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Charles Proteus Steinmetz

CHARLES PROTEUS

STEINMETZ

A BIOGRAPHY

JOHN WINTHROP HAMMOND

ILLUSTRATED

THE CENTURY CO.

New York & London

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Copyright, 1924, by
The Centuby Co.

621.3

5t36K

PRINTED IN TJ. S. A.

FOREWORD

In the last few years of his life, repeated requests
came to Dr. Steinmetz for his autobiography. He
always refused to write of himself, saying that it
was too much trouble. Offers were made to do the
work for him if he would supply the facts. Finally
he decided that Mr. Hammond should be his biog¬
rapher, and to him he gave many of the facts con¬
cerning himself contained in the following pages.
Before his death. Dr. Steinmetz had read and ap¬
proved some of the chapters contained in this volume.

Mr. Hammond has had no easy task in painting a
word picture of so great and unusual a man as Dr.
Steinmetz, but I feel that he has done his subject
justice, and I give his work my most hearty and un¬
solicited commendation.

J. Leroy Hayden.

v

PREFACE

A short lifetime ago, the pursuits of men and
women were carried on with hardly any assistance
whatever from the mysterious, hidden power of elec¬
trical energy. In 1870 no one had ever traveled in
an electric car, made use of an electric elevator, or
spoken to another person by telephone. True, the
telegraph had ushered in one form of swift commu¬
nication ; but a host of other emancipating innovations
waited on man’s clearer knowledge of electricity and
its laws.

That knowledge has come within the last fifty
years. To-day the whole realm of material affairs
has been remade, and the remaking still goes forward,
a gradually unfolding, never-ceasing, modern won¬
der. It is the miracle of a new world, in which the
hum of electric generators and the purr of electric
motors chant a ceaseless paean to men of mighty
minds, both of the past and of the present.

Among such men, Charles Proteus Steinmetz
stands well to the front. For Steinmetz was a world-
builder. That this world of ours is advancing under
the magic touch of electricity is due, in several definite
ways, to his accomplishments.

He established certain fundamentals that will for¬
ever enter into the foundation of this new world —

vii

PREFACE

this world of electrical things. Electricity comes
close, to-day, to innumerable folk because Steinmetz
worked out those fundamentals, enabling other men
to expand the practical applications of electrical
energy.

And Steinmetz was an idealist. It was pure ideal¬
ism that shaped his social philosophy. He sincerely
desired a “better world,” socially and morally, as
well as materially. He never hated his fellow-men;
he always loved them and sought to do them good.
His life had much of the pathos of the idealist — the
pathos of being sometimes misunderstood, and the
pathos of sometimes entering the lists on behalf of a
cause foredoomed by existing conditions to defeat.

It is Steinmetz the world-builder and Steinmetz
the idealist that this volume seeks to portray. It is
also of Steinmetz the man of sociable disposition and
very human spirit that the author would write; for
these things are the most attractive characteristics of
his picturesque life and brilliant career.

The author gratefully acknowledges material as¬
sistance rendered by Joseph LeRoy Hayden, foster-
son of Dr. Steinmetz; Rudolf Eickemeyer, of Yon¬
kers, New York; Charles N. Waldron, editor of the
Union Alumni Monthly of Union College; Miss
Helen Clinton; A. E. Averrett; Dr. Ernst J. Berg;
Eskil Berg; Walter S. Emerson, of Yonkers; and
the Rev. Ernest Caldecott.

vm

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

PAGE

I

The Lighting of the Torch ....

3

II

An Innovation in Toy Houses

. .

19

III

Traveling Toward the University .

.

32

IV

Student Revelries at Breslau

.

50

V

Steinmetz a Student Socialist

•

66

VI

Hounded by Bismarck’s Police .

. .

82

VII

Steinmetz a Political Fugitive .

. .

98

VIII

The Transition Year at Zurich .

. ,

112

IX

Steinmetz Becomes an American .

. .

128

X

Electrical Events at Yonkers

.

144

XI

Steinmetz Makes His First Claim to Renown .

163

XII

The Alternating Current Meets Its Master .

GO

t-H

XIII

Steinmetz a Corporation Employee .

•

208

XIV

The Life of a Bohemian Scientist .

.

228

XV

Steinmetz Invents an Arc-Lamp .

.

254

XVI

College Professor and Consulting Engineer .

274

XVII

Steinmetz a Socialist Office-Holder

•

299

XVIII

Steinmetz Makes Friends with Lightning

•

322

XIX

A Unique Adventure in Politics .

•

345

XX

Steinmetz the Prophet .

•

359

XXI

Steinmetz and Transportation

•

380

XXII

His Life in Office and Camp ....

•

393

XXIII

Personal Whims and Traits ....

•

422

XXIV

What Steinmetz Thought of Religion .

•

444

XXV

The Great Torch Suddenly Extinguished

•

461

483

IX

%

N

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Charles Proteus Steinmetz . Frontispiece

TAOING PAGE

The famous photograph of the student Socialists of Breslau

grouped around the bust of Ferdinand Lassalle . . 84

Rudolf Eickemeyer of Yonkers, who gave Steinmetz his first

job in America . 136

A humble shrine of American electrical engineering . .172

Steinmetz in 1890 . 180

One of Steinmetz’s queer pets, John the Crow .... 236

Steinmetz’s favorite dog. Buck . 236

The original camp of Steinmetz on Viele’s Creek . . . 256

Dr. Steinmetz at work in his canoe at the camp .... 288

Steinmetz and Einstein . 324

Steinmetz and Marconi chatting . 360

Steinmetz and Thomas A. Edison . 400

Steinmetz seated on the dam at the camp with Joe Hayden . 408

The approach to Camp Mohawk in 1913 . 420

The camp in later years . 420

Steinmetz seated on the famous dam on Viele’s Creek . . 440

Steinmetz exchanging experiences with Elbert Hubbard at

Association Island . 456

One of the last photographs of Dr. Steinmetz .... 472

XI

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CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ:
A BIOGRAPHY

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CHARLES PROTEUS
STEINMETZ:

A BIOGRAPHY

CHAPTER I

THE LIGHTING OF THE TORCH

MEN of accomplishment have invariably been
the world’s thinkers. For to think con¬
structively is to advance, and out of such
thought flows the great flood-tide of all human his¬
tory. From Confucius to Columbus it was thus; and
so it has continued, with no sign, even in this age of
much turbulence of ideas, that the hoary, yet vitaliz¬
ing, rule has been invalidated.

Some men overtop all others as men of thought.
They become clearly set apart from the men of action,
the doers. Their wisdom marches on ahead of the
world’s civilization, like a great torch leading the way
into realms still unexplored.

The sage who contemplates and concentrates is dis¬
tinct from the executive who performs and directs,
although both are essentially thinkers.

Dispassionate observation would seem to justify
the conclusion that Charles Proteus Steinmetz be-

3

I

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

longs in the former of these two groups, among the
men who have advanced the world purely by the vigor
of their thinking. Indeed, it would appear that he is
properly to be regarded as having been a thinker
among thinkers. His scientific attainments were the
result of intensive study, research, and calculation.
He thought deeply, also, upon other questions than
those related to his calling of electrical engineer.
And, recognized as an authority in the latter, his opin¬
ion was heard with readiness in more extraneous
matters.

But he was not an executive, or an administrator,
in his career. His life-work was not to execute, to
direct, to do; it has been to investigate, to study, to
think. He represented the thinker, as distinguished
from the doer.

Steinmetz was the torch-bearer for electrical engi¬
neering in a very definite sense. Not that this great
field of human endeavor has had no other guiding
Lucifers; but none has lighted the hidden pathway
leading to the solution of such deep-rooted problems,
which required pure individual brain-work. And
Steinmetz had these essentially mental feats to his
credit. He untangled complex problems, problems
so fundamental that to-day important methods are
based upon his work.

Electrical practice and all the colossal benefits to
life-battling men and women that have come from
electricity have been enabled to grow — to develop and
expand, soundly and steadily — because Charles P.

4

THE LIGHTING OF THE TORCH

Steinmetz lived and devoted his remarkable mental
capacities to the service of electrical development.
And so he became a man of note ; a prominent person¬
age in that realm where precise accuracy is paramount
and technical knowledge a prime requisite.

This was not the only thing of remark about Stein¬
metz. It is just as fascinating to discover that his
renown was solidly earned. His rise was the rise that
comes from merit.

Steinmetz stood virtually alone in New York City
one day in the late eighties, a penniless young immi¬
grant, who could only speak a few words of English.
He went from one concern to another looking for em¬
ployment. When he got it, his pay was less than that
of a ditch-digger of to-day.

The only help Steinmetz ever got was the financial
assistance of the friend who paid his passage to Amer¬
ica in a French immigrant steamer — steerage passage,
too, by the way — and who successfully interceded for
him at Castle Garden when the immigration officials
were on the point of sending him back to Europe.

He was consequently a clear-cut instance of a man
who won his way without the aid of influence, patron¬
age, or artificial boosting. Steinmetz got where he
did by himself, unaided. But do not suppose that
this made him presumptuous. Nor did it over¬
develop his ego.

The friendly, courteous manner toward all people,
his inferiors as well as his superiors; the kindly, com¬
panionable smile that sometimes deepened into a fra-

5

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ternal laugh, a real man’s laugh; the thoughtfulness
for the good of the human race, which was deep-seated
within his heart, left with his intimate friends, and to
some extent with his visitors, an impression of demo¬
cratic simplicity that operated to open the heart of the
“other fellow” in friendly response. He was one of
those wholly delightful people who somehow contrive
to stay wholly human notwithstanding the brilliance
of their renown.

Steinmetz, as he finally stood before the world, a
master mind among many master minds, a mathema¬
tician of tremendous ability, an electrical engineer of
deathless accomplishments, was first of all a great sci¬
entist. He was other things, also ; but his fame rested
most securely upon his scientific studies. Hence, in
considering the career of this outstanding thinker, it
is natural to inquire as to the influences that gave such
a personality as this to the world in 1865, the year in
which Steinmetz was born of German Protestant par¬
ents in circumstances comfortable although by no
means exceptional.

His father, Carl Heinrich Steinmetz, had a distinct
liking for mechanical matters. He kept himself
posted on the scientific developments of his day. He
bought books on science, followed new inventions and
discoveries, enjoyed studying the lives of notable sci¬
entists. He was not particularly mathematical, how¬
ever, nor was he greatly interested in electricity, which
was then but little understood.

He was not attracted by politics or social economy,

6

THE LIGHTING OF THE TORCH

subjects which absorbed a good deal of his son’s time
and meditation.

As for his father before him — the grandfather of
Charles P. Steinmetz — there is no record here of any
special scientific leanings whatever. The grand¬
father, Carl Steinmetz, was a country innkeeper in a
small town in Poland, although by birth and breeding
he was a German.

So little is known of the maternal ancestry of Stein¬
metz that whether or not any of his mathematical gen¬
ius was inherited from his mother’s side it is impossible
to say. His mother was Caroline Neubert, a resident
of Breslau, Silesia, at the time of her marriage. She
lived only a year after the birth of her son. He never
knew his maternal grandparents.

Thus the delicate thread of inherited talents disap¬
pears almost immediately into dim obscurity ; and we
are left to conclude that for the most part the genius
of Steinmetz was conferred upon him exclusively at
his birth.

In the early years of the nineteenth century, when
men still lived who remembered the wars of the Napo¬
leonic era, the grandfather of Charles P. Steinmetz,
who was plain Carl Steinmetz, left his home town in
the South German province of Silesia and migrated
to Poland. He was a young fellow, stalwart and
alert, and he was following the oft-repeated practice
of going forth tp seek his fortune.

Reaching the little Polish town of Ostrowo, he

7

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

found need there of an inn. So he stopped at Os¬
trowo, acquired land, and built himself a house. He
farmed the fields, did something of a business as a
trader, and at length began to prosper. Soon he had
a substantial establishment, of which the inn was the
center. The years passed, and he became wealthy as
wealth was measured in that small place.

Early in his residence at Ostrowo he married a
young Polish woman whose family name was Ga wen-
ska. This young woman was to become the grand¬
mother of Charles P. Steinmetz; yet as little is known
of her lineage as is recorded of his own mother. And
it is almost as great a disappointment, for she took
the place of a mother to him through the early years
of his life.

The little German lad who called her “Grossmut-
ter,” in later days, as he played around a German
home back in Silesia was to he her greatest trial and
her richest treasure ; persistently getting into the odd¬
est kinds of childish scrapes, yet unfailingly holding
her affection, for her heart was tender for him.

The family of Steinmetz, the innkeeper of Ostrowo,
was eventually increased by the birth of three sons.
They were August, the oldest; Carl Heinrich, father
of Dr. Steinmetz; and Rudolph. These boys were a
great pride to their parents ; and it was a happy, rus¬
tic family group that lived there in contentment for
ten years or so after the birth of the youngest son.

Then, in 1846, revolution broke out in the country.
Poland had been partitioned among three European

8

THE LIGHTING OF THE TORCH

powers, Germany, Austria, and Russia. Ostrowo
was located in that part of Poland which had been
given to Germany, although the Russian frontier was
not far away. The revolution of 1846 was caused by
the rebellion of Poland against all three of the nations
that ruled her dismembered territory.

Around Ostrowo the tide of warfare whirled and
eddied. In a few merciless weeks everything was
changed, even the very aspect of life. The times be¬
came exceedingly evil. The contending armies, Pol¬
ish and German, fought hack and forth almost at the
threshold of the Steinmetz home. The land was dev¬
astated, live stock was carried off, crops were ruined,
farm buildings were destroyed. Poverty and despair
were left by the battling troops. Pestilence soon ap¬
peared, and many neighbors and friends of the family
were carried off by disease. Desolation overcame
happiness.

The Steinmetz homestead, in the midst of this
dreadful maelstrom of misery, was never actually
molested. Curious cross-concepts of nationality pro¬
tected them. When Polish troops were in the region,
they guarded the rights of the wife and mother, their
countrywoman; and when German troops swept in,
they regarded the family as German subjects and so
did not disturb them.

But there was almost nothing to eat. Hunger
steadily increased, until finally the people had to eat
a sort of bread which they made from grass seed.

Somehow or other the Steinmetz family struggled

9

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

through this distressing period, until at last the revo¬
lution passed. Gradually their former prosperity
returned in part. Then the sons began to grow up
and to secure employment, which helped the family
income. And so, until the boys drifted away, leaving
the old homestead, they were again a happy house¬
hold.

The oldest of the sons, August, served the three
years that constituted the prescribed period of mili¬
tary training. At the end of that time he continued
in the army for six years longer as an officer in the
Pioneer Corps. Nine years of military life entitled
him to a pension. The Government also undertook
to provide positions in civil life for those who were
retired from active military service. Under this
arrangement, August Steinmetz got work in Breslau,
the capital of Silesia, as a clerk in the government
railway office.

The youngest son, Rudolf, became a carpenter.
He stayed most of his life in Ostrowo.

The second boy, Carl Heinrich, learned the litho¬
grapher’s trade. It was a fairly remunerative occu¬
pation, and it had just enough of the technical about
it to attract him. But work was not very plentiful
around the home village, and so he wrote to his brother
in Breslau to inquire about a position in that city.

August replied after a while that there was a chance
for a lithographer in the railroad office, if Carl could
come at once. So the latter bade farewell to his
folks, packed his belongings, and made the long jour-

10

THE LIGHTING OF THE TORCH

ney to the metropolis of Silesia. This was in 1860
or 1861, when Carl Heinrich was in his early twenties
and his brother was several ^ears older than himself.

4/

It was at a time when Germany was far from being
the forward-pushing industrial nation that she be¬
came in later years. Instead, the principal occupa¬
tion was agriculture.

When Carl Heinrich reached Breslau, he found his
brother well established there. August had married
a young German woman whom he had met after lo¬
cating in Breslau, a young woman whose name was
Caroline Neubert. There were two daughters, little
children when Carl Heinrich first saw them.

The family made the new-comer welcome. He
took up his residence with them, at their cordial invi¬
tation. He found his sister-in-law friendly and at¬
tractive. The home life was cheerful, counterbalanc¬
ing his homesickness.

Then, in 1863, August died from tuberculosis; and
in the period of bereavement Carl Heinrich found an
opportunity to be of genuine human service to the
widow and the two small children. The friendliness
between the mother and himself deepened during
these days through the bond of sympathy. Gradu¬
ally a mutual affection budded, grew, and blossomed.
And the outcome of it was that at length they were
quietly married, about a year after the death of Au¬
gust, Carl Heinrich thus becoming the stepfather to
the little girls. They set up housekeeping in an
apartment-house in Tauenzienstrasse. And there,

11

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

on April 9, 1865, was born to them a boy, the third
Carl Steinmetz, later to become known to the world
and to achieve big things in science as Charles P.
Steinmetz.

The name they gave him at his birth seems long
and ponderous when presented in full. They chris¬
tened the baby Carl August Rudolph Steinmetz, with
the thoughtful purpose of preserving the memories
of his father and his two uncles.

This name failed to stick with him longer than
twenty-five years or so. The whimsicalities of uni¬
versity intimates and the Americanizing influences
that set in before he was thirty caused the elimination
of those two middle names and the substitution of the
more cherished “Proteus,” conferred in jest, but
adopted out of fondness for college associates.

No single prophetic element foreshadowed the re-

%

markable career and the free citizenship which this
son of the plain-living, hard-working couple on Tau-
enzienstrasse was one day to attain in a land across
the sea. Nor could they foresee that his native land
would not always prove congenial to him as a home.

Yet even at that day the political aspect of Ger¬
many was shaping those conditions which were to
bring Steinmetz and the realm of the Hohenzollerns
to the parting of the ways, the sequel to which was the
immigration of the young man to the land of
Columbia.

Germany in 1865 was the Germany of Bismarck,
Bismarck at his height. A grim, iron-hearted Ger-

12

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

many. A Government that was uncompromising in
its non-toleration of all counter political thought.

It was a Germany of suppression for liberal think¬
ers. Hence a Germany of hostility toward the social
revolutionists, who were akin to the present-day So¬
cialists in this and other countries. A stern policy
prevailed against these idealists; for such they were
at the first. Yet, notwithstanding the dark frowns of
Bismarck in his Prussian office at Berlin, the social
revolutionists continued their forbidden activities in
almost every part of Germany.

