Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-04-22

instead of recovering his health as he eN-
nocted he rapidly grew WORSE Mr.
Thayor said. Last week he was taken 70
Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore for
oorervation and treatment. and after his
arrival there his condition was found 50
serious that his friends realized that his
recovery was improoably and that tho cnd
could be expected at any time.
MI Val had not been in condition for
a thorough examination since his arrival
In Baltimore and his death probably was
due 10 a complication of diseases which
could be expected of a man Of his age. Hc
never had spared himself mentally or
physically
AS presiael. " the American Telephone
& Telegraph company Thood >re New
ton Vail was the head of the largest tele-
phone syaterl in the world He was not
only its nominal head but he was from
The first the genius that promoted the
popular use Of tie telephone. the first
man to establish long-distauce COM
muncation by telephone. and. when past
seventy years of age he was stlll the
initiative head of system that numbered
nine million telephone subscribers and
represented an investment of a billion
and a half dollars.
Mr. Vail was thirty-oue years old when
Alexander Graham Bell invented the tele-
phone. and. Notwithstanding his age,
he was filling the responsible post of
general superintendent of the railway
mail service. Stl earlier. however. he
had been a telegraph operator. and. in
terested in the possibilities of electrical
communication. he had visions that
Bells "toy" would some day be a great
factor in America life. Bell and his as
sociates had equal faith in Mr.. Nail's
organizing genius, for he had already
made a name for himself as an organizer
IN the promotion Of the railway mail
service, and he was easily induced TO
resign his government post TO become
the general manager. in 1878, of the first
American Bell Telephone company.
Even the most optimistic hackers of
the telephone then thought that the In
ventlon would serve only for local com
munlcation. but Mr.. Vail had visions of
its long distance use. 1t was he who in
augurated successive steps of intor-city
communication. The first line from Bos-
ton TO Providence was rld!Culed AS
Wallis side-show," but some of the per-
sons who INDUCED In the ridicule at that
time lived 10 see Mr.. Vail telephone. not
only from Boston TO Providence blE from
New York TO San Francisco in 1915, thirty
| five years later. Further. in october in
that wear. they found it was possible TO
| send the human voice more than halt
way around the world. as was done by
wireless telephone from the government
! station at Arlington, Va, the words being
recorded simultaneously at Honolulu in
| the mid Pacific. and the Eifel Tower, in
! Paris.
MIR. Vail was known as "the biggest
telephone man in the world" not only in
| tribute to his genius for both mechanical
and financial organization but from the
| fact that he was personally a man of re
markable physique. lie was six feet. two
| inches tall, and weighed about $50 pounds
With this great physique he had an in
finite capacity for hard work, and a genial
disposition.
| He was born in Carroll county, Ohio.
July 16. lsi5. of Quaker ancestry. His faith
err, Davis Vail. removed from Ohio to
Morristown. y. T.. when the son was four
years old, and became associated with a
brother Stephen Vail, who had founded
the Speedwell Iron Works. near Morris
town, where they built much of the ma
! chinery for the first transatlantic steam
ship. Alfred Vail, another brother, was
one Of these associated with Samuel Morse
in the invention and promotion Of the
telegraph Theodore Vail was cducat cd
at the old academy at Morristown. and
for a time studied medicine. but hccom.
ing interested in the telegraph he learned
to operate the key and went West in 1885
az an operator for tho Union Pacific rail,
road AT Pine Bluffs, Wyo. Pine Bluffs was
AT that time the principal supply point for
wood for the Union Pacific, which had
mt ITnt hnn al
friendship Of General Grenville NJ Dodge
chief engineer OF the Union Pacific. Vail
in the next year was appointed clerk
In the railway mail service; here his abil
ity to systematic and organize was soor
felt. At that time the railway mail serv
ice was IN an undeVeloped stage. and Val
prepared special studies on tho question
of distribution and dispatching of tn,
mail. which brought him quick recognition
from the authorities at Washington. 7
was just after he had been promoted tc
the general superintendcncy Of the rail
way mail service that he acted against III,
advice or his friends, aud accepted tn,
position OF general manager of the Amer
lean Bell Telephone company
! Mr.. Vail set for himself the task o
making the telephone a universal con
venience, and it was on his initiative tina
every possible Improvement was scizec
upon for the perfection of the service
In 1885 he resigned from the original com
pany apd became tho first president o
the newly formed American Telophon
& Telegraph company. which at frs
made specially OF only long-dlstanc
communication. but which. in 1900
acquired the property Of the America
Bell Telephone company and ais,
negotiated combinations with Tho min