The sun., 1918-10-27


sioner of Indian Affairs under President
Roosevelt and author Of the best book yet
written about the city of Washington, has
givan fresh proof of his versatility in
George Westinghouse, His Life and
Achievements, Just published by Little,
Brown 6 Co. Although his own acquaint-
ance with the subject of his biography
was only social and comparatively recent,
and although Mr.. Westinghouse left no
diaries OF other 'qiterary remains" Mr..
Leupp has succeeded in producing vol
une of 300 pages which ought 10 interest
every successful American business man.
George Westinghouse was born in 1916
at Central Bridge, n. Y, in Schoharie
conty--a distinctivcly rural county west
of Albany, which has long been politically
exceptional among the upstate counties
of New York as a rock-ribbed stronghold
of the Democratic party. His father, also
George Westinghouse, i Vermonter by
birth, was well TO do manufacturer of
agricultural machinery at Central Bridge;
and later, as his business expanded, he Te-
moved TO Schenectady.
An Unruly Schoolboy.
IL Wordsworth's saving that the child is
father of the man were always true,
George Westinghouse, Jr, would never
have amounted TO anything worthy of fur
ther notice. As sehoolboy at Central
Bridge ''he was noted chiefly for his con-
tinual revolt against the confinement of the
schoolroom, his distaste for books and rou-
tine study, and his pugnacious DISPOSE
ton" If his boyish wishes were denied
him he would fly into a passion, scream.
stamp and beat his head against the wall
or the floor or any other hard object con-
veniently at hand. "Near the family cot
tage was large fiat stone on which he
repeatedly thus tried conclusions with his
skull"
Perhaps these paroxysms may be re-
garded as prophetic Of the masterful tenn
permanent which he subsequently, developed.
Referring to them in after years he once
said: 81 had a fixed notion that what I
wanted must have Somehow that idea
has not entirely deserted me throughout
my life. l have always known what I
wanted and how to get it. As child l got
1t by tantrums; in mature years, by hard
work"
The First Workshop.
The school life Of George Westinghouse
ha Of hn I1x- 10
Schenectady when he was 10 years old was
not much more satisfactory; but as he
grew older he began to manifest an inter-
est in machinery and was permitted to fit
mp an amateur workshop in his fathers
factory. He devoted his time, however,
largely to the construction Of toy devices
which his father denounced as trumpery.
At IA he ran away from home and
cndeavored TO enlist in the Union Army,
but his father followed him and brought
him back to Schenectady. Three years
later, at the time of Lees invasion of
Pennsylvania, he enlisted for thirty days
service in the Twelfth New York, and
nfter his discharge he joined the Sixteenth
New York Volunteer Cavalry, also as a
private. He appears TO have found the
scouting duties and the care of his horse
hard and distasteful and he did not ad-
vance beyond the grade of corporal. In
December, 1864, however, his mechanical
training and good military record pro-
cured him an appointment as an acting
third assistant engineer in the navy, and in
this capacity he saw active service In the
Potomac fotilla and elsewhere until the
end Of the civil war He was doubtless
proud Of this experience; under his name
on his tombstone at Arlington are the
words: ACTING Third Assistant Engineer,
q. S. Navy, 1S641S65."
Writing of this period Mr.. Leupp tells
rs that "George showed a marked I'M