Four years previous to the birth of Steinmetz, Wil¬
liam I, grandfather of the present exiled William
Hohenzollern, had ascended the throne as the king of
Prussia who later became the first German emperor.
And Bismarck the iron-hearted was now solidifying
the German Empire in a manner that marked him as
a great statesman, even though an intolerant one.

There was autocracy in the Germany of that day ; it
was not always apparent, but it was always there.

Anyone could perceive that this was an unfavorable
national atmosphere for a thinker of the stamp that
the new baby on Tauenzienstrasse, Breslau, was to
become. For the country was rock-ribbed with po¬
litical repression. Any sort of thinking that did n’t
look orthodox to the Government was simply taboo.
There was no encouragement for conscientious reflec¬
tion and untrammeled conclusions.

This, of course, need not necessarily be a hindrance
to a scientist; but to a scientist who was also a social

13

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

economist, politically active, it might become a black
thunder-cloud of peril. And so, in truth, it did.

There are numerous cases of men with exceptional
endowments who have been born amid humble envi¬
ronments. The birthplace of Steinmetz, as it hap¬
pened, was not so much humble as it was just ordi¬
nary, without distinction, without eve'n individuality.

A plain-looking, four-story brick apartment-house,
in appearance very similar to a squared-off factory
building, was where Steinmetz came into the world.
The house looked exactly like scores of others up and
down the length of Tauenzienstrasse. There were
rows and rows of them. A genius might have been
born in one as well as another. It was the dwelling
district of families that were well-to-do, but not much
more.

Prosaic, workaday reasons led to the selection of
this rather unromantic neighborhood, this stronghold
of the masses, as the Steinmetz domicile. Carl Hein¬
rich Steinmetz, the father, wanted to be near his work
in the headquarters office of the Ober Schlesische
Railroad. The Tauenzienstrasse region was within
convenient walking distance of the railroad offices.
Hence, in the economy of every-day arrangements,
it was well suited to the needs of the railroad
lithographer.

The street was toward the outskirts of the city.
Near-by was a pleasant park with a pond and a small
stream. The pond and stream had once been the

14

THE LIGHTING OF THE TORCH

moat of a fortress, since demolished, and sentries with
fixed bayonets had patrolled the ramparts in the days
of Napoleon.

When Breslau was besieged by the French, a Prus¬
sian general, Tauenzien, had led forth a sortie from
this fortress and had driven off the enemy. For this
exploit he had been honored by having the street
named for him. A street of undistinguished, peace¬
time apartment-houses, homes of the great, striving
middle class!

Only one room in the Steinmetz home looked out
upon the cobblestones of the thoroughfare. This was
the front room, the parlor, with its three or four large
windows and its modestly pretentious furnishings.
There were two or three rooms at the rear of the house,
each with a window; and a connecting room, or hall¬
way, in the middle, without windows.

In the localized social scale of Breslau, the financial
status of the Steinmetzes was to be judged from the
size of their apartment. The fact that there were five
rooms in it meant that the family was fairly well off.
Some households consisted of only two rooms; and
there were, of course, graduated levels in between.
Also, there were some opulent folk who had risen to
the dizzy height of apartments with seven rooms!

This was the outward visible sign of a really fat
income in a city where an overwhelming proportion
of the inhabitants were apartment-house dwellers.
Only the luxuriously wealthy lived in private houses.

Like most people who lived in rented quarters, the

15

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Steinmetz family did not stay in the same house more
than just so long. But they were pretty well rooted
in the same street. They moved, it is true, after
lapses of some years — to another apartment-house in
another part of Tauenzienstrasse.

Moving under such conditions was not much of a
break. It simply meant the same sort of a house,
with the same arrangement of the rooms ; for the simi¬
larity between the apartment blocks was too great to
set them apart from one another.

Sometimes they lived only one flight up from the
street, instead of two or three flights. For this, too,
was a mark of social and worldly standing. But that
was the only difference.

There was no moving about, however, for some time
after the arrival of the baby Carl. For one thing, a
burden of sorrow fell upon the home when the new
infant was only a year old. The mother, in some un¬
explained manner, fell sick of the cholera, which car¬
ried her off with appalling quickness. And so Carl
never remembered his mother; his grandmother be¬
came the center and soul of the home for him until he
began to be a pretty large boy.

Left in his bereavement with a baby son and two
small stepdaughters, Carl Heinrich, the father, made
the most natural move under the circumstances. He
sent word to the old home in Ostrowo, asking his
mother, who was now a widow, to come to Breslau as
housekeeper for the young family.

She promptly came, accompanied by her daughter,

16

THE LIGHTING OF THE TORCH

Julia, Carl Heinrich’s sister. And this became the
family that the junior Carl — Carl August Rudolf
Steinmetz — became acquainted with as he grew older.
A busy, yet companionable father, a doting grand¬
mother — “Grossmutter” to him — and his aunt,
“Tante Julia”; these were the grown-ups. And
there were his two sisters, Marie, who was about
twelve years older than Carl, and Clara, several years
younger than Marie.

This household was, for the most part, an ex¬
tremely happy one. The three children were of
companionable ages, even though Carl’s two sisters
were somewhat older than himself. And as he grad¬
ually approached adolescence, he found an abundance
of playmates among the boys and girls of the
neighborhood. He never lacked childhood asso¬
ciates.

The coming of the Grossmutter meant a great deal
to the baby Carl. It brought into his infant years a
kindly, benign personality, to whom he was greatly
endeared.

Grossmutter did everything for him that a mother
could have done. The plain truth is, she spoiled him.
But her love for the child, her “little lad,” as she liked
to call him, was quite unmeasured.

She had a pet name for him.' She called him “Car-
luszek.” It was a term of affection; and by none
other was he ever known to her.

The two became the most delightful playmates,
comrades who never quarreled, who simply thought

17

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

the world of each other. To be sure there were occa¬
sions when Grossmutter was compelled to assume the
role of monitor, admonishing the little fellow when,
like all small children, he got into mischief. But his
childish scrapes, often vexatious enough, almost al¬
ways occurred when he was playing by himself.
When Grossmutter was his playmate, the spirit of
joyous and serene good nature ruled *their frolics and
was the only spirit that prevailed throughout the
home. And the child’s fancy, coupled with Gross-
mutter’s ingenuity, provided some rare fun for them
both.

Such a Grossmutter was a valuable possession, for
the speeding days of these first few years represented
a tremendous period to Carluszek — the period in
which a little child makes its first tentative, delicate
acquaintance with matters relating to the great world.

In every child’s life the world begins in the home.
And Carluszek, thanks to Grossmutter, did not miss,
to any serious extent, the best that a home can offer —
a motherly personality.

18

CHAPTER II

AN INNOVATION IN TOY HOUSES

ILLUSTRATING that wholesomely discerning
observation, “The thoughts of youth are long,
long thoughts,” Rudyard Kipling has a short
story of India in which a little child’s dream of life
is the grand motif. “The Story of Muhammad Din”
reveals in its brief intensity the ambitions of a baby
boy who drew in the dust outlines of great palaces and
fine cities.

This is merely substantiation, from a keen student
of life, of what all wise folk know to be perfectly true,
that children have their own absorbing “world of
affairs.”

Of such a type of busy, much-occupied little peo¬
ple was Carluszek, his Grossmutter’s pet ; sometimes,
also, her pet problem. There were ideas of an odd,
constructive kind knocking around in his childish
mind by the time he was four years of age. They
suggest, perhaps, some semblance of his absorption
later in life in the massive affairs of the world of men.

Most children are fascinated, as was Carluszek, by
the idea of erecting whatever their fancy suggests,
with building-blocks. Carluszek had some wooden
blocks with which he carried out large designs. Most

19

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

children, also, after building such a toy castle,
would have stopped with the carefully reared super¬
structure.

Rut this was where Carluszek was different. His
active little mind wanted to go further. His toy
castle, however grand, was lacking in something that
he knew the people in his own house could not do
without : it had no lights !

The picture of Carluszek just at this period is as¬
suredly a quaint one. A little child squatting on the
parlor floor, surveying his play palace with deep con¬
cern because it was doomed apparently to eternal
darkness after nightfall!

He gravely informed Grossmutter and Tante Julia
that the building was the grand tower of Solomon’s
Temple, which Grossmutter had described to him out
of the Bible. But Solomon would never want to en¬
ter at night if he could not see. Would Grossmutter
and Tante Julia care to go groping about in the dark?
Grossmutter and Tante Julia smilingly assured him
they would not, and regretted with him the limita¬
tions that haunt the world of toy palaces.

Then they went off and forgot all about it. They
supposed it was merely a childish whim that had
caught his fancy, and therefore a very short-lived
whim, just a “fleeting notion.”

But — “the thoughts of youth are long, long
thoughts”; and Carluszek pondered over this one un¬
til he thought of a way to illuminate the tower of
Solomon’s Temple!

20

INNOVATION IN TOY HOUSES

He hurried to the kitchen, where Grossmutter was
so busy with her cooking that she scarcely noticed the
comings and goings of the little lad. He found a
candle and some matches in the cupboard, which he
seized and returned with eager haste to his tower of
blocks. Down on his knees he dropped, got the
candle lighted, and then with patient care guided it in
through the doorway of the tower. He pushed it to
the very center of the little structure, until the small
beams of light shone out from every window opening,
like tiny beacons to guide an imaginary king and his
royal retinue.

This finishing touch being accomplished, he with¬
drew his hand and backed off a little, in order to
secure the full effect of his handiwork.

Perfect! It was now indeed a finished achieve¬
ment ! King Solomon could look upon it and rejoice ;
there was ample light for the supposed temple wor¬
shipers to gather by night or by day. Carluszek, un¬
consciously playing the make-believe role of a modern
illuminating engineer, was fascinated.

As he watched the little spectacle, the wooden
blocks began to smoke a bit. But, then, the new
lamp smoked, too, if it was turned too high.

The smoke increased until the parlor began to have
a hazy atmosphere. And then from the kitchen he
suddenly heard hastening footsteps; Grossmutter’s
voice in amazed expostulations roused him; and
Grossmutter herself flew in, rudely wrecking the
grand tower and snatching up the candle none too

21

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

soon to prevent the blackened blocks from actually
bursting into flame.

Carluszek received a mild scolding amid the ruins
of his demolished tower. It was so exceedingly mild,
however, that it did not affect his point of view. He
still considered that the necessity of having illumina¬
tion for a toy tower far outweighed the peril of set¬
ting the house afire! Naturally enough, therefore,
he built another Solomon’s Temple before long, again
introduced lights within by means of a candle — and a
conflagration was again averted, accompanied by
Grossmutter’s flustered reprimand, only after the toy
blocks had been charred a little blacker.

Grossmutter became perplexed; for her too-gentle
rebukes did not in the least lessen the persistency of
Carluszek’s endeavors. She perceived that it was
useless to scold him. All she could do was to exercise
vigilance, instead of authority, against the very defi¬
nite possibility that the roof would be burned right
over their heads.

After a time, Carluszek grew bigger and did not
continue trying to take light into the lives of make-
believe people who frequent palaces built from toy
blocks. But at the moment he was the childish pro¬
totype of the great torch-bearers who have enlight¬
ened the world in all ages of human history. And in
this immortal group he himself was to be found within
a few brief decades.

The most marvelous object in the Steinmetz house-

22

INNOVATION IN TOY HOUSES

hold was the new lamp. Carl Heinrich, always fasci¬
nated by new inventions, had heard or read about this
lamp and had contrived to purchase one. It burned
kerosene-oil, producing a light that seemed dazzling
in contrast with the dimness of the vegetable-oil lamps
then in common use.

That first night with the new lamp glowing on the
table was remembered by every one for a long time
afterward. The family gathered around in a state
bordering on awe as Carl Heinrich adjusted the wick,
applied a match, and placed the tall glass chimney
in position.

“We must be careful with this lamp,” he cautioned
them. “The oil burns instantly; and if we are too
careless we might cause the lamp to explode.”

That heightened the awful delight with which they
noted the immense improvement in the illumination —
pointing out to each other how much brighter objects
in the room appeared, and how much better they could
see into the most distant corners. Small Carluszek
watched everything with contemplative, inquiring
eyes. He watched the lamp as it burned steadily
hour after hour. And it was many days before he
could see the lamp lighted without giving his whole
attention to the proceedings.

But in this overwhelming sense of wonder Carlus¬
zek was not much different from the grown-ups in his
household, so far as the new lamp was concerned!

Only exceptional occasions justified the use of this
lamp for an entire evening, or even part of an eve-

23

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ning. The dim illumination of the vegetable-oil burn¬
ers still served the greater part of the time. But oc¬
casionally, when a neighbor or a friend came in, the
new lamp was brought out and lighted, to exhibit its
brilliancy, the fame of which had traveled around the
neighborhood.

So it was, one evening, when a special friend of the
family came in, that Grossmutter, who had just been
through one of her mildly tempestuous times with
Carluszek over the matter of the lighted toy palace,
brought forth the lamp.

“It is very dangerous,” she solemnly declared, as
she placed it on the table, “for it might explode, you
know.”

They admired it in silence, looking about the room
to observe how plainly things could be distinguished.
Carluszek also admired the light, watching its unwav¬
ering flame for a while before returning to his blocks.

The older folk talked together. Presently the vis¬
itor, glancing down at the child, drew attention to the
new structure which Carluszek had produced. It
was a mill, and it had what Carluszek proudly desig¬
nated as a mill-wheel.

“It was just an imitation of a mill-wheel which I
had put together with two semicircular blocks,” said
the great scientist, Charles P. Steinmetz, harking back
to those childhood days. “It was supported upon
other blocks, but it looked round, like a wheel, and
my imagination did the rest. At least this mill-wheel
was a fine make-believe affair, such as would naturally

24

INNOVATION IN TOY HOUSES

delight a little boy. Naturally it could not turn — it
had no axis — yet I pretended that it would turn if it
were placed in a stream. I think I more than half
believed that if water flowed over it it would revolve.”

Of course, the water was lacking. There was no
stream. Therefore the mill and the mill-wheel
seemed to Carluszek as incomplete, as unfinished, as
had the temple tower without its lights. The mills
on the river all had water that made the wheels re¬
volve. That was what his mill needed — water!

“I want a mill-stream! There must be water!” he
exclaimed, looking up at the caller in perplexity.

“Very good,” said the visitor, jestingly; “here’s
some water.”

And thereupon he offered Carluszek the water-
pitcher from the table.

It was done in jest. But before any one could say
a word, Carluszek had seized the pitcher and had
poured the water over his mill-wheel. For one in¬
stant he was delighted with his perfect mill and mill-
stream. But the mill-wheel did not revolve; the
water merely dripped down upon the floor and flowed
over the carpet in a swift, exploring rivulet. Gross-
mutter, in despair, found her salvaging ability once
more called into action because of the little boy’s un¬
expected enterprises.

“Carluszek,” she said reprovingly, “I shall have to
tell thy father when he comes in.”

But it was a mild threat. A brief reprimand was
all that Carluszek usually heard of it. Grossmutter

25

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

never forgot that he was a motherless lad. Gross-
mutter’s heart was big — and Carluszek had the free¬
dom of it.

The bonds of comradeship are extremely strong be¬
tween the very old and the very young. Indulgent
though she was toward Carluszek, Grossmutter was
nevertheless a most congenial playfellow with him.
And the game that entertained them the most was
“going to America.”

A small red chest was the vessel. Safely embarked
side by side upon this veteran of the waves, the flood¬
gates of imagination were immediately opened, and
between them the old woman and the little boy had
adventures outrivaling those of Columbus, Magellan,
Ponce de Leon, Sir Walter Raleigh, and all the rest.

They forgot they were shut in by the staid walls of
the front room on Tauenzienstrasse. They saw be¬
yond those walls, saw the sparkling blue waves of the
Atlantic, the deeper, cloud-dressed blue of the sky,
the soaring sea-gulls, the gleaming sails of distant
ships, and at length a long shore and the smoke of
many cities. They had come to America — the
golden New World, of which they had heard so much,
where so many of their friends had gone from Bres¬
lau, seeking a new fortune. Years later, when
Steinmetz had in reality reached America, the little
red chest was still with him.

Favored of the house of Steinmetz, through the
propitious presiding genius of Grossmutter, Carlus-

26

INNOVATION IN TOY HOUSES

zek began to show the usual reaction to such condi¬
tions. He displayed unmistakable signs of spoiling;
and the most infallible of these signs was the outbreak
of a violent temper, easily aggravated, but not easily
appeased.

His sisters, Marie and Clara, the elder of whom
was now about sixteen, suffered considerably from
the small tyrannies of Carluszek, who knew him¬
self to be Grossmutter’s favorite. He was unwilling
that any meal should begin without his presence.
He demanded more than his rights in the games they
all played together. He played the small usurper
upon innumerable occasions. Particularly did he
take advantage of his position in the game of collect¬
ing pumpkin-seeds, so much so that the situation be¬
came quite intolerable.

This game was a much-enjoyed sport that occupied
the children of the household whenever a fresh pump¬
kin was to be cut. The game was confined to a con¬
test to see who could secure the most pumpkin-seeds
after the cutting. Usually it was Carluszek, because
usually Carluszek raised such an outcry if he were not
allowed deliberately to gather in the lion’s share that
Marie and Clara found themselves obliged to humor
him.

In his childish tyranny Carluszek even commanded
that no pumpkin should be cut unless he were there
to help himself to the greater part of the seeds.

Perceiving that the little fellow had gone too far,
even though he was her pet, Grossmutter at length

27

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

undertook to equalize the distribution of the seeds by
having a secret preliminary cutting of the pumpkins,
at which Marie and Clara were allowed to secure a
quantity of the seeds. Then, a little later, Carluszek
was called in, and Grossmutter, having fitted the
pumpkin together again, pretended to cut it for the
first time by skilfully inserting her knife in the almost
invisible crack between the two sections.

One day this trick was exposed. The two halves
unfortunately slipped and fell apart before the knife
touched the pumpkin. Carluszek instantly under¬
stood the deception. There was a perfect storm of
tears, and he screamed and wailed for many minutes
until his rage had expended its fury in a prolonged
fit of sobbing.

