VOICE VOYAGES BY THE GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 



319 



to see what it has passed through. I have 

 been out of the telephone service for 30 

 years, but I say it almost takes my breath 

 to see what has been done in the years 

 that I have been away from it ; and when 

 I think of the men in charge of this — Mr. 

 Vail in charge of the business organiza- 

 tion and Mr. Carry and his associates fol- 

 lowing up the technical scientific part of 

 it — I must say that I have found bound- 

 less hopes for the future, and I can only 

 ask in amazement what they will next do. 

 I thank you. 



ADDRESS OF UNION NOBLE BETHELL, 



SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT OE THE AMERICAN 



TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 



While I am in entire accord with Mr. 

 Carty in his characterization of the tele- 

 phone art as an American art, when he 

 was talking I could not but think of 

 something which is said to have hap- 

 pened recently in the capital city of 

 Pennsylvania. A number of citizens of 

 that great Commonwealth were gathered 

 together, and were congratulating them- 

 selves upon the greatness of their State 

 and the number of its sons who had at- 

 tained prominence throughout the nation 

 and throughout the world. At length 

 one of the number said to his brethren : 

 "Gentlemen, I desire to propose a toast 

 to that greatest of Pennsylvanians, Ben- 

 jamin Franklin, of Massachusetts." 



A FITTING TOAST 



So I think it entirely proper and fitting 

 for us on this occasion to extend our 

 congratulations and felicitations to the 

 foremost figure in the creation of this 

 American art, that distinguished Amer- 

 ican, Dr. Graham Bell, of Scotland. 



We all know, though, that Dr. Bell is 

 an American as much as any Pilgrim 

 Father ever was Americans of his type, 

 who could not control the accident of 

 birth, have helped to transform a wilder- 

 ness into sovereign States, and to create 

 great industries, important cities, vast 

 empires, and all that sort of thing. They 

 are proud of America and America is 

 proud of them. 



In this age of achievement and effi- 

 ciency it is very difficult for us to realize 

 the significance of what we have seen 

 and heard tonight. We are so apt to 



take things as a matter of course. It is 

 only by contrast that we can get a right 

 perspective and form true conceptions. 



WHERE TELEPHONES WOULD HAVE 

 AVERTED A GREAT BATTLE 



When Cornwallis surrendered his 

 sword to Washington, a swift ship — 

 mark you, a swift ship — was dispatched 

 to England to carry the news. It was 

 bad news, and we all know that bad news 

 travels fast. Yet 37 days elapsed before 

 George III knew that he had lost some 

 colonies and gained some cousins. 



At the close of the succeeding war, 

 that of 1812, the transportation of news 

 was still so slow that the battle of Xew 

 Orleans, the bloodiest battle of that war 

 or the preceding war, was fought fully 

 two weeks after the treaty of peace was 

 signed at Ghent, and some time later the 

 news of the conclusion of peace and of 

 Jackson's victory reached the city of 

 Washington about the same time. 



In 1843, when the Oregon bill was 

 under discussion in the United States 

 Senate, leading Senators declared that 

 we could never have any interest in a 

 country so remote as that with which we 

 have been conversing so easily and fa- 

 miliarly this evening. "Why," declared 

 one Senator, "it would require ten 

 months for the representative of that 

 far-away land to come to the National 

 Capital and get back home again. We 

 can never have any interest in a country 

 so remote, so difficult to reach, and so 

 difficult to communicate with." But in 

 the very next year there came across the 

 wires those thrilling words, "What hath 

 God wrought !" 



The art of transmitting intelligence by 

 electricity was born — a new era was be- 

 gun. A network of wires soon spread 

 over the land and cables were laid across 

 the Atlantic. 



Still, only places, not people, were 

 joined together. 



After a time those very practical, com- 

 monplace words, "Mr. ' Watson, come 

 here ; I want you," faintly came across 

 the electric wires. That great boon — 

 the telephone — was now given to man- 

 kind. Then there began that tremendous 

 development and wide expansion which 

 culminated in 191 5, when the human 



