The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-04-16
THEODORE ! N. VAIL
Continued from page one,

{ Possibilities OF electrical communic,.
don, he had visions that Bells "tov"
would some day be great factor in
american life. Bell and his ascot
4 ntes had equal faith in Mr.. Vail's or
ganiztng genius, for he had already
made 9 name for himself as an organ
tzer in the promotion of the railway
mail service, and he was easily indnc-
led to resign his government post to
become general manager, in 1873. OF
the first American Bell Telephone
COMPANY.
Even the most optimistic hackers
Aof the telephone then thought thai
Invention would serve only for
accumulation, but Mr.. Vail
Bions of its long-distance use.
ne who inaugurated successive
II 1nter-city communication.
st line from Boston to Provi-
vas ridiculed as Walls side
but some of the persons who
in the ridicule at that time
see Mr.. Wallis telephone not
pm Boston to Providence. but
sw York to San Francisco. in
Lhirty-fve years later. Further.
sober In that year, they found
1t was possible to send the hui.
voice more than half way around
world, as was done by wireless
9phone from the government sta
tion at Arlington, Va, the words be-
I ing recorded simultaneously at Homo
lulu, In the mid Pacific, and the Ethel
Tower, in Paris.
Mr.. Vail was known as "the big
lsgest telephone man in the world" not
only in tribute to his genius for both
mechanical and financial organiza-
ton, but from the fact that he was
5perEonally a man of remarkable ply
siqne. He was six feet two inches
s tall and weighed about $50 pounds.
With this great physique he had an
6 Infinite capacity for hard work and a
\ genial disposition.
He was born in Carroll county. O..
July is, 1S45, of Quaker ancestry.
y His fatehr, Davis Vail, removed from
Ohio to Morristown, N. J., when the
4 son wa sfour years old, and became
associated with q brother, Stephen
Vail, woh had founded the Speedwell
Iron Works, near Morristown, where
they built much of the machinery for
the first transatlantic steamship. Al
fred VAN, another brother, was one of
those associated with Samuel Morse
In his Invention and promotion of the
telegraph. Theodore Vail was edu-
Gated at the old Academy at Norris
town and for time studied medicine.
{ but becoming interested in the tele-
graph, he learned to operate the kay
and went West in 1868 as an opera
tor for the Union Pacific railroad Mt
Pine Bluffs, Wyo. Pine Bluffs ives at
taht time the principal supply point
for wood.for the Union Pacific, which
had not yet been completed. Through
the friendship of General Granville
N. Dodge, chief engineer of the Union
Pacific, Vail, in the next year, was
appointed clerk in the railway mail
service, and here his ability to sys-
tematize IN dorganize was soon felt.
At that time the railway mail service
was in an undeveloped stage, and
Vail prepared special studies on the
question of distribution and dispatch
ing Of the mail, which brought him
quick recognition from the authori-
ties at Washington. 1t was Just after
he had been promoted to the general
superintnedency fthe railway mail
service that he acted against the ad-
vice OF his friends and accepted the
position Of general manager OF the
American Bell Telephone company.
Mr.. Vail set for himself the task
Of making the telephone a universal
convenience, and 1t was on his initia-
tive that every opssible improvement
was seized upon for the perfection Of
the service. In 1885 he resigned form
the original company and became the
first president Of the newly formed
American Telephone and Telegraph
Z company. which at first made spe-
cialty Of Of only 1ong-distance com
munication, but which, in 1900, ac-
CURED the property of the American
Bell Telephone company and also ne
: gptiated combinations with the prin-
\ cipal competing telephone companies
throughout the country, 50 that tho