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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



mother, and the mother is looking up in 

 gratitude in Pasteur's face above, while 

 in front of her the figure of Death slinks 

 around the corner of the statue. To such 

 men should our monuments be given, be- 

 cause they are those who conquer this 

 world. 



BATTALIONS OF COMMERCE 



But it is not for me to talk to you to- 

 night, but to give you an opportunity to 

 see those who have done things. This is 

 a city of almost perennial talk, and it is 

 proper that such an exhibition of the 

 telephone should be given here. But it is 

 not often that we have an opportunity to 

 see those men who have throughout half 

 a century given their genius to our coun- 

 try and made it distinct on the face of 

 the earth. One of the rarest qualities 

 in man is the genius for organization, 

 and I want to present to you a man who 

 has under his direction tonight 250,000 

 men and women — the man who came 

 from a department of this government 

 forty years ago, and who has organized 

 the greatest telephone system in all the 

 world — Air. Theodore N. Vail. 



ADDRESS OF MR. THEODORE X. VAIL, 



PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN 



TELEPHONE; AND TELEGRAPH 



COMPANY 



This splendid compliment to "tele- 

 phony" and to those identified with it, 

 coming as it does on the official birthday 

 of the telephone, is most highly appre- 

 ciated by us all, and recalls to me many 

 points of mutuality. 



The home of the Society is in the beau- 

 tiful "Hubbard Memorial." Mr. Gardi- 

 ner G. Hubbard, the father of the tele- 

 phone business, was the sponsor and 

 father-in-law of Dr. Bell, inventor of 

 the telephone, was one of the god- 

 fathers of this great Society, and grand- 

 father-in-law of Gilbert H. Grosvenor, 

 the man who has done so great a work 

 in the development of the Society and 

 of its [Magazine, devoted to the spread- 

 ing of geographical information. The 

 part taken by Mr. Hubbard in laying the 

 foundation of the existing telephone 

 business, in opening up the vista through 

 which we could all see its future, and the 



contributions made by him to the gen- 

 eral business policy Avhich has had so 

 essential a part in the greatness of the 

 business can never be overstated. 



As general superintendent of the rail- 

 way mail service, I was brought into in- 

 timate personal contact with Mr. Hub- 

 bard, who was the chairman of a com- 

 mission created by Congress to investi- 

 gate and report upon the then aspects of 

 the always-with-us controversies over the 

 compensation of the railroads for trans- 

 porting the mails. Congress had recently 

 made a horizontal reduction. On the 

 trips of the commission over the country 

 Air. Hubbard carried with him a few 

 telephones, and without neglecting the 

 work of the commission, he at every op- 

 portunity exhibited and explained this 

 marvelous invention. We discussed the 

 business, its possibilities and potentiali- 

 ties, and the policies which should un- 

 derlie its development, so that my con- 

 nection with the telephone may be said 

 to date from its inception. 



THE GLORIOUS CAREER OF AX UGLY 

 DUCKLING 



The apparatus was extremely crude 

 and very unsatisfactory. A child never 

 was born with less apparent promise of 

 the destiny it has attained. Yet there 

 never has been a discovery or an inven- 

 tion that in the short life of forty years 

 has so revolutionized that with which it 

 has had to do (see page 310). 



The four associates — Bell, Hubbard, 

 Sanders, and "Watson — who were behind 

 the telephone, under the leadership of 

 Air. Hubbard, started the business in 

 1877. The first corporations which 

 brought capital and organization to prac- 

 tically and systematically exploit the 

 business were formed in 1878. 



To look back on those days, it seems 

 as if they had covered ages ; yet it was 

 but three years, from 1876, the natal 

 year of the telephone, to 1879, the year 

 in which the settlement with the West- 

 ern Union was made, and the first big 

 hill in the life journey of the telephone 

 was crossed. At least two of these three 

 years were employed in teaching the 

 telephone itself how to talk intelligently 

 and satisfactorily; for not until 1878 



