PREFACE

This is the story of talking at a distance, of sending messages through space.  It is the story of great men—­Morse, Thomson, Bell, Marconi, and others—­and how, with the aid of men like Field, Vail, Catty, Pupin, the scientist, and others in both the technical and commercial fields, they succeeded in flashing both messages and speech around the world, with wires and without wires.  It is the story of how the thought of the world has been linked together by those modern wonders of science and of industry—­the telegraph, the submarine cable, the telephone, the wireless telegraph, and, most recently, the wireless telephone.

The story opens with the primitive methods of message-sending by fire or smoke or other signals.  The life and experiments of Morse are then pictured and the dramatic story of the invention and development of the telegraph is set forth.  The submarine cable followed with the struggles of Field, the business executive, and Thomson, the inventor and scientific expert, which finally culminated in success when the Great Eastern landed a practical cable on the American coast.  The early life of Alexander Graham Bell was full of color, and I have told the story of his patient investigations of human speech and hearing, which, finally culminated in a practical telephone.  There follows the fascinating story of Marconi and the wireless telegraph.  Last comes the story of the wireless telephone, that newest wonder which has come among us so recently that we can scarcely realize that it is here.  An inner view of the marvelous development of the telephone is added in an appendix.

The part played by the great business leaders who have developed and extended the new inventions, placing them at the service of all, has not been forgotten.  Not only have means of communication been discovered, but they have been improved and put to the widest practical use with remarkable efficiency and celerity.  The stories of these developments, in both the personal and executive sides, embody the true romance of the modern business world.

The great scientists and engineers who have wrought these wonders which have had so profound an influence upon the life of the world lived, and are living, lives filled with patient effort, discouragement, accomplishment, and real romance.  They are interesting men who have done interesting things.  Better still, they have done important, useful things.  This book relates their life stories in a connected form, for they have all worked for a similar end.  The story of these men, who, starting in early youth in the pursuit of a great idea, have achieved fame and success and have benefited civilization, cannot but be inspiring.  They did not stumble upon their discoveries by any lucky accident.  They knew what they sought, and they labored toward the goal with unflagging zeal.  Had they been easily discouraged we might still be dependent upon the semaphore and the pony express for the transmission of news.  But they persevered until success was attained, and in the account of their struggle to success every one may find encouragement in facing his own tasks.