Carluszek’s sisters were really uncomplaining girls.
They seldom grew provoked at his procedure. Per¬
haps they humored him in their own way as much as
did Grossmutter, for they were old enough to under¬
stand his childish imperiousness. In their pumpkin-
seed game, too, there were usually so many seeds that
the two sisters got a pretty good supply, even when
Grossmutter did not attempt her bit of trickery, but
made the first cutting when all three of the children
were there, Carluszek included.

There was another rebellious scene on the day
when Carluszek came home to find his sisters already
eating dinner, although it had long been understood
that no meal should begin until he was there. On
this day the two girls were to attend confirmation

28

INNOVATION IN TOY HOUSES

class and, in order to be punctual, could not wait for
the usual meal-time.

Carluszek was fearfully enraged at this disregard
of his own “rights.” His flood of tearful protests
was not even quieted when Grossmutter, helplessly
endeavoring to pacify the storm, pretended to have
the meal start all over again and to have Carluszek sit
down with the others.

Carl had a congenial father; not exactly a comrade,
yet an interested observer of his little son’s activities
and games. He was never too busy to notice what
was going on at home. Grossmutter told him about
the queer notion Carluszek had of placing lighted
candles inside his toy palaces and of pouring the con¬
tents of the water-pitcher over his crude toy mill¬
wheel. Carl Heinrich listened and nodded and
watched Carluszek at his play, pondering what these
things might signify.

“Doubtless he has a liking for the mechanical, the
constructive,” said the father to himself. “Perhaps
he will follow a craft. Perhaps he will admire pro¬
gress and invention in the world. We must see how
he develops.”

Since he was a railroad man, and since boys, from
the beginning of time, have always been fascinated
by railroad-trains, it was natural that Carl’s father
should surprise him one day by bringing home a new
toy. It was a wonderful locomotive, all equipped
with piston and driving-wheels. It used alcohol for

29

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

fuel and had a really impressive degree of motive
power. It did not run on a track, but it would move
across the floor, after “getting up steam,” with
rapidity; its wheels ran right over the carpet! On
the tender was painted its name, the Strousberg.

Carl was immensely pleased with this miniature
piece of rolling-stock. But his father did more for
him. Very cleverly he carved out two small wooden
cars, one a freight-car and the other a passenger-
coach. He was skilful at this sort of thing, and he
was interested to see how Carl would like the trans¬
portation idea in his play.

The famous Strousberg was preserved by Dr.
Steinmetz after he grew up. He kept it at his home
in Schenectady as long as he lived. It would look
pretty tame if placed beside one of the magnificent
toy electric locomotives, running over a complete
miniature railroad system, such as twentieth-century
boys possess — if they ’re lucky ! But it would not
need to feel abashed thereby, for assuredly the pro¬
fession in which its owner distinguished himself has
brought to pass that very electrical advancement
which has produced, among other benefits for an ever-
changing world, the toy electric railroad of to-day!

At times Carl played out of doors, with small
friends of his neighborhood. For he should not be
thought of as a physical weakling, although unfortu¬
nately his body was not perfectly formed like the
bodies of other children. Yet he was always healthy
and was surprisingly strong. His out-of-doors play

30

INNOVATION IN TOY HOUSES

was as enjoyable to him as it was to any of the others.
And all his life he found great zest in the open air.

The chief playground of the children of his neigh¬
borhood was the little park that had been formed out
of the old moat. There, in the duck-pond, the boys
sailed numerous small boats, or, when the streets were
flushed in the summer, they launched these craft in
the streaming gutters, with great glee and shouting.
In imagination the duck-pond or the gutters typified
the broad Atlantic, and the small boats were bound
for — America, of course!

None of them thought of any other destination.
It was always America. They had heard so much
about that great land, knew of so many families
where some one had gone off to live there, that they
conceived of America as almost the only place any
one ever went to besides heaven.

Carl was as happy, as lively, and as imaginative as
any of his small chums in sailing his toy boats to that
invisible, mystical country which seemed only half
real to him and very, very far away — America !

/

31

CHAPTER III

TRAVELING TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

FOR most of us, the great adventures of life be¬
gan with that memorable morning when they
washed our face with painful vigor and
brushed our hair with unaccountable earnestness.
Our cleanest, dressiest clothes were brought out, al¬
though we could not quite perceive the reason for it
on a week-day. We began to have an uneasy feeling,
a hazy sense of foreboding. We were not supposed
to wear our best things to play, yet here we were, ar¬
rayed in an unnatural state of finery. And we fin¬
ally learned that all this was in preparation for our
first day at school.

School was a new idea, a new word, heard perhaps
indifferently oncemr twice before, but allowed. to pass
unpondered. Now, however, it immediately stirred
our curiosity, doubtless our apprehensions, too, es¬
pecially if we were deeply attached to the dear home
companions. Intuition told us that it meant an intro¬
duction to the great world. It foreshadowed a
change in our familiar affairs. And we did n’t fancy
the idea.

Small Carluszek was like that. His days had
passed in tranquil, undisturbed enjoyment with those

32

TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

boon companions, Grossmutter and Tante Julia.
Childlike, he never imagined a time when he would
not see them for hours together. He trustingly sup¬
posed that they would always be at hand, and so,
without troubling himself even to raise the question,
he played happily on.

When the inevitable face-washing and hair-
brushing morning arrived at last, he did not sense its
significance sufficiently to ask questions. But Gross-
mutter revealed, in a single simple statement, what
was in the wind.

“Thy father desires that we take thee to the kinder¬
garten to-day,” she explained to him.

Carluszek had no idea what the kindergarten was.
So he did not object when they conducted him to that
strange new place, some distance from his home.
But when he heard Grossmutter .say good-by to him
and saw her go away he was seized with dismay. He
had not anticipated anything like that.

The new surroundings and the new kind of play
made him forget for a while the absence of his home
companions. Yet he did not enjoy the morning.
He felt lonely. He missed kindly, indulgent Gross¬
mutter and playful Tante Julia. He was much re¬
lieved when they took him home again at noon-time.

But presently he made a dreadful discovery. He
suddenly learned that they expected him to go back
again to the kindergarten in the afternoon. This
was an appalling prospect. It was more than Car¬
luszek could stand ; and he gave way to a wild storm

33

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

of tears, a despairing appeal, which so touched Gross-
mutter’s big heart that he was allowed to stay home
for another year.

That meant another twelve months of easy, indul¬
gent life, almost wholly devoid of any real discipline.
It meant that he would come a little nearer to de¬
veloping into a mere family pet. In the Steinmetz
home the rod was continually spared", and the child
was in a fair way to be completely spoiled.

However, a year later, when Carl was five and a
half, he was sent to school. His father talked to him
once or twice about it, doing his best to make school
appear as an interesting place. And when Carl
finally did go, he stayed. There was no more rebel¬
lion; for school began to appeal to him. It turned
out to be just what his father had said — an interest¬
ing place.

It was not long before he discovered the fascina¬
tion of acquiring knowledge. Of course it was not
a conscious discovery. But it was sufficient to put
a new absorption and a new happiness into his day;
and these factors increased as each year passed.
While still a young boy his admiration for human
achievement was awakened. And this stimulated his
taste for reading, so that after a few years he was
eagerly examining all the books he could get hold of,
especially those dealing with the discoveries of science.

And this fascination of learning, weaving into his
life a tingling new interest, was what steered him
safely away from the selfish disposition that he would

34

TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

otherwise have developed at the hands of his kindly
but too indulgent Grossmutter.

This whole process was quickened by Carl’s type
of mind. Few boys who ever started to go to school
in Breslau had the mental capacity of this lad from
Tauenzienstrasse. When his mind began to respond
to the first trumpet-call of learning, it responded
swiftly. It must have been like the opening of a
spring bud when the sun begins to warm its petals.
Slowly, steadily, he became aware of the wide world
around him, a world crammed with such zest that it
made life a more enjoyable experience from year to
year.

Thus lifted out of himself gradually, with mani¬
fold new interests crowding in, he steadily progressed
toward the development of a broad, altruistic charac¬
ter, as a foundation for the building of the patient
zeal and keen penetration which were to distinguish
him as a scientist.

Carl’s elementary schooling lasted three years ; and
it was elementary in the strict sense of the word.
His first acquaintance with arithmetic occurred dur¬
ing this period. It was a memorable meeting, this, of
the most horny-headed of the venerable three R’s and
the boy who was one day to reach the utmost limits
of those complex subjects to which arithmetic serves
but as a threshold.

For a while it did not look as if Carl was to be
particularly proficient at figures. He mastered the

35

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

first simple problems but slowly; and the multiplica¬
tion tables, strange as it may seem, gave him a great
deal of trouble. He struggled with them for some
time before he memorized them. Indeed, so toil¬
some did his progress seem, so long was it before he
could multiply readily, that his teachers began to re¬
gard him as a somewhat dull pupil.

Yet he had hardly any more trouble learning to
multiply, in reality, than any other boy or girl. He
was just at the beginning of his schooling; a small
lad, six or seven years old, called upon for the first
time to perform concentrated mental work. Natu¬
rally the task seemed difficult, even repellent. It re¬
quired effort of a sort that he had never before been
obliged to put forth.

“I did n’t like the multiplication tables at first,”
said Dr. Steinmetz, recollecting this experience.
“But it was only because I had to work hard at them,
and it was the first time I had ever been obliged to
do anything of the kind. I learned the tables mostly
by myself; I did not receive much help at home in
my school work. They expected me to learn at
school and to get assistance from my instructors.”

In the regular course of his educational progress,
Carl Steinmetz eventually entered the gymnasium,
the next higher school. This was a classical gymna¬
sium, which admitted to any of the universities. He
was now eight and a half years of age and was re¬
gistered under his full name, Carl August Rudolf
Steinmetz.

36

TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

He now went to school from eight in the morning
to one in the afternoon. There were special studies,
in addition, which absorbed several hours each week.

Here Carl made the acquaintance of various classi¬
cal subjects. In the first year he took Latin, con¬
tinuing this throughout the nine years of his gymna¬
sium course. In his second year he added French;
and in his third year, Greek.

These languages were thoroughly taught; so thor¬
oughly, indeed, that Dr. Steinmetz to the day of his
death knew his Horace and his Homer probably far
better than do many college graduates. He could
prove this by reciting from memory a passage from
either one of these ancient poets.

That is, he could begin to recite a passage. But
nobody knows, so it is said, just how much Dr. Stein¬
metz could recite at a stretch, because nobody in his
“audience,” as a rule, could keep up with him in re¬
calling the meaning of the fine-sounding syllables.
Consequently he was usually requested to desist long
before his memory showed any signs of weakening.
And this was the fruit of a high-school education ac¬
quired half a century before. But, then, Steinmetz
was the honor man of the whole gymnasium in scholar¬
ship !

Other studies during his gymnasium years included
Polish, Hebrew, philosophy, and various mathemati¬
cal subjects, including algebra and geometry. Pol¬
ish and Hebrew were not required in his routine
course ; he took them in his special class-hours in the

37

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

afternoon. The inevitable soon happened in his at¬
titude toward these latter: mathematics became his
favorite out of them all, developing finally into an
unfailing fascination, a study which brought him deep
delight, withal it meant intensely hard work.

And at the gymnasium he came under Professor
Fechner. Fechner was a unique type of instructor,
a lecturer on philosophy, dialectics, arid critique. An
admirer of Kant, his characteristic attitude of mind
was to question everything.

Not that he was a downright skeptic. But he de¬
clined to accept even well-tested results until he had
himself thought the question out and satisfied him¬
self that the reasoning of others was flawless. This,
of course, had a touch of presumption about it. Yet
it was a policy that stimulated individual research in
the highest degree.

Carl Steinmetz, with his eager mind just beginning
to open to the stimulus of study, found Fechner ques¬
tioning even the commonly accepted laws of chemis¬
try and physics. And Fechner, without great effort,
imparted this questioning method to Steinmetz.
The latter, just then in his early teens, fairly seized
upon it as an original and independent mental pro¬
cess that appeared to have commanding possibilities.

And from that time, throughout his life, Steinmetz
questioned things, to a greater or less degree. What
others accepted he doubted with what seemed utter
audacity, yet always for a logical purpose.

For he never stopped with merely questioning.

38

TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

He never cast doubts just for the fun of doubting,
nor assumed an attitude of brazen skepticism and
then let the whole matter rest right there.

He questioned in order to find the answer by his
own independent efforts. Having asked himself if
the established law was indeed the true law, in mathe¬
matics, physics, chemistry, or anything else; having
inquired within himself if the accepted theory was
truly the correct theory, he at once proceeded to make
his own independent investigation. Why did he do
this? He himself would tell you that it sharpened
his mind and accustomed him to go to the bottom of
things. In truth, it indicated incessant mental en¬
ergy, the exhaustless zeal of the real scientist, who
must know, unwaveringly, absolutely, from the very
ground upward and at first hand all the way, that
every step in his reasoning is as solid as bed-rock
itself.

Let no one suppose that Steinmetz was wasting
time because, in following such a procedure, he may
have gone over the same ground that other men had
covered. There is evidence enough that much of his
life achievement grew out of just this habit of mind.

When he came to investigate the magnetic losses in
the iron of an electric motor, he began by questioning
the accuracy of data which two other men, Kapp and
Ewing, had compiled. Undoubtedly he made many
of the same calculations which they had made. But
he also pushed on beyond the point where they had
left off. And the end of it all was that he discovered

89

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

the law of hysteresis losses, the most valuable law,
just at that moment, which electrical engineering
could possibly have secured.

At length Steinmetz reached the end of his gymna¬
sium course. He prepared to graduate, being seven¬
teen years of age, and a young man of diligent habits,
with earnest, yet pleasant, friendly eyks. He had al¬
ready won distinction, for he had received such high
marks in his school-work that he could graduate with¬
out taking the usual oral examination.

But he did not know this when he began to make
his graduation plans. He did not find it out until
the school superintendent announced the names of the
honor students; and this did not occur until the last
moment. Steinmetz, meanwhile, naturally took it
for granted that he would be expected to appear at
the graduation exercises.

Graduation from a German gymnasium of that
day was a grand event. It was as much of an occa¬
sion as a high school, or even a college, commence¬
ment in America to-day. Relatives and guests as¬
sembled in large numbers to see the young men put
through their paces. The school superintendent pre¬
sided, enthroned upon a platform, from which he
called out the names of the pupils.

One by one, as their names were announced, the
boys walked upon the platform, and, standing before
the school superintendent, were subjected to the for¬
mal oral examination. It was a considerable ordeal.

40

TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

They had to “think on their feet”; and think straight,
deep, and quickly while their folks and the visitors
looked on. Moreover they were strictly required to
appear in formal evening-dress.

Steinmetz wanted to look his best for this import¬
ant function. He anxiously ascertained the rules,
particularly as to apparel. Then he prepared ac¬
cordingly. He went to extreme lengths. He
bought a dress-suit!

Even late in life Dr. Steinmetz looked back at that
episode with a chuckle and a merry boyish light in
his eyes. For, the truth is, he gave a good deal more
thought to the matter of clothes, in this one instance,
than he did afterward in his whole life.

And he remembers this acquisition of the dress-
suit with particular zest. It was the only dress-suit
he ever purchased — “and I never wore it!”

Such, indeed, was the case. For when the list of
honor students was posted by the school superintend¬
ent, the list contained just one name. That name
was Carl Steinmetz! He was the head of the class,
and therefore was graduated automatically, without
further examination. He was not called upon to
undergo the oral test. He did not have to march up
to the platform, before the audience. And so his
dress-suit was never worn, for never again did he feel
the urge to give thought to sartorial questions, no
matter how imposing the occasion.

And there have been a good many important oc¬
casions in his later life. Most men at such times

41

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

would have desired to cut something of a figure.
But not so with Steinmetz. The self-conscious im¬
portance of youth, which he felt for a brief interval
upon finishing his gymnasium studies, wore off with
surprising swiftness within the next year or two.
Thenceforth dress was a minor matter with him.
Clothes are nothing; the intellect ’s the thing! Such
was his philosophy of pulchritude.

The only definite religious step that Steinmetz
took for many years occurred during this period of
his life. It was his confirmation in the Luth¬
eran Church, following the customary period of in¬
struction.

This proceeding had absolutely no significance for
him. He regarded it purely as a matter of form.
Theoretically, the Lutheran Church was the church
of the Steinmetz family. But the elder Steinmetz
was utterly indifferent to religion, and this had its
inevitable effect upon his son. The boy came to re¬
gard religious sentiment lightly, giving no thought,
after a while, to attendance upon the services of the
church. Mature reflection in his older years was to
modify this attitude; but as a young man he paid
scant heed to the claims of the Christian faith.

It must be said, however, that apparently he re¬
ceived no great inspiration from the teaching pre¬
paratory to his confirmation. He afterward recalled
distinctly how the clergyman who conducted the con¬
firmation class commented on the place which reli¬
gion should have in the lives of young men.

42

TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

“You may find,” said this worthy, “that as you
pursue your university studies you will have no use
for religion in your own lives. Still, you should not
forget that ignorant people need it; therefore every
one should respect and preserve religion, since it is
necessary to a certain extent.”

Of much greater value to young Steinmetz, during
these years, was his growing companionship with his
father. The two were real chums by the time Carl
had began to advance in his high-school course.

The father now held a higher position with the
Ober Schlesische Railroad. He had been placed in
charge of the preparation of train-orders. The bu¬
reau of which he was the head drew up all operating
orders issued by the railroad, sending them, when
ready, to the lithographing department, to be printed
and distributed throughout the system.

The Ober Schlesische Railroad was only one of
nearly a dozen lines that converged upon Breslau,
which was the railroad center for all that section of
Germany. This particular road was part of the
through rail route between Berlin and Vienna. It
ran from Breslau through Upper Silesia, terminat¬
ing at a town on the Austrian frontier.

His work with the railroad kept the elder Stein¬
metz a good deal absorbed. He was at his office
from eight to one o’clock, and from three to six
o’clock, spending the hour immediately after his
noonday meal in resting. He was also on duty, as a
rule, during part of Sunday mornings.

43

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Yet he took time to be a companion for Carl. His
leisure was fairly devoted to the boy of the house¬
hold. They talked together in the evenings, and
went walking together on Sundays. The father was
fond of walking ; but he rarely went out alone.
Young Carl was almost always with him.

