Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-19

1t was nearing commencement time at
Cornell. The seniors were making their
plans as to what they would do in the
world that seemed so far removed from
the campus on the hills overlooking the
little upstate city of Ithaca. Walter
c. Teagle was included in the group
that was about to go out into the cold.
cold world" to follow the words of an
undergraduate song.
He received word that his professor
of chemistry would like to talk to him.
Young Teagle had specialized in chem
istry during his college course. He was
what his fellow students called shark"
in the subject Naturally he was a
prime favorite with the head Of the de-
partment.
He answered the summons promptly.
The professor urged him to return to
Cornell the following year to work for
Phi. D. degree. But the educator Of
fered him an instructorship in chem
istry and held out hi, hopes that his
prize pupil would eventually be promoted
to full professorship.
The salary of an instructor Of chemis-
try was $500 year. Young Teagle was
highly gratif1ed at the offer. He saw his
way clear to work and study under the
most pleasant conditions. A useful, II
not highly lucrative, career stretched
before him.
Ordered Home BY Father.
The young man wrote home to his
father, a leader in the oil industry in
Cleveland, telling him the good news.
The letter indicated that he would like
to return to Cornell and to make teach
ing his life work perhaps. His father,
in reply, ordered him to report at home
as soon as possible, making no comment
on the offer of a career that was evil
IDENTIFY rather pleasing to his son.
The elder Teagle didn't mince words
as to his opinion of the proposition
when his boy arrived home. He pointed
out that he had been allowing Walter
$1,000 a year while he was getting his
education at Cornell He added that he
didn't feel inclined to make up the diff
ference between that amount and the
$500 of an instructors pay.
Moreover, the father couldn't see any
real promising future ahead for his son
in a teaching career. Furthermore, he
needed the boy in his oil business. So
the young man was ordered to get new
suit of overalls and stand ready to use
them as his working clothes until he
knew the oil business at the bottom.
Walter Teagle was born in Cleveland
in 1878 and knew a thing or two about
oil even before he went to Cornell. AS
a youngster he spent much time around
his fathers refinery. He had served an
apprenticeship, from time to time, at
firing stills and unloading coal, for he
was a powerfully built and strong lad
Stood High in Glass.
He wasted no time in college, as is
shown by the fact that he completed a
four-year course in three and stood high
in his classes. He wrote the thesis for
his degree on the subject of oil. That
was natural enough topic for him to
select, considering the business his
father was in and that his maternal
grandfather Morris B. Clark, was a
partner of the senior John d. Rookie
teller in the grain business and was
later interested with him In oil ven
lures.
The first Job at which his father put
the recent college graduate was at fir
ing a still. The pay was 10 cents an
hour. The young man earned every
penny of it by the sweat of his brow.
Weighing over 200 pounds and standing
feet inches, he could hold his own
with any man on the shift. He didn't
remain a laborer long. He knew too
much about the industry to waste much
time in such Job.
He inherited his liking for the BUSH
ness from his father. His progress was
rapid as soon as his parent convinced
him that the industry offered him much
more than a teaching career. But the
days as a laborer must have been try
ing, for all that, to the young man who
had been leader in the student life
at Cornell, with no hard work to do be-
yond studying his books and working
on his experiments. Fortunately, he had
| the physique to stand up under his
grueling task.
Refining Was Problem.
He realized, once he went to work
| that there was more to getting oil than
merely putting down well. He knew
| that 1t took wide knowledge to deter
mine on a likely location for finding
| the crude product, that refining and