Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-04-16

tive head Of a system that numbered
nine million telephone subscribers
and represented an investment of a
billion and a half dollars.
Mr.. Vail was thirty-one a old
when Alexander Graham Bell invent
ing his age. he was filling the respon-
sible post of general superintendent
of the. railway mail service. Still
earlier, however, he had been a tele-
graph operator, and, interested in.the
possibilities of electrical communities
ton, he had visions that BeM's toy
would some day be a great factor in
EAmerican life. Bell and his associ-
ates had equal faith in Mr.. Wallis or
ganizing genius, for he had already
made a name, for himself as an or
ganizer in the promotion Of the rail-
way mail service, and, he was easily
induced to resign his government
post to become the general manager.
In 1873, Of the first American Bell
Telephone company.
Even the most optimistic hackers
Of the telephone then thought that
the invention would serve only. for
local communication, but Mr.. Vail
had, visions of it's loqg-distance use.
1t was he who inaugurated successive
steps OF inter-city communication.
The first line from Boston to Provi-
dence was ridiculed as Walls side
show" but some Of the persons who
INDUCED in the ridicule at that time
lived to see Mr. Vail telephone, not
only from Boston to Providence, but
from New York to San Francisco, in
1915, thirty-five years later. Turth-
er, in October in that year, they
found that it was possible to send the
human voice more than half way
around the world. as was done by
wireless telephone from the govern
ment" station at Arlington. Va. the
at Honolulu. in the mid Pacific, and
the Eifel Tower in Paris. ~
Had Good Record.
Mr.. Vail was known as "the biggest
telephone man in the world,'' o on
ly in tribute to his genius for both
mechanical and financial organiza-
ton. but from the fact that, he was
personally a man of remarkable
physique. He was six feet, two
inches tall; and weighed about $50
pounds. With this great physique he
had an infinite capacity for hard
work, and a genial disposition.
He was born in Carroll county, o.,
July 16, 1S45, of Quaker ancestory.
His father, David Vail, removed from
Ohio to Morristown, N. j., when the
son was four years old, and became
associated with a brother, stephen
Vail, who had founded the Speed
well Iron Works, near Morristown,
where they built much OF the ma
steamship. Alfred Vail, another
brother, was one OF those associated
with Samue Morse in the invention
and promotion of the telegraph.
Theodore Vail was educated al the
old Academy at Morristown. and for
a Time studied medicine, but becom-
ing interested in the telegraph, he
learned to operate the key and went
west in 1868 as an operator for the
Union Pacific railroad at Pine Bluffs,
Wyo. Pine, Bluffs was at that time
the principal supply point for. wood
for the Union Pacific, which had not
yet been completed. Through the
friendship of General Grenville M.
Dodge, chief engineer for the Union
Pacific, Vail, in the next year, was
appointed a clerk in the railway mail
service. and here his ability to sys-
tematlze and organize 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
lng 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
super1ntendency of the railway mail
vice of his friends. and accepted the
position of general manager of the
American Bell Telephone company.
Wa Successful. ~
Mr.. Vail set for himself he task Of
making the telephone a universal
convenience, and it was on his initia-
tive that every possible improvement
was seized upo for the. perfection Of
the service. In 1885 he resigned
from the original company and be-
came the first president of the newly
formed American Telephone ana
Telegraph company, which at first
made a specially Of only ions-dis.
lance communication, but which. in
1900, acquired the property. of the
American Bell Telephone company
and also negotiated combinations
with the principal. competing tele-
phone companies throughout the
country. SO that the whole service
came largely. under a single central
In the Meantime. in 1890. Mr.. Vail
retired from the telephone business
for many years. He purchased a
large farm at Lydonville, VT. ahdgina
terested himself in agriculture. In
1883 he made a trip to South Amer
lea, and. with his customary fore
sight saw the possibilities Of the Ar.
gentfne republic. He obtained from,
the government "a concession near
lsGerdoba, built an electric power sta
ton there. purchased a horse-car line
In Buenos Aires converted It into a
trolley line, formed ~ company and
Equipped It with the best cars from
the United States bought out ali
Ic6nApeting lines and gave the 5city. &
lcenapiete modern service. The com
tpanys sWaS composed largely OF Brit
Ssh capitalists. and for some time MI.
IVaiIMhad his headquarters in London.
When ne retired from these, activities
In 1904, he Vermont. but
three years later he waSk again called
hpon 10 enter the telephone field. "a
president ~ the American TeIapnone
TELEGRAPH company. sof whfchfhe
had been the first president. ~
OF the most ambitious pro3ects
which he then planned was a merger
~ the Western Union Telegraph, com
nanys wtth.sthe tefeph0ns company.
tAnd In ! 80 whe1 the .teIephone m,
ttsres4sSu6ceeded lns1eenrtn&ssfh con-
trolling pOWerSins thu Western BHioni
tNT.@s6aikSAS<aIp president s0f 10Th
tthes agrkat corporattons. sHas8 rs.
0anea aA8apfestdentS Ok thessyFe4ern
Union h0gwkvar,s when on April IL.
EIyl4s thesle2sIhone cptnpau1y dlspos-
"a of 10 sduksfe1te III he Nk1tf1Yn
Union becapee . thnssA6aed letion
~ thA 1Qyl1Tlglent ANinS5tSs.stAesSonna
htnauan A93thSbe roMgHefftll8 amntSlf6Ss.
While cthefU nay have masyelisd