Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-12-14
ATELEPHoNE A STORY
Japanese Second Language Spoken
over the Wire-A. c. Dlnkey's
start In Steei-A Society Re-
porter Who Became Prime
Minister
By GEORGE NON MCCAIN

COMMISSION Nv. d. r. AINEY, chair
" man of the Pennsylvania Public Service
Board, announced an unusually interesting
fact recently
It was. that the first language other than
English transmitted over telephone was
Japanese.
Commissioner Ainey has very large
acquaintance His two years in Congress
and his long and useful career as puDlmm
man have established friendships among nil
classes of people
The information came to him at dinner
in Washington where one Of the guests OF
honor was Alexander Graham Bell, the in
vcntor Of the telephone. The tacts were
impaired by the inventor himself.
During his early experiments to trahsmt
the tones of the human voice over electric
wires. Mr.. Bell had in his employ n young
japanese student.
One day while testing his apparatus. then
practically complete so far as the trans
mission was concerned. on short house
line the young japanese inquired 1t INC
machine could speak" any language but
English.
Mr.. Bell laughngly replied that 1t could.
and invited the Far Eastern chap to test
its character.
friend. another native. and they. greatly to
their mutual surprise and delight, conducted
short conversation in the language OF
Nippon over the wires.
Up till that moment nothing but English
had been transmitted through the world
transforming apparatus.
CHARLES VI. SCIIWAB, who presided
Vat the dinner Of tho Pennsylvania Society
Of New York last Saturday night, Is un-
usually fond of recalling the past. particu-
larly when it relates to his fellow workers
Of early days.
Ono Of his practical axoms is that
manual training is better than college
training.
When he first became head Of the United
states Steel Corporation he used TO say
thnt out Of forty of the greatest industrial
magnatcs in the country at that time.
eighteen years ago, only two had ever been
to college.
One of the forty was. / think, II. G.
Frick. who attended Otterbein University
for year or so the name of the other was
not disclosed.
The proportion of college men at the head
OF great industries today is very large and
growing.
All the great railroads now. the Pennsyl
vania in particular. decline to admit young
men into the line of promotion who are not
college or technical school graduates.
A LNAH c. DINKEY, head Of the great
| AMidvalc Steel concern Of this city. is one
| of the men on whose early beginnings Mr..
| Srhwab occasionally dwclls.
There was n fifteen year old boy in
manual training school that I established at
Homestead" he said in rcmnisccnCe.
Zone night after all the other boys had
| left one of the officials found him expert
mcnting with an electric machine. lie gave
| all his spare time to this machine.
His perseverance attracted the attention
| of his teachers and he was given IAN oppor-
| tunity to go into the works with which the
school was connected
There he pursued the same policy Of
| concentration. He stuck to u thing. At
length he became assistant manager.
"Thc time came when ! needed man
| to head one Of the great departments. 1t
was during the widening and reorganization
| process in the Steel Corporation.
~ called all the heads of the Homestead
works together, unfoldrd the plan and asked
| who was the man to he entrusted with so
| great II rssponsibility.
| Every one Of them pointed to the former
boy in the trpinng school. Avah G. Dinkcy.
Bccaus" he eould do things a little better
than others he became head of the great
| Homestead Steel Works."
The rest of Mr.. Dinkey's career is well
! known.
MIR. SCHWAB is n. sort of modern
1fl Napoleon. This comparison contcm-
| plates his power to make industrial marShals
and steel kings of his associates and sub.
| ordinate.
Napoleon made marshals Of France on
| the field SChwab made them out Of the
| mill yards, rolling mills and heating de-
| partments Of his industrial empire.
All Of his lcutcnantS are hand picked
All Of them cam" up from the lowest, rungs
Here's another one:
A LONG in the carly eighties there was n
1Aiftecn year. lad carrying drinking
water to tho mon in certain stccl works
He did his work SO well and always
| had such cool water and was 50 diligcnt in
attcndnnc" on the men that it attracted
| unusual attention.
Later on boy was needed in the office
This lad was remembered and got the job.
There he pursued tho same policy of
diligence and courtesy and was prnduoIIy
advanced till inside Of six years when mn
assistant manager was needed at this par-
| tlrular works he was given the place.
A little later this young fellow. whom
everybody knows as President Corey, came
to be head of on" of the greatest corpora
tions in the world.
TIIE election Of n newspaper editor to
J. the presidency Of the United States Is
not considered such an unusual event by a
friend in this city, whose historical knowl-
edge seems to me. at times, all embracing
To rise from the ranks of a rcuOrtcr to
| three times prime minister Of a Euronoon
government is, he thinks. still more rc.
markable
Particularly when that nation is Snoin
the most ariStocrntic and hidchound, in its
rules of caste and precedence, in all Euronc
PrNxcdes Mateo Sagasta was the re .
porter.
lie started ont to become an engineer, but
| turned aside to newspaper work, and bC
came society reporter on n Madrid news
paper,
One day when tho parliamentary rcporter
on his paper hecam" i'll Sagasta wns semi
to cover his assignment.
lie did it well that the manopno
editor kept him on the job
Then he was sent down into the country
to write Liberal political articles and bclr
elect Liberal candidate to the Cortes.
From that time on he stuck to uoIitioo,
journalism. He was cxiled and bcromI
London correspondent for lot Of III,