They were mutually interested in each other, and
in what each was doing. Carl came to be quite famil¬
iar with his father’s office. Frequently in the late
afternoons he would go down there, and while the
elder Steinmetz finished his day’s work, Carl would
watch from the window as the trains passed and
repassed, close by. Then the two would walk
home together, perfectly contented in each other’s
company.

In the summer, instead of going back to the
apartment-house, with its hot, shut-in atmosphere,
they would walk out into the suburbs a little distance.
At one of a number of out-of-door resorts, or cafes,
s they would sit down at a table in the open air and have
a light supper, with beer. In this practice they were
typical Germans, for it was a universal pastime to
eat the evening meal at one of these beer-gardens
during the warm weather.

They talked a great deal on all these occasions.
The boy told his father what he was doing at school;
he asked questions that occurred to his mind as a re¬
sult of his studies. And he listened closely to all
his father could tell him about the technique of op¬
erating a railroad.

44

TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

The father shrewdly perceived in what direction
the young man’s fancy was tending. In his quiet,
yet deep, pride in his son, he sought tactfully to cul¬
tivate whatever leaning Carl had toward a technical
career. Among other things which he did was to
give Carl easy access to his collection of books,
and this proved an immense delight to the young
man.

“My father,” said Dr. Steinmetz, “had a number
of books, almost all of them dealing with popular
science, inventions, discoveries, or natural history. I
greatly enjoyed looking them over, and read a great
deal in them whenever I had the time. I found
among them several books on steamships and steam
locomotives. I was greatly interested, I remember,
in reading about the building of the steamship Great
Eastern. This was the largest steam-vessel then in
existence.

“After reading of how the ship was built, I
searched in periodicals and recent books for an ac¬
count of the launching. But I was unable to find
out anything about this event; so I never knew for
sure whether she was successfully launched or not,
but many years later I came across a newspaper de¬
scription of the laying of the Atlantic cable, the
article mentioning the Great Eastern, which was used
as a cable-ship. That was the first I had heard of
the vessel since the time when I read about its con¬
struction from one of the books in my father’s little
library in Breslau.”

45

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

And now the year 1882 was at hand. It brought
with it the first sharp change, the first real break in
life, which young Steinmetz had experienced. For
in this year he entered the University of Breslau,
where he was to study for six years. The beginning
of university life meant an entirely new set of as¬
sociates, different surroundings, broader, more ser¬
ious prospects.

He was obliged to part from a number of friends
whom he had made in the gymnasium. Few of the
young men with whom he had mingled in the high
school went on with him to the university ; and of the
few who did, all entered other classes than those for
which Steinmetz registered. Thus he parted com¬
pany with those who up to that time had been his
schoolmates.

Meanwhile, inevitable changes had also occurred
in his ' home. The kindly Grossmutter had gone
away, when he was about six years old, to live with
one of her other children. After that she divided her
time among her sons and daughters, so that Stein¬
metz saw her only at intervals. She lived to be
seventy-five, dying when Steinmetz was about
thirteen.

As housekeeper in her stead, Steinmetz’s oldest
sister, Marie, then a girl of eighteen, took up the
domestic tasks. His next oldest sister, Clara,
learned the trade of milliner, doing much of her work
at home. His Aunt Julia, who was somewhat

46

TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

younger than his father, had married an organ-
builder and had moved to another city.

So it was, as Steinmetz began his university course,
that the sense of change, of newness, and naturally
of strangeness, was keenly present in his mind. As
his was (and always remained) a gregarious nature,
a nature which was fond of human fellowship, these
feelings were pensive. He could not be indifferent
to them. He could not ignore what to him was poig¬
nant. For Steinmetz, above all else, was always
steadfastly attached to his friends, his surroundings,
even the house and the street and the city — the merely
material environment — amid which his days were
spent.

In this somewhat critical period, immediately fol¬
lowing his matriculation at the University of Bres¬
lau, his father was his mainstay, the one familiar face
which was still there and still the same. The com¬
panionship between them deepened through this in¬
terval, until it was a very intimate and very fine
affection.

From the moment that Carl took up his univer¬
sity work, his father watched his progress atten¬
tively. Together they discussed the advanced sub¬
jects that Carl was now studying. The young man
brought home his notes on mathematical problems,
all very neatly written out, with explanatory dia¬
grams, in a purple-hued indelible ink. Some of these
notes formed the basis for independent work, which

47

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

he was doing in an improvised home laboratory, set
up in his room.

His father sometimes stepped in, while he was
conducting an investigation in this crude workshop,
to see what was going forward. Once, indeed, Carl
gave his father and the whole family a fire scare.
While in the midst of a chemical experiment, the
contents of a retort became ignited* and flared up
suddenly with a muffled report. Carl’s father came
rushing in, followed by the other members of the
household, to find the young student calmly extin¬
guishing the flames and preparing to resume work.

This home laboratory occupied a space, or alcove,
beside the entrance to the room. It comprised a
stand, for containing vials of chemicals, and a col¬
lection of electric batteries and cells. Steinmetz was
endeavoring, among other activities, to produce alu¬
minum by electricity, and, in his own words, he “got
some fair results.”

All the mathematical notes and diagrams, which
Carl kept with the exactness of a devotee, finally
aroused the admiration of his father. It was obvious
to the latter that these loose sheets, constantly in¬
creasing in number, were of permanent value to the
student. Doubtless, too, he appreciated the inten¬
sive work which they represented. At all events he
surprised Carl one day by proposing to bind them
between hard covers, for permanent preservation.

Knowing considerable of the bookbinder’s art, the
elder Steinmetz carried out his suggestion, binding

48

TOWARD THE UNIVERSITY

the notes neatly and durably into several note-books,
which, at first sight, suggest the product of a com¬
mercial bindery.

These note-books, with their record of his univer¬
sity work, always remained in the possession of Dr.
Steinmetz. They contain about a hundred pages
apiece, all written out with marvelous precision in
firm, clear characters. They really embody the
foundation of that famed system of shorthand which
Dr. Steinmetz is credited with having originated in
later times.

To him, however, they meant a great deal from a
sentimental point of view alone. They constituted,
in his eyes, far more than a record of his early studies
in mathematics. They embodied most of all a tan¬
gible memorial of his father, a treasured keepsake,
small though it might be, of the parent who watched
him advance steadily in brilliant scholarship with
quiet paternal pride and unfailing companionable
assistance.

49

CHAPTER IV

STUDENT REVELRIES AT BRESLAU

IT would be most inaccurate to regard Steinmetz
as simply an electrical engineer. And it would
seem still more deplorable to suppose him to have
been merely a scientist. He was, in truth, decidedly
versatile, although probably not usually so regarded
by the public' at large, because one aspect of his career,
that of the electrical genius, has been unduly empha¬
sized. But his versatility was there. And it de¬
veloped through a lifetime of opportunity, one door
after another opening to him, beginning at an early
period. Actually, this started back in his gymna¬
sium years, when he investigated in his own fashion
that miscellaneous assemblage of books which he
found in his father’s scanty but treasured library.

Naturally his entrance into the university was to
him like a deep breath of a purer, more exhilarating
air than his intellectual lungs had ever encountered
before. And it began to stimulate his versatility by
first of all rousing his capacity for study to an aston¬
ishing degree.

He selected difficult technical subjects and pursued
them with the utmost application. In his first year
he took mathematics and astronomy, attending every

50 *

BRESLAU STUDENT REVELRIES

lecture given on both of these subjects. Few stud¬
ents were so intense in their work. It was rare for
any one to attend every single lecture in any subject;
and under the university system many lectures could
be cut with absolute impunity, so far as university
discipline was concerned, although the effect might
subsequently be disastrous to the defaulter’s ambition
for a career.

But Steinmetz skipped no lectures. Even though
the policy of the institution really favored the drone,
he simply did not take advantage of it. He was al¬
ways in the class-room, always taking notes, always
working, even making independent investigations in
his room at home. In brief, Steinmetz was the per¬
fect equivalent of what American college men ex¬
pressively term a grind.

And yet he made merry with the rest of them.
The boisterous, care-free student parties that fre¬
quently issued from restaurants and cafes to go sing¬
ing through the streets of Breslau found Steinmetz
in the midst; he joined with happy heart in the gaiety
of student suppers. He was not given to singing,
lacking a musical voice, but that did not lessen his
sociable spirit.

He was, and always remained, so completely gre¬
garious, such a lover of the social life, yearning after
the society of his fellow-men so deeply, that he was
quietly happy when among congenial companions.
And he found many such at Breslau.

Moreover, his interest in “the social issue,” as he

51

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

aptly called it, soon became apparent after he en¬
tered the university. In his second year he was
studying economics, as well as five other subjects.
He had analytical opinions on social economy. And
he always loved his classical studies, kept up his clas¬
sical reading, so that he could converse entertainingly
on the old Greek and Roman poets or recite extracts
from their works. *

He expanded his studies year after year until in
his final work at Breslau he was taking higher mathe¬
matics, astronomy, theoretical physics, chemistry,
medicine, and electrical engineering.

As might be expected, a young fellow of this sort,
with a mind so ready to turn to almost any field, so
swiftly responsive to every worthy idea, greatly im¬
pressed his fellow-students.

The professors were also attracted by this seeker
after knowledge. He obviously possessed more than
the average amount of zeal, seemed at times to be
fairly burning up with it. He asked questions at
every opportunity during the lectures. He wel¬
comed the chance for a personal discussion with his
instructors.

There were several eminent scholars on the faculty
at Breslau, two of whom especially impressed young
Steinmetz during his first year, the year in which
he attended everjr lecture in astronomy and mathe¬
matics. The lectures in astronomy were given by
Professor Galle, renowned as the discoverer of the
planet Neptune. An old man in 1882, he was still

52

BRESLAU STUDENT REVELRIES

giving vivid, fascinating lectures, which appealed to
the imagination of the young man from Tauenzien-
strasse, who ever afterward was a close student of
the skies.

The mathematical studies of Steinmetz at Breslau
were under Professor Schroeter, an authority on
synthetic geometry. It was with Schroeter that
Steinmetz performed his first specialized work in
mathematics.

When one of the classes in mathematics dwindled
down to three members, of whom Steinmetz was one,
the latter was quick to seize upon the possibilities in
the situation for more individual instruction. The
depletion of the class was influenced by the easy¬
going university rules regarding attendance at lec¬
tures. It was also due to the custom among the stu¬
dents of dropping subjects which they found they
could not easily keep up.

The professor, in this instance, heightened the in¬
dividual group atmosphere and put the in¬
quisitive Steinmetz even more at his ease by holding
the lectures at his home. There the little circle be¬
came very intimate indeed. Steinmetz got into the
habit of putting down various questions he meant to
ask the professor. And ask he did, until there were
moments when the lectures developed into an ab¬
sorbed dialogue between teacher and pupil. The
professor was struck by the keenness of the young
man; and Steinmetz somewhat unconsciously reveled
in the greater progress he was able to make.

53

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

As for the other two students, they found little
need of doing more than play the part of audience
and fill up their note-books. Steinmetz and the pro¬
fessor, as a rule, completely exhausted the point un¬
der discussion!

In his profitable hook, “America and the New
Epoch,” Dr. Steinmetz has brought out the relation
of the technical and engineering school to industrial
establishments in progressive nations. He has
shown that in the case of Germany her technical
schools followed naturally the rise of her industrial
activity. But in the period during which he was a
student at Breslau, Germany had not yet developed
industrially. She was still largely an agricultural
nation. Her manufactured goods were imported,
for the most part, from England.

Consequently engineering schools and technical
colleges did not then exist, and higher education was
regarded from a very different point of view. The
universities, like Breslau, were classical institutions
of learning. They had arisen as early as the Middle
Ages and were rich in tradition, which reached clear
back to those medieval times when modern conditions
were undreamed of.

Bearing these things in mind, it becomes easier,
perhaps, to conceive of the University of Breslau as
it was at that time, from the description of it given
by Dr. Steinmetz :

“The university was governed by a rector, who

54

BRESLAU STUDENT REVELRIES

changed every year. He was always one of the prom¬
inent professors, and was elected by the general
faculty. The institution was divided into four spec¬
ial faculties — divinity, law, medicine, and philosophy.
The fields covered by the first three are obvious.

“Under philosophy came everything that was not
included in the first three, from modern and ancient
languages to mathematics, science, physics and chem¬
istry, natural history, astronomy, etc. The instruc¬
tion consisted entirely of lectures; no recitations or
examinations.

“When the student entered the university, he went
to the office and ‘matriculated,’ paying a small fee.
This gave him the right to hear any lecture given at
the university.

“There were two terms, or ‘semesters,’ per year.
At the beginning of the term, a catalogue of lectures
was published, giving all the lecture subjects, the
number of hours, and the time. The student got a
catalogue, looked it over, and decided what lectures
he wanted to hear. Then he went to the office, reg¬
istered for these lectures, and paid for them.

“Usually a large subject was treated by four lec¬
tures a week and cost five dollars per term; every
professor also gave one or two smaller courses, of
one or two hours a week, and these usually were free,

“After the student had chosen his lectures, re¬
corded them in a note-book, and paid the fee, he then,
at one of the first three lectures, had the professor
autograph the note-book, indicating that the student

55

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

had attended the lecture. Again, at one of the three
last lectures, the book was taken to the professor to
have him write his name in it.

“Thus you had to attend the lectures at least twice
during the term. Otherwise you did not need to at¬
tend; there was no roll-call, but sharply at a quarter
past the hour the professor came into the lecture-
room, went to the desk, and started lecturing. He
continued until the bell rang and the hour was over.
Then he finished his sentence and walked out; and
so on, through the entire term.

“No one cared whether you attended and learned
anything or not. There were no examinations at the
end of the term. But after some years — usually at
least four — if you wanted to get a diploma, giving
you a doctor’s title, or enter the service of the Govern¬
ment as a high-school teacher, you had to pass an ex¬
amination, which covered all the subjects you had at¬
tended, or were supposed to have attended. And if
you had not attended the lectures, or did not know
the subjects — well, that was your misfortune.”

There were other respects in which it was all quite
different from an American college. The university
had no campus, to symbolize its very inmost heart;
nor were there any dormitories in which the students,
coming from afar, dwelt together, amid the scholastic
atmosphere. None of the students came from afar.
They all lived in the town with the other citizens,
coming daily to the university building, to hear the

56

BRESLAU STUDENT REVELRIES

lectures, and going away again after the lectures
were over.

But one great characteristic prevailed at all the
German universities, Breslau as well as the others.
These were the ubiquitous student societies, which
embraced every imaginable subject and numbered
virtually the entire student body. Indeed, any stu¬
dent who did not belong to a student society was
looked upon as decidedly peculiar.

Steinmetz was not at all peculiar in this sense. He
immediately joined a society; and, following his natu¬
ral inclination, he affiliated himself with the mathe¬
matical society, one of the most important of them
all.

It was the practice in these societies to confer a
new name, or “student name,” upon every young
man of the university when he became a member.
The students only waited long enough to get ac¬
quainted with the new member in order to learn some¬
thing of his personality and habits. Accordingly,
after a few weeks, a committee of the mathematical
society convened for the all-important purpose of se¬
lecting a nickname for Carl Steinmetz, the young fel¬
low who had rather amazed them by starting out to
attend every lecture in mathematics and astronomy,
who was thoroughly at home with the classics, who
had pretty well-formed notions about political econ¬
omy, and who was withal a jolly good fellow at al¬
most any hour.

57

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Considering these first indications of a versatility
which was to increase with the years, it may not seem
particularly mysterious to find this committee be¬
stowing upon Steinmetz the student designation of
“Proteus,” indicating one who changes; for Stein¬
metz, they noted, could change from one subject to
another, from one line of pursuit to some other quite
different, with the greatest ease.

No concrete reason for the selection of this name
is known; Steinmetz himself thought it was adopted
simply because it entered somebody’s head at the
committee meeting. But it fitted him well, from the
students’ point of view; and they called him Proteus
henceforth.

He always remained Proteus; whenever his name
appeared in full, the old student term appeared, too.
For when Dr. Steinmetz adopted American customs,
he Americanized his name by using the English trans¬
lation of Carl, and substituting for his two long Ger¬
man middle names the familiar college nickname,
with all its memories of jolly times, among jolly com¬
panions, in Breslau.

And that is why to-day he is known everywhere
that he is known at all — which is virtually throughout
the world — as Charles Proteus Steinmetz.

The year 1882 was now well advanced. Stein¬
metz, at the age of seventeen, had become a “fox” in
the mathematical society of the University of Bres¬
lau. To be a fox meant simply that he was a first

58

BRESLAU STUDENT REVELRIES

semester man, without rights or privileges in the re¬
gularly occurring social frolics. He could take part
in the merrymaking, but only in a restricted manner.

The foxes had a separate table assigned them at
the restaurant where the society assembled. They
were not allowed to mingle with the other students.
Over them was placed a fox major, who kept them
in order and saw that they obeyed the rules.

If there was a dull moment in the swing of events,
the president would call upon the fox major to en¬
tertain. Then the foxes were lined up and required
to sing a song, the other students listening in a criti¬
cal mood. This was always a harrowing moment for
young Steinmetz ; for he never could sing, either then
or afterward. Of course he tried, as did all the foxes.
And naturally the melody was usually mangled be¬
yond recognition, while the upper semester students
howled their derisive comments. Finally, if the
rendition was utterly offensive to artistic tastes —
which was frequently the case! — the foxes were all
penalized. They were “sent into the beer,” as the
saying went.

Literally that meant merely that the offender was
obliged to drink his beer and keep still for a specified
time. Every member had his glass of beer, for this
was the universal custom. In the student societies,
however, it was drunk in strict moderation, even
hedged about by formal regulations. To be “sent
into the beer,” that is, ordered to do nothing but drink
in silence, was a disgrace. The German student idea

59

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

of drinking was to drink socially, with conversation,
repartee, and care-free jest or song. To drink alone,
or to drink in silence, seemed churlish and was seldom
done willingly.

Steinmetz found that, as a fox, he was held down
pretty severely. Yet he also found that although
he had no rights he could adopt an “old man,” one
of the older members, who would thereby become the
protector of the fox that adopted him. If any fox
were abused, by being sent into the beer too often, the
fox’s tormentor might meet with swift retaliation at
the hands of the “old man” of that fox, who could
send him into the beer in turn.

