carly.
At his side through most Of these
years has been a slightly built, 1.-THE,
keen-eyed man, who never has to be
told but once when a great thing is to
be done. A nod, and line goes to
the Pacific coast. That is John J.
Carly, Chief Engineer of the American
Telephone & Telegraph Company. A
leader among the scientific men of all
nations and hSnored by their rulers
for his distinguished services in en-
cheering accomplishment, his wide
knowledge, his keen judgment and his
indomitable energy have combined to
make him one of the great factors in
telephone achievement and advance
ment. He is wizard of the wires.
Long ago he said this great thing
could and should be done, and through
the great banks of silence that sepa-
rated the East from the West, this
Goethals of electricity has been cut
ting his way. year by year, until the
great canal Of human speech is done.
Others have played big parts in this
drama Of human endeavor and achieve
ment, and thousands have given their
share of thought and labor, but, who
ever is forgotten or remembered, the
names of Vail and Carly will be linked
with this new triumph Of science as
long as man talks to man.
Tremendous Figures.
No one can run his finger over the
route of the new line on the map with
out being impressed with the magni-
tude of the undertaking. The data and
figures are tremendous. The line
crosses thirteen states, it is carried on
13O, 900 poles. Four harddrawn cop
per wires, .165 inch in diameter, run
side by side over the entire distance,
establishing two physical and one
phantom circuit. One mile of single
wire weighs 435 pounds, the weight of
the wires in the entire line being
100000 pounds, or $3.50 tons. This,
of course, is the transmission wires
alone. In addition to these, each phys
ical circuit uses some 13,600 miles of
fine hair-like insulated wire. 1000
of an inch in diameter, for its loading
coils.
Simply to string this immense
amount of wire across the continent,
to set the 'oles and insure insulation,
to conquer the innumerable difficulties
offered by land and water, forests,
mountains, deserts, rivers and lakes.
was in itself an undertaking Of no
mean magnitude. The Panama Canal
is hailed as one Of the greatest
achievements of the worlds workers.
as It is, but the almost invisible lines
of the Bell System, considered simply
as to labor and cost, constitute a mon
umental task.
Nation Reaps Benefits.
There has been no greater achieve.
ment in the history of the Bell Com.
pany, none in the history of telephony,
few in the history Of the world. The
gain to science is great Immeasura-
bly, more precious, however, is that to
the nation, and intellectually greater
are the benefits to commerce and So
ciety. Two persons, one on the At
lartic coast and the other on the Pa.
cific coast, can get into voice to voice
communication at will. The distance
O: S,4O0 miles or more no longer
makes the slightest difference. What
the Transcontinental Line means to
the future OF the country, what 1t will
bring about by drawing the East
and West closer together, how
much of increased prosperity and
these thousands Of miles of |,
wire will insure, no man can gauge.