Evening star., 1923-11-13
STEINMETZ
ny Dr. FRANK CRANE.

The death Of DR.. Charles p. Stein
metz was a loss to the world.
| Why such q man had to die Is al
most as mysterious as why such q
man ever came to be born. Any OF
US could think of lot Of human be-
ings that could have better been
spared. Still. death is a part OF the
program Of life and mono OF us kcau
The career OF steinmetz was most
1 dramatic
| newspaper account OF him.. young
American student, Oscar Asmussen'
at tho Engineering school I'm zurich
fell in love with q Swiss glri. ns HIS
Of tho affair and ordered him home.
He impulsiveIy offered to divide his
money with his chum, g. fellow
I student. that both might take steer
age passage to New ,s. YORK. D stain.
I metz. who at the time was a reiugee
/! from Germany because OF his sociahst
activities. He landed In America as
a political refugee. 2 mechanical en-
sinser. with ;io and MO no 'oo' did no,
want to admit him at Ellis Island
He had little money, a deformed body
and defective eyesight. 1t was reared
he might become public charge.
I He Ilye0 10 DeCDIuc A"Ci1No 9
}greatest electrical engineer
His fame was second only to that
of Thomas A. Edison throughout the
world. He>~was not an inventor SO
much as a genius in electrician theory
and research. and a mas.ar OK 1n. en-,
gjneering mathematics. he was ALSO
a great teacher.
One of his most spectacular achieve
ments was in March. 1922. when he
lie set of q bolt Of artificial llshtnlns
iof 100000 Horsepower in steel
lined laboratory in Schenectady
He never married and lived with
his adopted son and chief assistant
Like Agassiz, he had no time e
make money. and the estate ne iel'
was insignificant, probably mol over
s25, 600.
He had no fixed salary. The com
tpany maintained laboratories for hin
at the works and at his nome ano
paid for all of his experiments, anc
for his living. That Was all ne
wanted.
He had many peculiarities. He
smoked necessarily cheap cigars ina.
made 4 heavy smoke ana contained
little nicotine. He was the one per.
son allowed to smoke in the pian'
on account o fhis refusal to go to ms
laboratory because there was a Nc
3Smoking" sign placed there. g.
All his life he was interested II
socialism.
| He was supposed to be one OF 2
dozen men able to understand Prof
Einstein's law Of relattvity.
| He ran for the position OF stare
engineer OF New York, and although
lit is improbable that ten grown
persons in the state could be founo
that would not admit that he was
the man best qualified for the 1ot
Tho was defeated by the political
parties.
He WAS several times president oil
tho National and international Scien'
tific societies.
Harvard gave him the degree OF
master Of arts. and Union CoHegt
! made him & doctor of philosophy
He wrote numerous technical books
While he did not object to befne
called an atheist and his reiisious
beliefs would have excluded him IRON
, being called a. Christian In the nina:
OF many, the pastor OF All Souls
Unitarian Church. of which ne ~at
a member, said OF him:
IF religion is loyalty TO lie
values. then I have never known q
more intensely religious man tnar
DR.. Steinmetz.'
He was a great and original genius
| He was one of the best filustra
tions of what opportunity means III
America The story OF his life shoulr
be known to every boy ana Slri. fol
he fought the good fight against I'm,
itations that to many would nave
been insuperable. -,
| He was true to himself. BY his
own efforts he raised himself IRON
the utmost obscurity to become one
iof the worlds greatest men,,