All this was taken by Steinmetz in the spirit of a
good sport. In truth, he thoroughly enjoyed the
meetings of the society, which mingled, in the range
of a single evening, a business session, a scientific dis¬
cussion, and several degrees of merrymaking per¬
iods. He thus describes these student organizations :

“There are some varied misconceptions of the Ger¬
man university life of those days, created by humor¬
ists, like Mark Twain, who never intended to describe
the university life as it really is, but rather the funny
and startling side of it. Thus they have given the
impression that the students all run around with col¬
ored caps and belong to student societies which de¬
voted themselves principally to fighting duels and
drinking beer.

“Such societies as these did exist, but they repre¬
sented an insignificant minority of the students.

60

BRESLAU STUDENT REVELRIES

They had practically no effect on the university life
as a whole. To be sure, in some of the smaller west¬
ern universities they were a little more numerous, but
even there they were a minority.”

A small, plain room in a restaurant near the uni¬
versity was the congenial rendezvous for the mathe¬
matical society. There, one night each week, they
assembled, around 8:15 o’clock. The president for¬
mally opened the business meeting, which lasted for
the first hour or so. There were usually various busi¬
ness matters — the election of new members, the pur¬
chase of books for the library, or the selection of a
date for the annual kommers, or festival.

About nine o’clock the scientific section of the pro¬
gram opened. By that time some of the alumni
members had arrived, and occasionally one or two
of the professors came in to hear the scientific dis¬
cussion.

This consisted of a paper, prepared and read by
one of the students. It might be a review of some
newly published mathematical work, or the presenta¬
tion of a new investigation. Then would follow a
formal discussion, after which some smaller mathe¬
matical problems were propounded and the solutions
worked out.

*

Between ten and eleven o’clock, the more serious
phase of the evening concluded. From then on it
was a time of relaxation, becoming less restrained as
each loosely defined period of the festivities passed.

61

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

The scientific session was superseded by the commer-
cium, or social meeting; this was displaced by the
fidelitas ; and from that the revelry was carried on
into the suitas.

There were virtually no restrictions by that time
as to the character of songs or stories. The tinkle
of beer-glasses was more insistent, too. During the
business and scientific sessions it was not considered
good form to drink much beer; but throughout the
merely merry moments, beer was inevitably called
for. There were even exaggerated student formali¬
ties, associated with the beverage, such as a “beer
president,” sometimes a “beer court,” and constant
ceremonial beer drinking by the students to each
other, or by the society as a whole to the mathemati¬
cal society of some other university, to which notice
was sent that the Breslau men had “drunk a half”

* S

(half a glass) in its honor.

So through the latter part of the night and into the
gray of the morning it was pure fun and frolic. Yet
the seniority of the students was preserved through¬
out, although by midnight the party had dwindled
considerably. Alumni had departed; the older stu¬
dents had gone to a large extent ; those who remained
were the young, gay roisterers who were out to “make
a night of it,” with utterly care-free abandonment to
joviality. Dr. Steinmetz recalled these student larks
with a zest and a detail that leads one to suspect he
more than once joined in making a night of it
himself.

62

BRESLAU STUDENT REVELRIES

“The Jidelita8 continued until about one o’clock,”
he says. “Then it ended, and most of the fun-
makers went home, but a few remained while the
fsuitasJ was opened, so-called because there were no
more rules, and no limitations to the kind of songs
and stories.

“About two o’clock the last of us left. But that
did not necessarily mean going home. There were
a number of all-night restaurants, known as Vienna
cafes, which started business only after eleven
o’clock, when the theaters closed. Our favorite
Vienna cafe was only a few blocks from the regular
meeting-place of our society. Eight or ten of us, all
very jolly and chummy, one of the party included
being a particular friend of mine, a student named
Henry Lux, and called ‘Hinz’ for short, liked to go
there to drink coffee, mixed with rum, and have an
appetizing lobster salad.

“It might seem that this was extravagant for penu¬
rious students. However, it was not as severe on
the student purse as it sounds. The cafe proprietor
served a very fine salad, but made the portions ex¬
tremely small.

“At the place where the Vienna cafe stood, two
night-watchmen met, at the ends of their beats. We
were on friendly terms with these officers. If we
met them we always invited them to accompany us
to the cafe. Then we would send out a cup of coffee
to the policemen.

“We kept on with our jollification by visiting,

63

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

about three or four o’clock in the morning, a most
congenial place which we knew only as ‘Mr. Lichten-
heim’s.’ We called it that because Lichtenheim
beer, named after the city in western Germany where
it was produced, was served there. As we did not
know the name of the genial proprietor, Lux sug¬
gested calling him Mr. Lichtenheim; and so Mr.
Lichtenheim it was.

“There we could get certain delicacies which were
not to be found elsewhere. These included a delight¬
ful variety of mussel, or fresh-water crab.

“The crabs were served to us in a big casserole,
after some generous-hearted member of the party
had offered to stand the bill. When the casserole
apeared on the table, everybody made a grand dive
for the crabs. Each seized all he could lay hands

on. When the scramble was over, perhaps the stu-

><

dent who was paying for the feast had got hardly
any crabs at all. Sometimes I offered to be the good
fellow — with this result !

“At this place we thought nothing of borrowing
from the waiter, or from Mr. Lichtenheim himself, to
pay for what we ordered. We were very intimate
with our regular waiter, who often had more ready
money than we ourselves. But when this man was
off duty, and a strange waiter served us, we had to
borrow from Mr. Lichtenheim — who never refused
us. He understood university students.

“It was usually about five o’clock in the morning
when we finished at Mr. Lichtenheim’s. But nobody

64

BRESLAU STUDENT REVELRIES

thought of going home then. ‘Keep on and see the
night out,’ was the watchword. So we would tramp
into the suburbs, a little distance up the river, rouse
a sleepy innkeeper, and demand breakfast. We
could get a steaming cup of coffee there, if nothing
more.”

That was the last scene of their all-night hilarity.
With the coming of daylight they hastened back to
the city and the university, arriving just in time for
the first lecture at eight o’clock. On Saturdays this
was usually the only lecture scheduled; and despite
their overtaxed stomachs and sleepy brains, the
students managed to stand it. Steinmetz in par¬
ticular kept himself in better mental condition, for he
never dissipated in the real sense of the word.

No sooner was this lecture over than the students
of the reveling party hurried out to the nearest
restaurant for their “second breakfast” — and then to
their lodgings for a good sleep.

65

CHAPTER V

STEINMETZ A STUDENT SOCIALIST

IN six years of diligent activity at the University
of Breslau, young Carl Steinmetz emerged from
the quiet grind of his first semester to become
the center of a risky, determined student political
movement, which ultimately cost him his university
degree and came near to landing him in prison. The
contrast in this university career of a student so bril¬
liant that the authorities of the institution dared to
make covert efforts to shield him from the wrath of
the Government is not only pronounced; it is fairly
startling.

Steinmetz himself looked back upon it with full ap¬
preciation of all that his decisions and deeds involved,
and all that they cost him. “That period,” he re¬
marked more than once, “was perhaps the most ex¬
citing of my whole life.”

Allowing no interruptions to his university work,
studying with an intensity that awed his fellow-
students and astonished his instructors, Steinmetz
nevertheless developed in other directions that had
nothing to do with scholarship attainments. As a
result, we find him classified far differently at the
end of those six years than he was at their beginning.

©6

A STUDENT SOCIALIST

From a quiet, inoffensive fox, obediently following
the dictates of the fox major in the mathematical so¬
ciety, he emerged as a fervent, uncompromising stu¬
dent Socialist, maintaining his allegience to the move¬
ment secretly for nearly four years, but suspected and
finally apprehended by the police, to whom he ap¬
peared as a dangerous ringleader of young, anti¬
government fanatics.

A fanatic he may have seemed, for he was in the
process of acquiring intense convictions on certain
great human questions.

But his fanaticism did not become an excuse for
slighting his studies. First and foremost he was a
scientist in the making, bent, at the moment, upon
diligently developing his mind by the systematic ac¬
quirement of knowledge.

This is significant for several reasons. Above all
else it seems momentous because it is the spirit that
led Steinmetz first to interest himself in the great
subject of electricity and electrical engineering.
That occurred even after he had begun to espouse
the cause of the social revolutionists and had thereby
engaged in much additional work, aside from his zeal
from university accomplishment. He did not know
it at the time, but the subject of electrical science
was in general to concern him more closely through¬
out his life than any other, not excepting the Socialist
creed which he ever afterward upheld.

Steinmetz first took up this study at Breslau in
the spring of 1886, while he was in his fourth year at

6T

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

the university. It was two years after he first af¬
filiated himself with the German Socialists. At this
time he was zealously attending the secret meetings
of the student Socialist group and reading and cir¬
culating Socialist literature, in direct violation of the
Government’s manifesto.

Possibly if Steinmetz had gone to any other uni¬
versity than Breslau, which was in his *native city, he
might not have taken up electricity as early, or as
thoroughly as he did. Such was the insignificance of
this subject among German educational institutions.
None of them had a course in electrical engineering.
Indeed, we are led to conclude that no other univer¬
sity in all Germany dealt in the slightest degree with
this tremendous, but still virgin, field.

At Breslau, electricity was included in the study
of physics. But it was not what might be called a
popular course. Very few students attended the
lectures.

And yet there were characteristics about it which
vividly appealed to young Steinmetz, with his love
for mathematics. Moreover, what little had been
done in applied electrical science immediately aroused
a strain of scientific speculation in his fertile mind.
To him these things foreshadowed in some degree the
effect that such a manifestation of boundless energy
would surely have upon mankind in general. This,
as may be supposed, was enough thoroughly to fas¬
cinate a young fellow like Steinmetz; so, although

68

A STUDENT SOCIALIST

he never dreamed at the moment that it meant a
career for him, he began to study everything there
was to study about electrical engineering.

The world at large was just then beginning to con¬
clude that electricity was indeed something more than
a freak plaything of the laboratory. Seven years
previously Thomas A. Edison had brought out his
incandescent electric lamp, thereby making possible
the first widespread commercial use of electric cur¬
rent. And Nikola Tesla, young man of twenty-nine,
was entering upon a period of intensive research into
methods of producing electric currents and into their
characteristics.

Yet everything regarding the practical use of elec¬
tricity was in a hazy, tentative state. Edison’s first
lamps were crude ; equally academic was his first elec¬
tric light system. And neither Tesla nor any one
else up to then had devised such a thing as an alter¬
nating current motor.

Steinmetz took up electrical engineering, as it were,
with an open mind. He was willing to learn any¬
thing new in applied mathematics. And that is
exactly what this subject held out to him.

But he certainly had no idea whither it would lead ;
he did not then have the slightest intention of becom¬
ing an electrical engineer. As far as his life ambi¬
tions had shaped themselves at all they had led him
to drift toward his one real fascination, mathematics.
He was thinking, at this period, that he would prob-

69

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ably like to teach mathematics. Perhaps his hig as¬
piration was to reach the height of a professor of
mathematics at one of the universities.

Picturing his life goal thus, he began to study the
great mystery of science, the unknown thing — as it
then was — called electricity. And his first original
scientific investigation was in this general field.

It occurred during the next wirlter, when, with
several other students, he sought to determine the
constant of the terrestrial magnetism at Breslau.
They hit upon a bitterly cold day for their work ; and
as the ironwork in the university building interfered
with the magnetic needle, they sallied out, perforce,
upon the frozen river, led by the intrepid Steinmetz,
who considered a frost-nipped nose or ear only a gen¬
tle form of martyrdom for the cause!

For a while they made progress. Steinmetz did
the greater part of the work, taking all the records
of the observations. The warmth of his zeal enabled
him, apparently, to withstand the cold better than his
companions, for at length he found himself alone
upon the ice. His helpers had departed to a near-by
cafe to get warm, leaving the instruments with
Proteus.

The latter was so engrossed in his investigation
that he let them go and continued to work on alone,
ignoring the extreme cold. Finally, however, their
prolonged absence aroused his suspicions. He went
in search of the deserters and discovered them snugly

A STUDENT SOCIALIST

ensconced in a warm room in the cafe, drinking beer
and playing cards. They had not the slightest
thought of returning to the freezing quest of the
terrestrial constant.

Amid much merriment they informed Steinmetz
of this decision. He raised no objections; and there¬
upon the instruments were packed away and the ex¬
pedition dissolved itself into a typical student party.
The climax came a day or two later with the discov¬
ery that the small amount of data they had obtained
was entirely erroneous on account of the steel rim on
Steinmetz’s eye-glasses, which had disturbed the
magnetic needle!

Among the chums whom Steinmetz acquired
through the mathematical society, Henry Lux, who
was known as Hinz, has been mentioned. This
young man was about a year older than Steinmetz; a
thoughtful, inquiring, intellectual fellow, hailing
from Upper Silesia. He brought along with him
most of the daring ideas of a typical political so¬
cialist of those times.

Lux was not the only student at Breslau who had
accepted these principles. Consequently, as was to
be expected, he sooner or later met one or two others
who thought as he did, and this group formed itself
into a loosely organized club. It had no written con¬
stitution or declaration of purpose. It met without
ostentation, even camouflaging its sessions as social

71

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

gatherings. In short, it was, in effect, at least, a
student Socialist society, well knit together by a com¬
mon spirit, keenly felt.

Before long the group gained several adherents
among the residents of Breslau, men who were actual
working Socialists, dyed in the wool, and affiliated
with the national Socialist party. One of these was
a physician. Another was a bricklayer of an unu¬
sual order of intelligence. He devoted most of his
spare time to editing the Breslau Socialist news¬
paper, known as “The People’s Voice.”

Steinmetz was first invited to one of these Socialist
affairs by Lux a year or so after the two had made
each other’s acquaintance in the meetings of the math¬
ematical society and the revelries incident to that
organization.

“He did not try to win me over to the Socialist
way of thinking,” says Dr. Steinmetz. “He merely
invited me to one of the meetings, informing me that
it was a free-thinking group and that he thought I
would be interested. So I went with him to my first
Socialist meeting, to listen and afterward to meditate
upon what I had listened to.”

In these tea-drinking circles — for the group met
at various homes and invariably indulged in tea and
cake, because of the paucity of funds — the young
mathematical student absorbed the doctrine of Ger¬
man Socialism. It was not Socialism as generally
understood in America to-day. It was an idealistic
creed, rosy-tinted to the mental vision, aspiring unto

72

A STUDENT SOCIALIST

perfection for human society, and fired with all the
enthusiasm of youth.

And this just fitted the principles that Steinmetz
had quietly cultivated, more or less earnestly. For
he had a strong utopian leaning; and these young
men were really Utopians, especially at the beginning.

It seemed to them — and it seemed likewise to Stein¬
metz — that through the Socialist movement they
could remake the world into something better than
it had ever been before; could root out the sore spots
in human society; could put an end to injustice;
could teach men practical, daily good will toward one
another. At least they were sincere, which also ap¬
pealed to the young man from Tauenzienstrasse.

Behold here, then, the Socialism of Steinmetz, not
only during his university days, but ever after ! Not¬
withstanding his affiliation at the close of his life with
the American Socialist party, which is frequently as¬
sailed as the expression of selfish class interests,
Steinmetz was not a believer in nor an exponent of
selfishness, certainly not in human relations. He re¬
mained an idealist, as he was when he sat around
drinking tea with the Breslau student Socialists and
listening to doctrines that solidified the tentative, un¬
certain fancies of his own mind into earnest convic¬
tions. He wanted to see happiness universal. He
believed that Socialism in its pure state is sufficiently
altruistic to bring this about. And he made sacri¬
fices for his principles.

Sacrifices inevitably came the way of those who ag-

73

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

gressively espoused this cause in the Germany of
the eighties. It was impossible to be an active So¬
cialist without running athwart the Government at
Berlin, with its severe Bismarckian policies. Ger¬
many was at peace with all other countries, yet So¬
cialism was persecuted as something abhorrent to the
Government and intolerable for the nation.

Like all causes in similar circumstances, Socialism
flourished under repression. And the repression was
especially severe in its local application, because Bis¬
marck was endeavoring to nip the obnoxious move¬
ment in the very bud.

There was a cold-blooded reason for this. The
early beginnings of the organization, as initiated in
its local branches, was its most successful point of
attack. It was the stage at which the Government
could move with the least embarrassment to itself.
There was then more freedom of action, for an
autocratic intolerant regime, than was the case when
the Socialists became powerful enough to elect de¬
puties to the Reichstag.

“Representative government in Germany was so
strongly intrenched,” Dr. Steinmetz explained, in
discussing the subject, “that it was impossible to eject
a deputy from the Reichstag once he had been duly
elected by his constituents. It made no difference
what his political principles might he. If it was the
wish of his constituents that he should sit in the Reich¬
stag, that was sufficient.

“Thus Germany really had a more truly represen-

74

A STUDENT SOCIALIST

tative government than we have in America to-day;
for the electors could express their wishes by their
votes, and those wishes were supreme. The differ¬
ent parties therefore had merely to increase their
numbers, by education and solicitation, to the point
where they could control the elections, and they were
then assured of representation in the Reichstag.

“It proved to be so in the case of the Socialists,
who were rapidly becoming very numerous through¬
out the land — made so by the severe laws passed by
the government in an effort to put the entire move¬
ment out of existence.”

Steinmetz had now entered upon a policy of action
which was eventually to terminate his placid pursuit
of scientific knowledge and bring his life into a more
turbulent period. It gradually developed in him a
secret watchfulness against possible apprehension.
The conclusion of this period came in a furtive flight
from home and country; for flight is the only term
for his precipitate departure from Germany four
years later.

Having cast in his lot with the student Socialist
group after hearing their views and reflecting upon
them, Steinmetz rapidly acquainted himself with the
scope of the social revolutionary movement. He
found the student Socialists numbering not more
than a dozen ; among them being two young medical
students, then well along in their studies, and one or
two scientific students, as well as the Breslau physi-

75

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

cian and the bricklayer-editor, already mentioned.
There was also an ardent young supporter of means,
the son of a wealthy banker.

A year or two previously, two rather famous stu¬
dent Socialists of Breslau, the Hauptmann brothers,
Carl and Gerhart, had been members of the organi¬
zation. Steinmetz was to meet these two later at
Zurich.

The enthusiasm of Lux dominated the little club
that gathered just so often to debate upon the best
means of advancing the cause. There was abundant
zeal; but everything was carried on under cover.

