The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-11-21
|T HAS been said that there
is room for just so much
in the human brain and
if ones ability is as high

|Nt6SRSNH IL TOOm lot just SO muCn
|DS0eNl in the human brain and
l&-Al if ones ability is as high
ly specialized as an inventors,
there is no chance of being capable
in business affairs. Certainly, this
has been borne out in the case of
most inventors. Those servants of
civilization have, almost without
exception, faced financial difficult
ties of the most disheartening char
acter. Only a few were fortunate
in connecting up with men of busi-
ness ability who relieved them of
financial responsibilities.
Watt, the inventor of the steam
engine. was SO situated. When he
started his experiments he was the
possessor of a prosperous instru-
ment-making business, employing
sixteen men. He soon became
greatly in debt and formed part
nership with a Doctor Roebuck,
who agreed to pay $1,000 of his
debts, provide money for further
experiments and secure a patent.
In return for these advances he be.
came two-thirds owner. After
the two had achieved partial sue
cess Doctor Roebuck suffered fnan-
cial reverses. He was forced to
transfer his interest to Matthew
Boulton, famous merchant of
Birmingham, to whom he was in
debt. Boulton was just the sort
of business genius Watt required.
He built factory for the manu-
facture of steam engines and
financial difficulties hampered Watt
no more.
Edison. on the other hand, early
in his career refused an offer for a
partner. Although he has built
up large fortune he has frequent
ly lost practically everything he
possessed and been forced to start
all over again. His business
methods" were sometimes imprac-
tical in the extreme. Once Edison
was offered 100000 for an inven-
tion. He voluntarily offered to re-
ceive payment in annual Install
ments of $4,000 without interest!
Again, he once received an offer
by cable for 80, ,OOO." He ac-
cepted. When he received his re-
mittance he was greatly surprised
to learn that it was 100000. He
had expected $4,000.
Eli Whitney, inventor of the
cotton gin, never really freed
himself of financial worries. He
went into partnership with Mr..
Miller, and the two were forced to
fight almost continually for their
rights. While Whitney was ex-
perimenting and producing his
first machine, people heard of the
wonderful invention and broke into
his house. They carried away the
model and soon q dozen similar
machines we're in use. This was
before Whitney could obtain a
patent. He worked night and day
to produce another model so that
he could go to Washington and
patent it, but he was handicapped
for lack of funds. At length the
patent was secured and then two
years of struggle elapsed before
Whitney succeeded in proving the
superiority of his machine over
the limitations.
In 1895 he returned from the
South to New Haven, where his fac
tory was located, only to find that
it had burned down. ALI his ma
chimes and papers were destroyed.
In answer to his letters apprising
Miller what had occurred, the latter
replied, Il will devote all my time,
all my thoughts, all my exertions
and all the money / can earn or
borrow to encompass and complete
the business we have undertaken" !"
Whitney set to work to replace
hia factory. Ho had GREAT difficulty