The New York herald., 1921-11-27


I wires again with job as operator in
railroad office. Later he became a
clerk in the mail service of the Union
Pacific. Mail service was primitive
IN that day. Letters were often
months on the road Little geographi-
cal knowledge was required of the
postal employee. Vail saw his oppor-
tunity By means of a chart which
he devised, showing connecting points,
Vail planted the seed which grew into
| civil service reform. Later he was
sent to Washington to develop with
charts the idea of the distribution of
mail on the cars in all the States, the
biggest job ever given TO one postal
assistant. The idea of the fast mail
was then conceived. On it's first run
it made forty-one miles an hour. Vail
was now made General Superintendent
of the Railway Mails. In seven years
he had progressed by dramatic stages
from the humblest to the highest
place the department had to offer.
Meantime one of the greatest events
in the history of the world had come
about-the discovery of a device for
transmitting speech by a magnetic
wire. The early history of the tele-
phone is drama with thrills in it.
Nationwide publicity was first given
the neglected invention at the Cen
tennial Exposition in Philadelphia
when the Emperor of Brazil, after try
ing the instrument, exclaimed. My
God, 1t talks!" The newspapers next
morning were full of the story.
then formed with a meagre capital.
Telephones were leased at the rate of
ten dollars year. 1t was at this
time that the company acquired a
manager-Theodore Vail. BY the
terms of the contract he was to have
$500 for the first year and $1,000 for
the second. The funds were lacking
but Wallis faith was strong.
On July 20. 1887, the reorganization
of the Bell Telephone Company with
capital of s450,000 was completed.
The telephone of that day was still a
crude affair. the ground was in most
cases used for the return circuit, the
wires were poorly insulated, there
were distracting noises and the trans
mitter was primitive.
When a little later Francis Blake of
Boston came forward with his new
transmitter-one "as good as Edi-
son's"-this invention put the Bell
company on an equality with the
Western Union and saved the day.
Now began a great period in telephone
| history. Everybody wanted telephones.
There was no buster place in Amer
lea than the National Bell Telephone
! offices at 96 Milk street Stock ad-
vanced from $50 to $3.50 a share
| When later the Bell and Western
| Union combined forces il scared to
$1,000 a share. Like his associates in
the company. Vail now became unde-
niably rich for that day-was rated as
a millionaire. The first thing he did
was to cancel the mortgage on the
Iowa farm for the home folks.
The following year he negotiated for
the big Chadwick house and grounds
at Roxbury, Mass His hospitality
became as wide as his fortune. Then
he bought a farm near Lyndonville
VT, which he called Speedwell Farms
and subscribed large sums for needed
reconstruction of the village high
school and other centres which had
been closed for lack of funds Later
he established the Lyndon School OF
Agriculture for boys by giving Speed.
well Farm as a gift to the State o
Vermont. reserving for himself only
the right of residence.
Meantime the great work of cabling
the wires of New York and Brooklyn
and putting them under ground haC
been going on. Vaif gave the under
ground construction his close persona
attention. BY 1889 there were 11.OOC
miles of underground wire in New
York city alone. At this point Vail
on the verge of nervous collapse. was
obliged to withdraw from personal
\ direction. Several quiet years at Lyn-
donville were followed by successful
/ ventures in the Argentine. Years OF
sorrow, caused by the death of his
wife and later of his son, followed In
May. 1907, he was elected president
of the American Terephone and Tele-
graph Company. The era of his great
/ est work had begun. In 1909 nc
brought about the affliation of the
Western Union with his own COM
\ pany only to see his labor thwarted
| by the Government.
In 1915 occurred the formal open
/ ing of the transcontinental line. The
wires of the Pacific slope were linked
with those of the Mississippi valley
and the Atlantic seaboard. Watson in
San Francisco now spoke to Dr.. Bell
/ in New York. using the words Of the
| first transmitted sentence: "Mr Wat
son, please come here. want YOU"
To which Watson replied, ut would
/ take me a week to do that now!"
/ Theodore Vail at Jekyl Island con-
graduated his colleagues and was him
self congratulated by President Will
son. speaking from Washington.
In September, 1915, came the an
nouncement of the success of the
wireless telephone that was 10 give
universal service and make n neigh
! borhood of the entire world
The closing chapters of the book are
/ devoted TO the story of how the tele-
/ phone went to war" and a detailed
account of its Government control
Wallis unselfish attitude of service was
manifest to all. In June, 1919. he re-
tired as president of the American