There was always a sense of anxious watchfulness
in the air when they came together. However care¬
ful their plans for a meeting, however much their real
purpose might be screened, however cleverly the word
might be passed around, there was always the lurking
possibility of discovery by the police. Any unfamil¬
iar sound during their session would put every one
on edge, fearing the worst for a tense moment or
two. A quiet step outside the door, a movement
of the latch — and instantly every head jerked around
in a half-panic to see whether it was friend or foe
approaching.

“This habit of looking around quickly when the
door is opened and some one enters the room in which
I happen to be, still persists to some extent,” Dr.
Steinmetz says, in speaking of these experiences.
“For a good many years I would instinctively feel
a spasm of the old dread. Even in comparatively

76

A STUDENT SOCIALIST

recent days I have caught myself glancing up with
unnecessary suddenness when I heard somebody en¬
tering the room. No one has noticed this trick, since
I know that no one in America has suspected that I
had any such feelings; and I have always recovered
myself before doing anything that might appear
strange. But we carried that constant suspicion in
our minds for so long a time that it was not easy to
shake it off when I found myself no longer liable to
a surprise visit from the police.”

So frequently did the announcement of a meeting
of the group come in the form of a simple invitation
to a tea-party that the young Socialists might have
been known as the tea club, in lieu of a more distin¬
guishing title. They came together as a few socially
inclined souls, desirous of a chat and a bit of good
cheer. But the serious purpose behind their gather¬
ings was always felt. The secrecy was in reality to
their liking; it made these young fellows feel the ad¬
venture of the undertaking to which they had com¬
mitted themselves. Actually it would have been ex¬
tremely difficult to obtain any real evidence against
them.

Here, in this secret little circle of university youths,
blazed the fires of intense altruistic zeal. Each of
these young men had dedicated himself to the services
of society. They sat and talked and sipped tea with
earnest-eyed, eager-eared belief in their own and each
other’s theories as to the earthly salvation of the hu¬

man race.

77

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

The soul of Steinmetz was as a slumbering vol¬
cano, needing only a spark to set it off, in the pre¬
sence of such a group. And here he found the spark.
It is little wonder, therefore, that the social revolu¬
tionary movement — or the social evolutionary move¬
ment which, he observed, it later became — should be
to him as a religion.

Occasionally there was a burst of pure boyish hi¬
larity in the midst of their intensive deliberations.
On one occasion, when they were gathered in the home
of one of the group, they heard some one coming up
the stairs of the apartment-house and approaching
the door of their meeting-room. Then the latch rat¬
tled and the knob turned.

They all jumped sharply and turned around with

nervous haste, thinking that the police must have

found them out at last. But the next moment their
- 4 > %
dread gave way to mirth, for in dashed one of their

own number, a late arrival, his face aglow with antic¬
ipation, holding out a large bag with a certain bake-
shop fragrance about it.

“Doughnuts!” he exclaimed. “Doughnuts for
everybody! We ’ll have them with our teal”

There was a chorus of approval. The doughtnuts
were passed around. Everybody had some. There
were plenty, too, enough for a second serving.

At the height of the unexpected feast the provider
of this bounty explained that a kind shopkeeper had
given him the doughnuts at a reduced price, because

78

A STUDENT SOCIALIST

they had been in the shop for a couple of days, and
were “just a very little stale!”

Steinmetz rather emphasizes the utopian leanings
of nearly all the men in this group, particularly the
students. It indicates that he himself found in this
the biggest fascination of the entire movement.

These young men would have mended all the
bruises of this poor old world at one wave of a
magic wand, had they possessed that benevolent
power.

“It was not until later,” Dr. Steinmetz once said,
“that these young men became political Socialists.
But when we did go in for that sort of social develop¬
ment, then we put ourselves in all the greater danger
from the Government.

“Just at that time the Nihilist movement in Rus¬
sia was at its height. It had caused the assassination
of the czar in 1881. Poland had become deeply
tinged with this teaching, and much Polish propa¬
ganda had filtered through into Germany.

“Consequently the German Government was ex¬
ceedingly watchful of the Socialists, among whom it
was feared that this radical theory might take root.
Severe measures were adopted against the ap¬
pearance of any Polish activity among the German
people.

“One of our group at Breslau was a Pole. We
heard more or less about Nihilism from him, but to
our more orderly way of thinking Nihilism did not

79

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

appeal. We did not adopt Nihilist principles, or
follow those methods.”

One evening, years afterward, when Dr. Steinmetz
had become well known as the electrical genius of
Schenectady, we were talking at his home about the
social revolutionary movement in the Germany of
the eighties.

He had been recounting those experiences and his
part in them; revealing, withal, the uncompromising
fight that was going on between Bismarck and the
Socialists, which resulted, Dr. Steinmetz observed,
in the defeat and retirement of Bismarck.

“How is it,” he was asked, “that this spirit of an¬
tagonism did not persist through the recent war?
How is it that the German Socialists, once unalter¬
ably hostile to the Government, so thoroughly sup¬
ported it as to result in a united front by all the
*

German parties during the war against foreign
enemies?”

“It was due to the concessions made by the kaiser
to the social revolutionists,” he replied quickly.
“The kaiser conciliated the masses. Thus Socialism
was changed from a revolutionary to an evolutionary
party. The Government made such concessions as
insurance against old age, sickness, and unemploy¬
ment — the three great fears of the masses of the peo¬
ple. Thus the kaiser attached the social revolution¬
ists to the cause of the monarchy, and by this liberal
attitude he so won over the Social Democratic party
of Germany that when the war came they supported

80

A STUDENT SOCIALIST

the Government as strongly as did any other party.”

It was in the period immediately previous to this
governmental change of front, when Bismarck was
still in power, that Steinmetz, as an enthusiastic
young student, threw in his lot with the hounded So¬
cialists of the old Germany. In doing so he wit¬
nessed, and in his own field of opportunity assisted in,
the building of the Social Democratic party which
wrought potent industrial and economic changes in
the nation, as he has outlined in his “America and
the New Epoch.”

And in doing so he utterly changed the course of
his own life by the train of events described in the
succeeding chapters of this volume.

I

81

CHAPTER VI

HOUNDED BY BISMARCK’S POLICE

%

AS merely idealists, practical only when they
they had to be, the young men of Breslau
who first took up German Socialism did not
arouse the hostility of the Government. Bismarck
let them alone as long as they simply dreamed of, and
talked about, a better world, a more perfect human
society. It was when they went further than dreams
that the clash came.

The dreamers had already awakened sufficiently to
adopt a practical program — which meant, in Effect,
that they had embarked upon political activity —
when Steinmetz became one of the group. They had
already allied themselves with the Social Democratic
party of Germany. Hence came the essential se¬
crecy, for Bismarck’s agents, the police, were watch¬
ful for evidence of seditious plottings.

The old idealism had not been wholly surrendered
by any means. In the first few months of Stein-
metz’s association with the group it frequently crop¬
ped out in conversation and discussion by reference
to a utopian Socialist colony in California. This
experiment in practical idealism, or idealism applied

82

HOUNDED BY BISMARCK

to practical affairs, was geographically known as
Icaria.

Steinmetz heard his fellows among the student So¬
cialists relate the story of Icaria, as they understood
it. He was told how the student Socialist club had
despatched a delegate to Icaria to investigate the col¬
ony and report as to its success. The expenses of
this undertaking were so large, from the point of view
of the struggling students, that it had to be deferred
for a while. The banker’s son was the chief financial
bulwark in the matter, although all the members con¬
tributed as much as they were able.

Thus, for a while, Icaria was to them the embodi¬
ment of all that was most desirable in earthly life.
In the light of the rather meager information they
had at hand, Icaria was actually Utopia. They were
dreamers, and here seemed to be the rosy fulfilment
of their dreams.

But the inexorable awakening came when the dele¬
gate returned, bringing the disheartening news that
the colony had proved impracticable ; the experiment
had been given up and the settlement abandoned.

“It turned out to be a failure,” said Dr. Steinmetz,
“just as any Socialistic community in a capitalistic
society must inevitably have been a failure. So this
report of our delegate was a disappointment to the
student Socialist club. But for some time after I
joined them, there was discussion concerning Icaria
and the reasons why it had not succeeded.”

An incidental effect of this experience was to set

83

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

many minds to thinking about America. There was
a rosy haze of possibility clustering about this name ;
moreover, it had a known element of permanency.
From all reports, America was a land favorable to
ideals, at least a land congenial to individual ambi¬
tion. Icaria, they realized now, was an illusion; but
America was a reality.

This thought, transitory at the time, nevertheless
lingered in the mind of young Proteus, adding one
more unconscious impulse to consider America as
the most plausible destination of those who chanced
to travel abroad. Naturally he did not suspect what
the future contained in this respect for him
personally.

It was the affair of the Lassalle photograph that
first provided the Breslau police with a definite clue
against the student Socialist group. This incident
occurred in the spring of 1884, not long after
Steinmetz had cast in his lot with the group,
enthusiastic over the discovery that here were men
who thought, in the main, as he did upon the condition
of society.

It has been mentioned that the student Socialists
included two medical students. One of these was
graduated that year and planned to leave the city
upon completing his studies. In his honor the so¬
ciety held a farewell conclave, surrounded with the
usual secrecy, although, in one respect, as will be
seen, the required caution was not strictly main-

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HOUNDED BY BISMARCK

tained. Since this was one of the few departures
from among the members of the circle, it was
proposed that the entire group should be photo¬
graphed; and to insure a lasting token of their as¬
sociation together in the one cause, which interested
them all, they grouped themselves around a bust of
Ferdinand Lassalle, the noted German publicist and
Socialist.

In this manner the photograph was made, and
enough prints were ordered to provide one for each
member. These pictures were greatly valued by the
young men, since they furnished common keepsakes
as well as a reminder of the principles to which they
all had subscribed.

The photographer, in his professional zeal, asked
permission to exhibit the photograph in the window
of his studio. And right here is where the student
Socialists, with all their watchfulness, were guilty of
an error in judgment: they granted the requested
permission. The telltale picture was displayed in
full public view. And to any one familiar with Ger¬
man political events Lassalle was easily recognized
as a sponsor of Socialism, which was abhorrent to
Bismarck. Yet here, in plain sight of all who
passed, was a photographed group of young Breslau
students stanchly surrounding the Lassalle bust and
thereby obviously proclaiming that they had made
the Lassalle cause their own.

Of course it was too much to expect that such a
self-evident banding together against the policies of

85

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

the Imperial German Government would escape pol¬
ice vigilance. From all accounts it wasn’t noticed
immediately by the authorities, who were even then
trying to make an investigation of social revolution¬
ary activities among the students of the University of
Breslau, without, however, making any material pro¬
gress. When the condemnatory photograph was
eventually observed by the police it*was recognized
by them as “important evidence.” As a matter of
fact it provided definite information against the in¬
ner circle of the student group — the first link in pro¬
ceedings that finally led to the apprehension of the
most active individuals, several of whom, including
the indefatigable Lux, were under arrest within two
years.

As for the fatal photograph itself, the police in¬
dustriously rooted out and confiscated all the copies
which' they could discover. They endeavored ^ to lo¬
cate and identify every man who appeared in the
group. No prints of the audacious picture must re¬
main in existence! The photographer must destroy
the negative ! And in truth so energetic did they be¬
come that only one or two prints escaped the drag¬
net.

Steinmetz managed, by much secrecy and judicious
discretion, to preserve his own copy. He was not
questioned as were the others in the group, for Stein¬
metz had not yet attracted the attention of the police
as a “dangerous agitator.” Consequently he had a
sly opportunity to secret the picture; and he always

86

HOUJNDED BY BISMARCK

retained it in his possession — one of the reminders of
“the most exciting period of my life.”

Far from feeling timidity toward the ever-prying
police, the audacious student Socialists, and indeed
all the Socialists of Breslau, did not hesitate now and
then to play a joke on their stealthy opponents. As
a rule, all activities proceeded under cover — not
through fear of the authorities, but to avoid that in¬
terference which would have hindered and set hack
the progress of the party. On one of the rare occa¬
sions when the anti-government agitators came out
into the open, Steinmetz took part in a merry little
game of hide-and-seek between the Socialists and
the police. He recalled it thus:

“During the first winter that I belonged to the
student Socialist club I attended nearly every meet¬
ing. In the following summer the group became
strongly affiliated with the German Social Democra¬
tic party. About this time I made the acquaintance
of the Breslau Socialist who was editor of the local
Socialist paper, ‘The People’s Voice.’ I also met
the editor of a popular science magazine who had
come to Breslau to live.

“That summer I attended several large gatherings
of Socialists in Breslau. Sometimes these were hon¬
ored by the presence of one of the Socialist deputies
in the Reichstag. These were always unusually im¬
portant occasions. Every one interested in the So¬
cialistic cause was invited. There was usually some¬
thing of an audience.

87

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

“Naturally, when so many were interested and in¬
vited, the police became aware that something was
going to take place. It was not very difficult for
them to find out that on a certain date a Socialist dep¬
uty would visit Breslau; and they knew, of course,
that this would mean a meeting at which the deputy
would speak. The police were expected to prevent
such affairs — if possible. »

“When the day arrived, those invited to meet the
deputy would gather rather openly, and the entire
party would set off for a stroll into the country.
Police officers who appeared to forbid a Socialist
meeting would follow along. The Socialists and
their friends represented themselves as out for an ex¬
cursion. They would really carry out this supposi¬
tion by finally stopping at some country tavern.
Everybody would go in and order beer. The police
would do the same. >

“The Socialists drank their beer quickly; then all
would arise and go out of the tavern. The police,
who had just settled down to the refreshment which
they had ordered, were compelled to leave their half-
empty glasses and follow the party. The Socialists
strolled a short distance, then circled back — some¬
times they would merely walk around the tavern and
in a few minutes return to it again. All went into
the beer-garden once more and ordered another serv¬
ing of beer. This we called having fun with the
police.

“After an hour had passed, during which we talked

88

HOUNDED BY BISMARCK

on every conceivable subject except Socialism, the
Socialists suddenly broke up. In a minute or two
they were dispersing in all directions. The police,
surprised at this turn of affairs, would not know what
to do next. Consequently they would do nothing.

“But no sooner were the Socialists back in the city
than they would hasten, in small groups, to a quiet
hall, or a restaurant, selected beforehand. And
there they would hold their meeting and listen to the
speech of the Reichstag deputy, without being dis¬
turbed by the police, who had been completely out¬
witted.”

The Socialist group in the university was now
closely identified with the Social Democratic party,
a movement with more than a million members
throughout Germany, yet without a tangible organi¬
zation, without records, without public meetings.

Steinmetz and the students quickly discovered that
they were part of a remarkable manifestation of
political activity. Flourishing under cover, intimi¬
dated by the authorities, outside the pale of legiti¬
mate politics, the Social Democrats nevertheless
nominated candidates, conducted campaigns, and
regularly elected some of their candidates to the
Reichstag. And as has already been observed, once
in the Reichstag, a Social Democrat was invulner¬
able. He could come and go openly, express his
views, speak on public questions and governmental
measures. Even the tyrannical Bismarck could not

89

I

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

bring about his suppression, once his electors had
mustered sufficient strength to carry the election.

Various expedients were resorted to, Steinmetz
found, in operating this secret political party. Busi¬
ness was transacted and announcements made in a
quiet manner at small group gatherings in restau¬
rants or at cafes. Ostensibly a number of men were
eating a meal together, but during the procedure
some important news would be casually passed from
table to table by word of mouth until all had been
informed.

Sometimes at a public entertainment, at a concert,
or at the theater the Social Democrats all contrived
to sit together. That gave them the opportunity to
engage in unostentatious discussions during intervals
in the program. Out of some such furtive gather¬
ings would come a whole slate of candidates, for
which' later the Socialists of the nation would cast
their votes.

But the general audience at one of these entertain¬
ment occasions was wholly unconscious that a full-
fledged political convention had taken place simul¬
taneously with the program which all had assembled
to enjoy.

Affiliations of this nature whetted the enthusiasm
of the University of Breslau men who were pledged
to the movement. The leadership of Lux was tire¬
less ; and rapidly developing as his lieutenant was the
quietly loyal young student of mathematics and

90

HOUNDED BY BISMARCK

electricity. Through a full round of twelve months
they rubbed shoulders together in the “great work.”

Then came real developments. Quiet investiga¬
tions which the police had been assiduously pursuing
since the Lassalle picture episode finally culminated
in 1885 with a round-up of suspected ringleaders.
The campaign went beyond the circle of university
men; some of the rank-and-file Social Democrats in
the city were also apprehended. All told, thirty-
seven persons were placed under arrest and lodged in
jail until cases could be completed against them.

At this time Steinmetz and Hinz Lux were in very
frequent consultation. Steinmetz was in the habit
of going to Lux’s lodgings, where the latter lived
with his mother, and talking over the affairs of the
student Socialist group — as well as discussing the
movement in general.

On the day of the police campaign, Steinmetz and
Lux were chatting together in the latter’s home.
Lux’s mother was listening to the conversation.
Suddenly footsteps were heard in the corridor out¬
side, followed by a loud knock on the door and a
demand to open in the name of the law. Police
officers stalked in, rudely interrupting the confer¬
ence, and announced the arrest of the zealous Lux,
who was forthwith marched off to a prison cell, leav¬
ing the surprised Steinmetz to console, as well as he
could, the dismay of the mother.

Lux and the other Socialists were imprisoned for

91

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

about ten months. Throughout that period all com¬
munication between them and the Socialists not yet
apprehended was forbidden.

Nevertheless constant messages were exchanged
by the two groups, messages so comprehensive that
those on the inside of the prison walls always knew
what was going on outside ; and the reverse was also
true. *

The authorities had not the slightest suspicion of
this. They had taken the utmost measures to pre¬
vent anything of that sort. The prosecuting attor¬
ney, who was charged with preparing the cases
against the prisoners, was especially zealous in watch¬
ing against violations of the edict. He was eager to
make his reputation by the prosecution of the
Socialists as conspirators; and his vigilance at times
was grotesquely hawk-like. When he accompanied
Mrs. Lux to the jail, for the brief visits with hbr son
which the authorities allowed, he always sat between
them during the conversation, to prevent the inter¬
change of furtive notes.

