ECUADOR. 



EDISON, THOMAS A. 



261 



frontier ; an invasion of emigrants was feared 

 from Peru (?) ; a revolution existed in Guaya- 

 quil ; finally, the burning of the barracks in 

 Ambato. This last seems to have been the 

 only credible part of the story ; but the Gov- 

 ernment charged on the revolutionists, who 

 existed only in imagination, the odium of the 

 conflagration. These reports were considered 

 sufficient to induce the timid legislators to con- 

 fer absolute powers upon the Executive, and to 

 retire in an undignified way to their homes. It 

 is just such farces as these, such flagrant vio- 

 lation of pledges, such palpable disregard of 

 constitutional rights, and the vaulting ambition 

 which stops not at evil for the accomplishment 

 of its ends, which make revolution an easy thing 

 in these countries." 



But, if the welfare of the state was not the 

 subject chiefly discussed at the Convention, 

 private interests in high places would appear 

 not to have been forgotten, if we may judge 

 from the following results transcribed from a 

 fly-sheet published on May 16th, at Ambato : 



The Constitutional Convention donated to General 

 Urbina, Veintemilla's lieutenant, the sum of 50,000 

 pesos as a recompense for his services. To Urbina's 

 nephew, Mr. Viteri, was allowed the sum of 15,011 

 pesos for advances made to the treasury many years 

 ago, but of which nobody has any particular knowl- 

 edge. Viteri presented his petition to the Assembly 

 in the morning, Urbina recommended its passage, 

 and the obedient body at once made it a law. To a 

 relative of Veintemilla, 100 square leagues of terri- 

 tory were donated for services rendered to Veinte- 

 milla's cause, while to that redoubtable captain the 

 very liberal salary of 24,000 pesos per annum is paid 

 from a treasury already exhausted, and with losses 

 of revenue threatened through the failure of crops,etc. 

 Some suppose the land gift will be chosen in sections 

 along various projected lines of railway, the construc- 

 tion of which will largely enhance their value, while 

 others think that the province of Napo, from which 

 the largest amount of bark, etc., is obtainable, will 

 be fixed upon. Should this province be ultimately 

 selected, an industry which now gives employment 

 to many laborers, and not a few traders, in so valu- 

 able an article of export, will be monopolized by one 

 individual. To that unhappy republic may be ap- 

 plied the saying of the prophet, " They have taken 

 away my coat, and for my garments have they cast 

 lots." Widely different is the treatment they have 

 in reserve for those who venture to express the opin- 

 ion that things are not just as they should be. 



Liberty of speech and liberty of the press 

 are apparently dead letters in Ecuador ; hosts 

 of spies are scattered throughout the country 

 to prevent the first, and arrest and imprison- 

 ment of editors by the direct orders of the Ex- 

 ecutive are the efficient means adopted to curb 

 the second. " The press continues mute in 

 Guayaquil," writes the correspondent already 

 alluded to, in December last, u since by the 

 mandate of Dictator Veintemilla, Ezequiel Go- 

 mez's printing-office was closed, and himself 

 cast into a dungeon." Four newspapers, " El In- 

 dependente," "ElGuayas," "La Democracia," 

 and " Las Noches de los Trabajadores," had 

 ceased to be published. This is one of the 

 many direful results of the terrorism exercised 

 by Sefior Veintemilla. 



EDISON", THOMAS ALVA, an American in- 

 ventor, born at Milan, Erie County, Ohio, in 

 1847. His father, who is still living at the age 

 of seventy-four, is of Dutch descent, and has 

 been at different times a tailor, a nurseryman, 

 and a dealer in grain, in lumber, and in farm 

 lands. His mother, who died in 1862, was 

 born in Massachusetts of Scotch parentage. 

 She was well educated, and had been a teacher 

 in Canada. When young Edison was seven 

 years old his parents removed to Port Huron, 

 Mich. He received not more than two months 

 of regular schooling, but was taught in the ele- 

 mentary branches by his mother. He had a 

 passion for reading, and before he was twelve 

 years old had read Gibbon's "Rome," Hume's 

 " England," and the " Penny Cyclopaedia." He 

 also read some books on chemistry in early 

 life, and so strong was his thirst for knowledge 

 that at one time he resolved to read every book 

 in the public library of Detroit. In execution 

 of this purpose he read Newton's " Principia," 

 lire's scientific dictionaries, Burton's "Anat- 

 omy of Melancholy," and other important 

 works. He early became a newsboy on the 

 Grand Trunk Railway, opposite Detroit. This 

 position gave him the opportunity of read- 

 ing many miscellaneous books. He became 

 much interested in chemistry, and put up a 

 laboratory in one of the cars ; but his enthu- 

 siastic efforts in this direction were soon 

 brought to an end by an unfortunate explo- 

 sion which came near setting the train on fire, 

 and which led the conductor to throw the ap- 

 paratus and chemicals of the young enthusiast 

 out of the car. Not content with selling papers, 

 Edison next bought some old type and began 

 to print on the cars a little paper called the 

 " Grand Trunk Herald." While acting as news- 

 boy he got acquainted with the telegraph op- 

 erators along the line, and became ambitious 

 to be an operator himself. The station master 

 at Mount Clemens Station offered to give him 

 the necessary instruction, and for five months 

 the young newsboy returned to this point after 

 his day's work to receive nightly instruction in 

 telegraphy. At the end of this time he was 

 qualified to accept a position in the telegraph 

 office at Port Huron, where he remained for 

 six months, and then became night operator at 

 Stratford, Canada. He next went to Adrian, 

 Mich., where, besides discharging his duties as 

 operator, he spent much time in repairing in- 

 struments and other mechanical employments, 

 for which he had made a small workshop and 

 furnished it with tools. He soon went to In- 

 dianapolis, where he invented an automatic re- 

 peater, by which a message might be trans- 

 ferred from one wire to another without the 

 aid of an operator. Going in turn to Cincin- 

 nati, Memphis, Louisville, and New Orleans, 

 he returned to Cincinnati in 1867, where, at 

 the age of twenty, he became absorbed in pro- 

 jects of invention. He had now become one 

 of the most expert operators in the service, 

 and was soon put into the leading position in 



