Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-02-25
Success Not for Drifters,
but Must Be achieved
Richard Trevthicks Life Was One of Perpetual Promise
and Repeated Faiure-CeciI Rhodes and Alfred
Kupp Never Dodged Difficulties.

/ drink TO drink, from sleep to sleep
And most Of them are languidly
cprsing the Creator and the constitu-
ton OF the universe because things
were not so ordered that they could
drift into fame, or wealth. or honor,
or power.
Trcylthick's Futile BriIliancy.
No more striking illustration Of
failure as the result OF lack of per-
sistence and concentration can be
found than that of Richard Trevi-
thick. Trevithck was born In Corn
wall, England, Just ten years before
George Stephenson. In early years he
drifted about the mines, refusing to
go to school, and thus lost the dis
cipline which application to study
gives to the will as we'll as TO the
brain. AS he grew up he developed
a most original mind. great mechan-
ical skill and a fitful kind OF indus
try He preceded many we'll known
inventors by his novel plans and con-
structions and showed a fertility in
many lines of engineering that was
truly marvellous. He improved the
Watt engine by doing away with the
condenser and introducing Il simple
and economical high-pressurc system.
He also used for the first time a cyl
indricul Wrought-iron boiler.
In 1903 Treyithick constructed the
first steam carriage and ran It sue
cessiully on a road for ninety miles
He then took II TO London, and won
the admiration of Sir Humphrey
Dayy and other distinguished scient-
lists But for some unknown reason
he developed the scheme no further,
broke up the engine and returned to
Cornwall to resume ordinary mine
engineering. Later he built another
engine, which WAS really the first OF
all railroad locomotives. Its cylinder
Was ! Y inches Ia diameter, and was
placed horizontally A big flywheel
was scared through Intermediates To.
the four propellng wheels, which
were smoOth-rinmcd. 1t ran on iron
rails, aud under forty pounds steam
pressure made g X miles an hour,
drawing heavy loads. ana was in ev-
cry way an astounding success But
he grew tired of struggling with the
difficulties OF a pioneer and drifted
back to the familiar and easy life of
general engineering
In 1906 Trevithick undertook to
ballast all ships leaving London by
lifting mud from the bottom of the
Thames with bucket machines. Two
years later he invented a means of |
discharging eargoes by machinery; |
and IN 1909 he took out patents for I
armored vessels by
means OF wrought-iron plates. About |
the same time he organized a com |
pany for tunnehng the Thames in the I
busiest part Of London, but, after ex- /
CaVating zoe feet difficulties dis
couraged him and he gave up the |
project This was followed bv expert /
ments In steamship construction. and /
his patents specify ana describe. |
among other marvellous things. our
modern screw propeller. Later he |
built a number of engines for pump |
Ing out abandoned silver mines in /
Peru, but the enterprise failed and
he was left ragged and pennness in
South America.
IN spite Of all these brilliant be-
ginnings Treyithiek's life is a record
1f missed possibilities, the story Of
failure through lack of patient per
sistence one of his biographers
speaks of this feature as "a trait Of
character that In the end ruined his
life and deprived him of the honors
ana rewards that might have been
his desert He died in 1888 SO deeply
IN debt that he was buried by sub
raised among the men who
rad worked for him, and not even
1 simple slab marks the resting place
If the Vacillating man of ability.
Nearly every one Of his projects was
carried out successfully
~ some ono else.
The Rise OF Alfried krupp.
Set over against that story is the
success of AFFIXED Kulpp. Dwight
Goddard says that extraordinary APP
llication and dogged perseverance
Explain the success of AFFIXED Krnpp.
Many life of promise has come to
nothing from scattering its forces.
Ahried Krupp surpassed expectations
ly concentration and perseverance.
" hcn Altricd was IA years old his ,
ather died, leaving as an inherit