Yet, as has been said, there were regular, volumi¬
nous communications, easily despatched and easily
received. Lux wrote the letters sent from within the
p^son to those without; Steinmetz, those sent from
wjjthout to the imprisoned men.

. The surreptitious correspondence was made pos¬
sible by an invisible writing-fluid, and the stationery
consisted of the fly-leaves of text-books. It was a
case where the students’ knowledge of chemistry was

92

HOUNDED BY BISMARCK

combined with an ingenious opportunism, taking
advantage of favorable circumstances to foil the
government agents in a manner that must have
seemed extremely uncanny to the “alert” prosecuting
attorney.

At the time of his arrest, Lux was just prepar¬
ing his doctor’s thesis. This work he was allowed
to continue during his imprisonment, the books he
needed being taken to him by his mother, who also
brought away the books with which he had finished.
He wrote down the titles of the books he needed, the
prosecuting attorney looking over the list and ap¬
proving it before it was given to his mother.

When Steinmetz saw the list which was turned
over to him by Lux’s mother so that he could
procure the books, he discovered what the prose¬
cuting attorney could not have perceived, that Lux
had cleverly worked in the symbols of certain chemi¬
cals, indicating a formula. Steinmetz immediately
made some experiments and soon had hit upon a
solution which could be used as an invisible writing-
fluid.

The ingredients were all such as Lux was allowed
to have in his prison cell. They comprised a brand
of sanitary water, which he used for a mouth- wash;
permanganate of potash solution, which served him as
tooth-paste; blotting-paper; and a solution of hypo.
The secret formula prescribed the proportion of
square centimeters of blotting-paper to liquid centi¬
meters of the fluids. The concoction that resulted

93

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

was colorless and quite invisible on paper until “de¬
veloped” by being held exposed to heat.

Lux and Steinmetz had an arrangement whereby
if either wrote an invisible letter to the other, he
marked a tiny cross in the upper corner of the fly¬
leaf which bore the message. When that little cross
was noticed, the fly-leaf was torn out, the writing
developed, the message read, and the fly-leaf then
burned.

The university professors, had they been aware of
the number of books asked for by Lux, would have
concluded that the young man was performing an
extraordinary amount of work upon his thesis. But
the quantity of reading-matter that went back and
forth between the prisoner and his friends did not
excite the suspicions of the prosecuting attorney,
although in truth it represented several times what
most university students required to compile an essay
which would qualify them for a degree.

Lux, with the essential assistance of Steinmetz,
also used the system for a secondary purpose. He
sent letters by this means to his fiancee, a Breslau
young woman, and received her replies in the same
manner by “return mail.”

This procedure naturally placed Steinmetz in the
romantic role of a medium of the affections, since it
was he who first “developed” Lux’s letter, copied it,
and delivered it to the girl; then took her reply,
copied it in the invisible ink upon a fly-leaf, and sent
it along to Lux by means of the latter’s mother. In

94

HOUNDED BY BISMARCK

this undertaking he served the cause of Cupid and
that of friendship equally well, to the mutual satis¬
faction of lover and sweetheart. He virtually made
it possible for love and politics, in effect, to “find a
way.”

Slowly the painstaking prosecuting attorney pro¬
ceeded to work up his evidence for presentation
before the court. One of his favorite methods was
first to question the prisoners and then to ask the
same questions of their friends outside. So positive
was he that collusion was impossible that if, on com¬
paring their answers to the same set of questions,
both groups were found to have said the same thing,
it was considered convincing evidence that both had
told the truth.

Fortunately he allowed a sufficient lapse of time
between his examination of the two groups to enable
the invisible correspondence system to function
admirably.

No sooner had he finished questioning the men in
jail than Lux wrote a full report of the proceedings
with his secret ink. Soon it was delivered to Stein-
metz by Mrs. Lux — who was a perfectly unwitting
messenger throughout these operations — its contents
read, and the information made known to all mem¬
bers of the organization in Breslau. Then, upon
being summoned before the prosecuting attorney and
being asked the same questions, they were able to
give answers which checked up admirably with those

95

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

previously given by the men in jail — of whose testi¬
mony they were supposed to be totally ignorant!
The system worked so smoothly that the authorities
could make scant headway in building up a plausible
case.

When at length the document of proceedings at
court against the thirty-seven defendants was com¬
pleted, it was shown to the men who were incarcer¬
ated, but every precaution was taken to prevent it
from becoming known outside the prison. These
measures were utterly futile. The proceedings
formed the contents of one of Lux’s letters to Stein-
metz, and the following week the entire document
was published in the official organ of the German
Social Democratic party, to the amazement of the
authorities.

The most determined of official prosecution could

y \

hardly do credit to itself against methods as subtle as
these; and eventually there was nothing left to do
but release the thirty-seven defendants. Evidence
was lacking, even in a court of pro-Bismarckian
leanings. The certainty that these young men
were really conspirators against the Government
remained; in truth it had never departed. But to
prove it — that was altogether too difficult for the
sadly puzzled prosecuting attorney. He had to own
himself baffled and abandon the hope of winning
imperishable renown by the proceedings against the
ingenious Lux and his companions.

Steinmetz, meanwhile, was gradually coming more

96

HOUNDED BY BISMARCK

and more under the clouds of suspicion. Events
arising from the imprisonment of his friends endan¬
gered his own welfare, for he endeavored to fill the
gap in the active work of the Breslau organization
caused by the arrest of Lux and the editor of “The
People’s Voice.”

When the imprisoned Socialists were released, in
the latter part of 1887, Steinmetz was so keen in the
cause that he was being watched by the police, prob¬
ably more closely than he realized. An interval
went by during which information against him was
lodged with the rector of the university. Finally, as
will be seen, the time arrived when he was unques¬
tionably in danger of proceedings; and when, as the
only alternative, he was compelled to forsake his
studies on the very eve of their culmination, in order
hastily to depart from a politically inhospitable
Germany. He and Bismarck, he decided, could no
longer breathe the same air.

y

97

CHAPTER VII

STEINMETZ A POLITICAL FUGITIVE

WHEN the strong arm o4f an intolerant
government invades the editorial sanc¬
tum, however much men may desire to
see the conscience of the press left unmolested, the
practical result is usually the abrupt termination of
the publication in question. When, in addition,
there is a financial burden — debts unpaid, credit
destroyed — the trials of a “substitute editor” can be
imagined.

“The People’s Voice,” published by the Socialists
of Breslau in the time of Steinmetz, was in such per¬
plexities as these in 1886 and 1887. And Steinmetz
himself appeared in the self-assumed function of
stop-gap wielder of the editorial pen.

For the better part of two months — the exact
period was seven weeks — Steinmetz was the main¬
stay of “The People’s Voice.” He was the editorial
driving force. He supplied both the brains and the
energy that made a paper possible, in the face of
multiple difficulties. And the final flickering out of
the publication (at least under that name) was due
not so much to the activity of the Government’s rep¬
resentatives as it was to financial straits that proved

. 98

A POLITICAL FUGITIVE

too much for the young student enthusiast, himself
but scantily supplied with funds for even his per¬
sonal needs.

This unexpected function was thrust upon him
directly by the police round-up which took his friend
Lux away from him. The thirty-seven Socialists
who were apprehended included both the editor of
“The People’s Voice” and the editor of the popular
scientific magazine published in Breslau. Both were
friends of Steinmetz, almost as intimate as the
younger and more lively Lux. Consequently it was
partly in the interest of friendship that Steinmetz
was led to assume charge of the plain-spoken publi¬
cation, and not alone the desire to advance the for¬
tunes of the Socialist movement.

The first thing he did as editor was to adopt a
characteristic editorial policy — characteristic alike
in its naive hostility and its youth-born bluntness.
It was couched in twelve words: “We don’t know
what the Government wants, but we disapprove
of it.”

It was impossible for Steinmetz to carry on his
editorial venture openly, even if he had cared to risk
an undisguised pose before the vigilant police at such
a perilous period as followed the arrest of his asso¬
ciates. The laws regulating universities expressly
forbade students to engage in any regular business
or profession while pursuing their studies. This in
itself prevented Steinmetz from placing his name on
the editorial page of “The People’s Voice” as the

99

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

responsible editor. He was obliged to make use of a
“sitting editor.”

A “sitting editor” served as a mask behind which
the real editorial brains of a publication might find
concealment when convenient. To the readers — and
the authorities — the “sitting editor” was the real edi¬
tor, unless the latter was eventually ferreted out.

The “sitting editor” in the case of “The People’s
Voice” was a Polish Socialist, a man of meager edu¬
cation, whom Steinmetz induced to take the scape¬
goat post. He could barely write his name and
could not read at all. Yet his name was officially at-
tached to the editorials which were regularly pro¬
vided by Steinmetz. Most of the time he never
knew what those editorials actually said. But he
understood their general purpose to be the advance¬
ment of the party, of which he was a member; and
that was enough. \

As for his responsibility for the utterances of the
paper, it is doubtful if he ever clearly understood
this. Fortunately “The People’s Voice” passed
from its turbulent period of life into a calmer and
more docile career after a time. And the only inci¬
dent which caused the police to cast a wrathful eye
in the direction of the editorial sanctum concerned
Steinmetz so much more than it did the unsuspecting
“sitting editor” that the latter was never really dis¬
turbed in his tranquillity.

The contents of this party organ, under the editor¬
ship of Steinmetz, were collected from various quar-

100

A POLITICAL FUGITIVE

ters. Only occasionally did he write an original arti¬
cle. But he reprinted articles and comments freely
from other publications, and sometimes got one of
the students, or a Socialist friend in the city, to write
an article. In addition, he gave the general news
bulletins that were of interest to the rank and file
of the party.

During most of the seven weeks that Steinmetz was
thus engaged, “The People’s Voice” served the
Breslau Socialists loyally without arousing the un¬
favorable notice of the Government; this, too, in the
face of its somewhat belligerent anti-government
battle-cry. But finally there appeared an issue which
precipitated furious prosecution from the police.

There were three articles in that number which
were deemed politically offensive. One of these
Steinmetz wrote himself. It was a vigorous defense
of the rights of the Socialists and apparently was the
most stinging of the three. Another of the three had
been copied from some other paper. The origin and
nature of the third is not known.

That issue was the end of “The People’s Voice” as
a Socialist publication. The paper was banned, and
the issue in question was confiscated.

Then the police, probing deeper, began to question
all whom they understood to be connected with the
publication. The authorship of the daring article
that caused the greatest uproar was the object of
their investigation. They suspected Steinmetz of
having a hand in the whole affair, but proof was no-

101

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ticeably absent. However, they interviewed the
rather guileless “sitting editor” — who promptly in¬
formed the police that he wrote that article himself!

Just why he said this is not perfectly clear; but he
was so very obliging in volunteering information that
the police only became the more suspicious. They
went further and questioned Steinmetz, who was, in
reality, the writer of the article. However, Stein¬
metz informed them with calm assurance that he
knew nothing about it; and this was all they could
learn from either of the individuals who were most
closely identified with the publication.

The “sitting editor” was not molested; the police
realized that whoever had written the article, it was
not he. They were rather less satisfied about Stein¬
metz. But there was no proof — so nothing definite
was done.

This was all written into the intangible case
against the young mathematical student. It con¬
stituted additional evidence, even though flimsy in
nature, to be laid, not long afterward, before the uni¬
versity authorities. And meanwhile it seemed to be
excellent justification for watching this zealous,
serious-faced young thinker more diligently than
ever.

“The People’s Voice,” as stated, was never seen
again. It was succeeded, shortly after the impris¬
oned Socialists were released, by a mild, inoffensive
paper called “The Silesian News.”

During this period, Steinmetz also engaged in

102

A POLITICAL FUGITIVE

other literary activities. The thirty-seven impris¬
oned Socialists numbered, in addition to the editorial
genius of “The People’s Voice,” another publisher
friend of the young university student, who, as al¬
ready stated, had been publishing a popular scien¬
tific library.

This publication, to which Steinmetz himself had
written a contribution, appeared in loose sheet form
from week to week, the sheets later being bound, ten
or twenty together, into volumes. Each volume was
devoted to one subject. There was little work for
the editor, as most, if not all, of the articles were con¬
tributed. The manuscripts required nothing more
than editing and transmission to the printer.

Under this same management, however, there also
appeared the “Breslau Fortnightly Literary Maga¬
zine,” which dealt with general topics of scholarly or
classical interest, and comments on events of the
times. It resembled a popular literary magazine of
the present day in the United States. This was an
older venture than the scientific library; but, as it
proved, both of these publications were exceedingly
feeble financially — a weakness which Steinmetz could
do nothing to alleviate.

He exerted himself faithfully to keep the publica¬
tions going, although for a few weeks he had these
two and “The People’s Voice,” all under his care at
once. But he soon discovered that the publisher of
the popular scientific library and of the “Breslau
Fortnightly Literary Magazine” was hopelessly in

103

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

debt. He even owed money for the paper on which
the magazine was printed.

Here was a situation presupposing diplomacy and
persuasion in the business office, and the usual perspi¬
cacity and judgment in the editorial department.
And these qualifications were all required, at short
notice, from a serious youth of mathematical and
social democratic proclivities!

Steinmetz addressed himself to the double-barreled
task with characteristic zest. He interviewed the
printer, who, he found, was quite willing to print
another issue, if he was paid for those which had al¬
ready been printed. The paper merchant, likewise,
agreed to give Steinmetz paper on credit for the next
number but was rather insistent that Steinmetz first
settle for the paper which had been used in the pre¬
vious numbers.

Moreover, various other creditors began calling at
the publication office, week after week, to ask for
their money. Most of them were subjected to an
ironic bit of pleasantry. All that Steinmetz could of¬
fer them — which, however, he did offer them — was
a voluminous file of back numbers of the publications.
The unappreciative creditors refused to be satisfied
with such evidence of a generous spirit!

Finally, after several weeks of struggle and stress,
the climax appeared with the sudden arrival one
morning of the sheriff, who made the disquieting an¬
nouncement that all the office furnishings and equip-

104

A POLITICAL FUGITIVE

ment had been purchased on the instalment plan and
several payments were then due!

“Well, my dear sir,” said Steinmetz, with the ut¬
most aff ability, “I can simply offer you what I have
offered all the creditors of this office — a complete file
of back numbers of the publication.”

And forthwith he exhibited to the dumfounded
sheriff the file in question. It had no different ef¬
fect upon the officer of the law than it had had upon
the creditors. The sheriff merely stared in amaze¬
ment at this inexplicable young fellow who could not
take the situation seriously, even though the estab¬
lishment was in danger of an attachment.

Then he went away in disgust, and Steinmetz had
a good laugh over the whole business.

With the confiscation of “The People’s Voice,”
which was entirely suppressed during the trial of the
accused Socialists, and the financial collapse of the
“Fortnightly Literary Magazine” and the popular
science library, Steinmetz was perforce left with lit¬
tle to do for his Socialist friends except to maintain
the secret correspondence with Lux by means of the
invisible ink. He learned about this time that the
action taken against “The People’s Voice” was in
harmony with the general governmental attitude to¬
ward papers of avowed Socialist leanings. All over
Germany such papers were confiscated the moment
any pretext was found for taking action against
them; and sooner or later they all broke over the

105

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

bounds of prescribed political decorum in one way or
another.

Bismarck’s whole policy at this time was such as to
exasperate the Socialist group, thereby solidifying
the movement more than ever, rather than weaken¬
ing it so that it could be stamped out. The confisca¬
tion of the Socialist papers precipitated a long-drawn
battle of wits, in which the honors lay largely with
the Socialists, since they managed to maintain their
inner system of communications by means of their
party organ. This official Socialist paper was pub¬
lished in Zfirich and smuggled into Germany by an
elaborate system of “under cover” distribution.

Secret agents were scattered far and wide through¬
out Germany, but few of them knew definitely the
contents of the package of papers which they re¬
ceived and passed on, week after week. If caught
in the act, even though the package was found to
contain copies of the outlaw paper, they could truth¬
fully say they did not know what was in the bundle.

The man who acted as main distributing agent in
Breslau was never told what the bundle contained.
He seldom even read the paper himself. He knew
only enough to receive the package from some one
unknown to him and pass it on to some one else,
who was also a stranger to him by name if not by
sight. He could deny to the police virtually every¬
thing that would have incriminated him.

To be caught with a copy of the paper in one’s
possession meant six months’ imprisonment; and al-

106

A POLITICAL FUGITIVE

most all Socialists knew this. None the less, the
paper had a circulation in Germany at large of twelve
thousand copies. Steinmetz himself read it regu¬
larly, then passed it on, through the furtive delivery
system, to some other member of the organization.

And now Steinmetz had a reputation elsewhere in
Breslau than at the university. He had become
known to the police as one of the most active instiga¬
tors of the Socialist cause among the students. A
case was being built up against him. As yet it was
somewhat shadowy, lacking sufficient proof for pro¬
ceedings which could have any reasonable hope of
success.

There was one immediate result, however. The
police made a full report to the rector of the uni¬
versity, covering everything they knew concerning
Steinmetz’s connection with the student Socialists.
They concluded with a request for disciplinary
action.

The rector of the University of Breslau was a
shrewd observer. He knew more about one side of
Steinmetz’s career than the police did. He knew
that in this young chap the university had one of its
most gifted students. Not a professor whose lec¬
tures Steinmetz had attended but was impressed by
his mental attributes. Steinmetz had a scholastic re¬
cord which had seldom been equaled at Breslau, es¬
pecially in mathematics.

In short, the plain truth of it was that the uni-

107

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

versity authorities cared not the slightest what polit¬
ical views Steinmetz developed as long as he kept
up in his studies; and this latter he was undeniably
doing.

Hence it is hardly to be wondered at that the police
report regarding the Socialistic activities of his most
capable student made no impression upon the rector,
except perhaps mildly to irritate him. He did give
some attention to the request that university disci¬
pline should be exerted, but he did this only to pre¬
serve a form of official courtesy toward the represen¬
tatives of the law.

He called Steinmetz before him and gently ques¬
tioned the young man as to his public conduct.
Steinmetz replied as gently by remarking, in effect,
that he did not regard his activities as particularly
reprehensible. The sedate, unperturbed rector lis¬
tened quietly. Figuratively he nodded his he^.d; he,
too, did not think that the young man had been
guilty of anything “particularly reprehensible.”
And thereupon he bade Steinmetz go his way. It was
virtually a dismissal of the case.

