Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-12-03
Mr.. Vail breaches and Practices
lBilmingham, Ala, Newsl


Usually it is the heart of youtl
that dreams dreams and sees visions
More often than not, the ripe matu
rity of old age becomes conservative
Old age pauses and ponders.
= But not always. Theodore n. Val
is a towering exception. Thcodor,
N. Vail is one whose mind has no
erystallized with the passing of til,
years.
il; A half century ago he dreamed
dreams of human beings talking
across the continent. He saw dis
tances annihilated by electric whis
pers. Forty years passed and ten bill
lion telephone conversations tool
place on these shores annually.
Today he sees visions of an Amer.
lea richer and more prosperous thar
other men have seen. But it is some.
thing more tangible than vision OF
the business future of the United
States which the great industrial ge-
MUS sees. Mr.. Vail looks for the
greatest business boom this country
has ever known. We don't need to
sit down, timidly and idly, and wait
for it. We can have it start now if
we want to, if we care to exercise
common sense and courage
Mr.. Vail gives some of his reasons
in a notable interview in The Am
crican Magazine for September.
If every corporation and company
and firm and individual that contcm-
plates putting up any buildings, or
making extensions or cffccting any
improvements, would only jump in
now and put men to work on them,
why, the business boom would be in
full swing right away. A vast
amount of repairs and upkeep work
of all kinds had to be put off during
the eXigcncics of the war, when it
was unpatriotic to compete unncccs-
sarily with the Government for labor
and materials. The patriotic as we'll
as the busincsslike thing to do now
is to catch up and put everything in
shipshapc order, in preparation for
the extremely busy times that arc
coming and in anticipation of the ex-
traordinary demands which will arise
for the labor necessary to do this
work.
This man of clear vision practices
as we'll as breaches. His life has
been devoted, of necessity, to study
so as to be able, as he expresses it,
Ito have all the facilities ready to
handle business whenever and where
ever it developed" Now he has in
duced his directors to sanction i'm
provements and extensions covering
this year and the next, totaling $780,
100000.
That is what he thinks of what lies
ahead.
To illustrate his reasons for going
at full steam with his developments
of the American Telephone and Tele-
graph Company, the great financier
tells homcly tale which will bear
repeating.
"F0r four years this country has
been told to economic, to cut down
on expenses, to retrench and stint it.
self. TO the credit of the people here
be it said that they did. Uncle Silas's
barn needed painting, but Uncle Silas
didn't paint it. Why? Because Aunt
Maria told him the Government need.
ed the ingredients of the paint pot to
help win the war. The wire fencing
around the cabbage patch was coming
down and needed repairing, but again
Aunt Maria laid down the law and
said it couldn't be done, as Uncle Sam
needed the wire to protect Nephew
Willy from the advance of the Hun.
The fences remained hanging and
broken, and Willy was kept safe from
the Germans. The same was true of
the attitude in the industrial plants.
"Uncle Silas' barn still needs paint
ing; but now he says he won't paint
it because the rates of the village |
painter arc too high. In tho last
three years the painter has been |
working for the Government and get |
ting high prices for his service. |
Uncle Silas thinks he is very canny
and willy in waiting until the painter
sees that he will have to come down
from his high horse and paint his |
barn at the old pre-war price. Mean
while, the wind and the rain arc cat
ing away the timber of the struc-
turc. and before very long not only
will Uncle Silas have to paint barn,
but put up new one as well. Not |
only will he pay the price asked by |
the panter, but he will pay the price
demanded for the timber. And that,
too, is not the same that he was wont
to pay before we began making
planks that led the way to Germany.
"Thc point I am driving at is this
justtnow the country is in great need
of repairs. 1t has got to spruce up.
Otherwise, things will go to pieces.
Uncle Silas, if he is wise, will paint
his barn now and save the money
of putting up new one later. IN !
the same manner the factory owner
will paint his shops and overhaul his
machines now. to save tho money on
new material later"
Poor Richard himself could not
have presented the picture more SIM
ply or more admirably.
The vision and tho common sense
aud the practically of Theodore N.
Vail are contagious. Prosperity it.