The untiring police were more relentless. They
kept at work on the Steinmetz case. They kept
watch of his movements. They made further in¬
quiries, gathered fresh data, and finally made another
representation to the harassed rector.

Reluctantly the latter held a second hearing, as
placid and as mild as the first — and with a similar de¬
cision, from a similar motive.

108

A POLITICAL FUGITIVE

Steinmetz perceived that the university authorities
were not going to stand in his way. He therefore
applied himself earnestly to the work of his final year,
and began the preparation of the thesis which he
hoped would win him his doctor’s degree. Early in
1888 he completed this work and submitted it to the
professors.

The thesis was accepted by the faculty, which
meant that only the formality of conferring the de¬
gree remained to be performed. The work repre¬
sented by the Steinmetz thesis was extensive; it en¬
titled him to the degree of doctor of philosophy. Yet
it was but the beginning of an extended period of in¬
vestigation under the same general subject, the con¬
clusions resulting from which were not published un¬
til after Steinmetz had settled in America. The title
of the thesis, translated, was, “On Involutary Self¬
reciprocal Correspondences in Space Which Are De¬
fined by a Three-Dimensional Linear System of Sur¬
faces of the nth Order.”

Steinmetz never received his university degree at
Breslau. On the very threshold of successfully con¬
cluding a notable university career, he was forced
abruptly to relinquish the honors which he had richly
earned and precipitately flee the country.

His old enemies, the police, were the cause. They
had never left his trail; and now, in these early
months of 1888, they had collected so much tangible
evidence against him that they believed the time had

109

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

come to take action. They called in the public prose¬
cutor, and a formal case was prepared.

Just as they were on the point of placing the young
man under arrest, a few of Steinmetz’s friends man¬
aged to learn what was afoot and gave him a hasty
warning. They advised him to stand not upon the
order of his going, for to linger would mean un¬
doubtedly a legal conviction and a lengthy term of
imprisonment.

At the same moment, other friends verified these
representations. The public prosecutor had notified
the rector of the university to abandon whatever pro¬
ceedings had been instituted against Steinmetz, as
the Government was ready to proceed on its own
behalf.

Thereupon there were aroused some deeply rooted
feelings. They symbolized the freemasonry of schol¬
arship, the bond that made brothers of professors
and students in extreme instances, like this case of
Steinmetz. The professors of Breslau, who had felt
their admiration stirred by the work of this excep¬
tional young man, were unwilling to see so excellent
a student prosecuted and imprisoned. They con¬
trived, in some indirect manner, to inform Steinmetz
of the notification which had been received from the
public prosecutor.

Steinmetz perceived that in truth he was a marked
man. He consulted briefly with Lux and im¬
mediately made preparations for a swift departure.

That night was his last in Breslau; his last, indeed,

110

A POLITICAL FUGITIVE

in Germany. It was spent by the student Socialists
in a farewell to Steinmetz, whom they all admired for
his readiness to give up much rather than surrender
the honest convictions of his heart.

“We all went to Lichtenheim’s,” said Dr. Stein¬
metz, recalling the occasion. “There we had one of
our typical student parties, only it was more quiet
than some of these affairs, and we made our revelry
a little shorter than usual.

“Very early in the morning, before it was dawn,
I came home, aroused my father from sleep, and
told him I was going off to visit a friend and had to
catch an early train. We said good-bye briefly, and
without great formality. He supposed, naturally
enough, that I would return after some few days, or
perhaps a week. I knew I would probably never re¬
turn, although I did not intimate this to him.

“After I arrived in Switzerland, I wrote to my
father, telling him the real reason why I had left Ger¬
many, and informing him that I did not think I could
return for a long time.”

Before daylight on that May morning of 1888,
young Carl Steinmetz, traveling on one of the very
railroad lines of which his father was an employee,
had put Breslau many miles behind him and was
rapidly approaching the Austrian frontier.

Ill

CHAPTER VIII

THE TRANSITION YEAR AT ZURICH

PHILOSOPHICAL calmness manifested it¬
self early in the life of Dr. Steinmetz. The
intensive study of advanced subjects, the cal¬
culation of mathematical problems, the habit of medi¬
tation upon the ever-present social issue, all were con¬
ducive to this attitude of mind, toward which he was
naturally inclined by disposition. And now the ef¬
fect was to be seen in the way he went through this
first great upheaval in his affairs, this hasty, covert
departure from home and country.

Although, at the time, it came upon him suddenly,
young Steinmetz did not become overexcited at the
prospect of an unexpected — but not unforeseen —
flight to the frontier. He preserved an unaffected
demeanor in bidding farewell to his father. It was
so completely unaffected that his father accepted his
explanation of that early morning departure as per¬
fectly natural.

But underneath all the stoic indifference was keen
regret. Steinmetz would much rather have stayed
in Breslau. He felt the momentous aspect of his
action, realized acutely what he was doing, as he went
to the railroad station and purchased a ticket for a

112

TRANSITION YEAR AT ZURICH

little town near the Austrian frontier where there
lived a young friend of his who was a tutor.

As a matter of precaution he purchased a return-
ticket, knowing as he did so that he would never use
it. The ruse was successful, however; at least, his
old enemies, the police, did not discover his flight un¬
til it was too late.

Dr. Steinmetz recalled this episode with an engag¬
ing frankness which revealed every particular of the
naive little plot by which he was enabled to escape
from the authorities.

“The friend whom I intended to visit was a young
clergyman, who had recently completed his minister¬
ial studies. While waiting to secure a church, he was
tutoring for some wealthy people in this little fron¬
tier town. He had invited me many times to pay
him a visit, but I had not found it possible before to
take the time to do so. Now, however, I found it
suddenly extremely convenient to accept the invita¬
tion and to start without a moment’s delay.

“When I got to his home, my friend quickly
grasped the situation. He at once arranged an os¬
tensible excursion to a popular summer resort a short
distance across the Austrian boundary. We both
bought return-tickets, but I did not return with my
friend; he went back alone. I contrived to continue
my journey, went to Prague, and from there to
Vienna.

“I stayed in Vienna only a day or two and then
journeyed on to Zurich, in Switzerland. There I

113

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

decided to stay for an indefinite period. I knew
there was a strong Socialist group there, and I had
hopes of studying in the Zurich Polytechnic School
and of earning seme money while in Zurich.

“After I had been there for a short time, I wrote
to my father, telling him the real reason for my leav¬
ing Breslau, and informing him that I did not intend
to return, in fact, could not return without the risk
of being placed under arrest. My father did not
chide me because of my course of action. He was
not personally interested in politics at any time; he
was not a Socialist. But he allowed me perfect free¬
dom of thought and action. We exchanged several
letters while I was in Zurich, but most of them were
brief messages — news of the family on his part, and
information about my studies and plans on my part.
I wrote him also several times with regard to matters
relating to my efforts to enter the Polytechnic*”

All this time the elder Steinmetz was the only per¬
son in Breslau who knew the actual whereabouts of
Carl Steinmetz, although eventually Lux received
letters from his friend, which he carefully guarded.

The chagrined police were very much in the dark.
Later, as will be seen, they learned of Steinmetz’s
presence in Zurich; learned of it in such wise that
they had an excellent opportunity to thwart for a
while one of the young student’s ambitions. But at
the moment they had to confess themselves outwitted.
They were compelled to drop the proceedings which
had been elaborately prepared against not only

114

TRANSITION YEAR AT ZURICH

young Steinmetz but two others of the group as well,
the latter having also disappeared at a peculiarly op¬
portune moment — for them. Soon afterward, the
descriptions and photographs of the men who were
wanted appeared in the German governmental news¬
papers ; but the men were never brought to trial.

From his one year in Zurich, Steinmetz gained the
benefit of six months or more of study in the Zurich
Polytechnic School. He there took up mechanical
engineering, the most valuable addition to his techni¬
cal training which this period produced. It was
gained in the face of discouraging difficulties in re¬
lation to his acceptance as a student at the Poly¬
technic. Red tape was the great obstacle here. To
be sure, it was woven about his pathway as a direct
outcome of the informal manner in which he had
betaken himself out of his home city ; but it was none
the less vexatious and had all the appearance, on the
surface at least, of a mere technicality.

The trouble centered around the demand by the
Polytechnic authorities for a Heimatsschein, or cer¬
tificate of residence, which a student coming from
another city was expected to secure from the police of
his native town. Under the municipal law of Zurich,
this was indispensable to gain entrance to the Poly¬
technic. Steinmetz was informed by the rector of
the Polytechnic that the law was strictly enforced
and that no exceptions were ever made.

The young student went away somewhat despond-

115

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ent. He realized, of course, how high he stood in
the estimation of the Breslau police! It was not to
be expected that they would grant such a certificate
to the man whom they were about to arrest when he
left town. Yet the rector of the Polytechnic sternly
declined to accept Steinmetz as a student without it.
Moreover, as long as he stayed in Zurich as an un¬
registered student, and without a Heimatsschein to
show, he was liable to a municipal fine, which was col¬
lected weekly by the police.

Here was a dilemma, indeed! But Steinmetz
boldly resolved to attack both horns of it at once.
He determined to make an effort to secure the Hei-
matsschein from the Breslau police, and at the same
time to spare no exertion toward winning an entrance
into the university, with or without the bothersome
document.

He -at once despatched a letter to his father, ask¬
ing the latter to make application to the police for
the Heimatsschein. Then he sought the assistance
of several friends in Zurich whose influence might
override the cast-iron ordinance, notwithstanding the
lack of the certificate.

He gained an introduction to one or two Zurich
officials, including the commissioner of police, but
none of them at first were willing to recommend that
the law be set aside in his favor. Finally a friend
introduced him to a prominent political leader, and
the latter gave him a recommendation addressed to
the rector of the Polytechnic, suggesting that it was

116

TRANSITION YEAR AT ZURICH

quite feasible to take Steinmetz in as a student not¬
withstanding the lack of the Heimatsschein. With
this he called upon the rector again but was again
turned away.

To add to his discomfiture, a letter from his father
informed him that the Breslau police refused ab¬
solutely to grant him a Heimatsschein. Still he
would not give up the fight. He replied to his father’s
letter suggesting that some good friend in Bres¬
lau might intercede for him. Perhaps he hoped that
the university officials would come to his help, or that
the police, perceiving they were rid of him for good,
would, under those circumstances, be just as glad to
make it easy for him to stay away.

All this time a Zurich police officer kept calling
upon Steinmetz, week after week, to inspect his
Heimatsschein. But every time the harassed young
student had to admit that his Heimatsschein had not
yet arrived. Thereupon the officer collected the
fine prescribed by the ordinance ; and the fine, Stein¬
metz had reason to believe, went into the officer’s
pocket.

The weeks passed and still no certificate. Stein¬
metz prayed within himself that it might appear;
while the policeman, he suspected, prayed that it
would n’t !

In the face of all this the young man did not relax
his efforts to gain admission to the university with¬
out the Heimatsschein. Even though there seemed
to be no possible way, he did not give up. And at

117

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

length he made the acquaintance of a newspaper pub¬
lisher who was a considerable power in the city.
This man took an interest in the student’s plight ; the
outcome being that pressure was brought to bear, be¬
hind the scenes, upon the police, and through them
upon the rector of the university.

Steinmetz never quite knew how it was accom¬
plished. At all events, he was told t@ call again upon
the rector. He did so, hardly expecting that his re¬
ception would differ from those he had previously
received. To his astonished delight, however, the
rector’s attitude toward him was completely changed.
He welcomed him with a smile and a how, informed
him that he might register as a student, informed him
as to the necessary routine — and never once made
mention of the abhorred Heimatsschein! Steinmetz
wisely asked no questions but forthwith took up his
studies with all the eagerness of a mind that was lit¬
erally athirst for knowledge.

The weekly calls of the police officer and the
weekly toll of fines ceased forthwith. It was fortu¬
nate; for the financial drain upon the young man’s
very slender resources was becoming alarming, and
the levy might have continued throughout his resi¬
dence in Zurich, as the certificate was never granted
by the unrelenting police of Breslau.

During most of the year that Steinmetz spent in
Zurich he lived in most humble circumstances. Some
might have looked upon him as an impoverished

118

TRANSITION YEAR AT ZURICH

youth, a typical struggling student. Such he was, so
far as material means were concerned. But his cir¬
cumstances did not prey upon his mind in the slight¬
est ; for Steinmetz, as a youth, was well supplied with
exuberance. A serious thinker, he yet was jovial by
nature, easily laying aside the consideration of scien¬
tific subjects or of political events for a thoroughly
care-free evening of good fellowship around the
board.

It is quite true that he lived rather precariously
most of the time he was in Zurich. When he arrived
there his funds were greatly depleted. He engaged
modest lodgings and immediately paid for his 1*oom
in advance, to make sure it was paid for at all. This
seemed to be an unlooked-for procedure, judging
from the surprise of the landlady, who usually had
to importune her boarders with much persistence to
settle their bills.

His room rent paid, Steinmetz found he had hardly
any money left, but nevertheless he resolved upon the
role of generous host toward one or two acquaint¬
ances whom he had already made among the Social¬
ists of Zurich. He invited these men to his lodg¬
ings, providing for their entertainment a fine repast
of steak and sausages. It took virtually all his re¬
maining funds; and on the surplus food from this
banquet Steinmetz managed to live for several days
afterward!

Very early during his residence in Zurich he called
at the home of a Dr. Simon, to whom he had been

119

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

recommended. He was cordially received there, his
Socialist leanings winning him a ready welcome.
Among the company that he found assembled at the
Simon residence was a bright young fellow who was
numbered among the Socialists of the city, and who
was also a student at the Polytechnic.

This student’s name was Oscar Asmussen, a native
of Denmark, who had been sent, when* quite young, to
live with a wealthy uncle in San Francisco. The un¬
cle, seeking to give the youth the best possible start
in life, had despatched him to Zurich to gain a well-
rounded education. He was in the process of doing
so; also of falling deeply in love with a vivacious
young woman of the Swiss metropolis.

Asmussen and Steinmetz became fast friends be¬
fore they had parted from each other that first eve¬
ning at Dr. Simon’s. Asmussen helped Steinmetz
find a room and, yielding to the warm-hearted sug¬
gestion of the young Breslau student, agreed to share
it with him as room-mate.

In this arrangement, Steinmetz’s insatiable love of
human society, his finely developed social instinct,
came prominently to the surface, just as it was des¬
tined to do on recurring occasions during his later
life. It was inevitable that he should seek compan¬
ionship in his lodgings or his home surroundings ; and
this bachelor partnership with Oscar Asmussen was
a strong determining factor in his life at this period,
as will presently appear.

The new lodgings in which Steinmetz established

120

TRANSITION YEAR AT ZURICH

himself, with this congenial chum, were located, ac¬
cording to his own description, “on the top floor of
the last house at the end of the last street at the edge
of the town.”

These were busy days for the young stranger in
Zurich, who generally surprised and attracted those
who met him by reason of his alert, quick manner, his
never-failing pleasantness of demeanor, his strong,
cordial hand-clasp that seemed to contradict his
dwarfed and crippled body. He seemed to have a
perfectly inexhaustible perseverance. As has al¬
ready been shown, he persisted in his endeavor to
attend the lectures on mechanical engineering at the
Polytechnic until he gained his purpose; and he was
no less indefatigable in securing the means of earn¬
ing a living.

He called almost immediately upon the editor of
one of the Zurich newspapers, presenting a letter of
introduction and receiving a friendly hearing. The
editor promptly arranged with him to write a series
of articles on astronomy for the Sunday edition of
his paper, the remuneration for which amounted to
the equivalent of two dollars for each article.

About this time, also, the editor of the popular
science library which was being published in Breslau
at the time of the police round-up of Socialist leaders
paid Steinmetz for his contribution to that series.
This was one of the publications which Steinmetz at¬
tempted to continue for his editor friend while the
latter was under arrest.

121

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

The contributions of Steinmetz had been on the
subject of astronomy. After appearing in the popu¬
lar science series, these papers were published as a
volume, constituting the first book that Steinmetz
ever had published. The publisher had moved to
Dresden after the ill success of his Breslau venture.
It was from that city that he communicated with
Steinmetz at Zurich, paying him a itionthly royalty
of fourteen marks, or about $8.50, from the proceeds
of the book on astronomy, which began to find a con¬
siderable sale in Germany. Steinmetz also earned
odd sums from time to time by tutoring.

In this semi-adventurous, Bohemian fashion, living
on a very slim margin from week to week, and study¬
ing mechanical engineering in all his spare time,
Steinmetz lived in Zurich, with Asmussen, his room¬
mate. Their fare, as may be supposed, was exceed¬
ingly simple. It contained three staple items— cof¬
fee, bread, and frankfurters, the young men refer¬
ring to these latter as “doggies.” It was a rare event
when they had butter with their bread!

One of the chief luxuries of his life was acquired by
Steinmetz during this interval. It was even more of
a luxury then than at any later time. And it was
so inseparably a part of his daily life ever since that
every one who knows about Steinmetz also knows
about this habit of his. It was nothing more or less
than a keen enjoyment of cigars! The habit grew
upon him gradually; and he never looked back upon
this year in Zurich without mildly marveling that he

122

TRANSITION YEAR AT ZURICH

was able to afford cigars at all. Yet it was not long
before he found a cigar more and more indispensable
to his ease of mind whenever he was engaged in men¬
tal work. It was a year or two before he became
such a steady smoker as to be seen at all times with
a stogy; but for many years, at the latter end of his
life, his cigar was so much a part of him that to see
him without one did not look natural. They were
not, however, “big” or “thick,” as the melodramatic
newspaper reporter would have us think ; instead they
were noticeably long and thin. And he smoked them
down to a very small stump!

In the spring of 1889, after Steinmetz had mingled
more or less constantly with the Socialists of Zurich,
meeting among them Carl and Gerhart Hauptmann,
two brothers who were at that time distinctly promi¬
nent in the city, a circumstance developed in the life
of Oscar Asmussen which profoundly affected the
fortunes of the young man from Breslau. This was
the train of events which followed upon Asmussen’s
action in acquainting his uncle in California with his
romantic leanings.

In describing all that happened at this time, Stein¬
metz exhibited a benign complacency toward the
headlong pace at which his friend went about his woo¬
ing. He could well afford to, for it was the cause,
indirectly at least, of his coming to the United States.

“Asmussen was deeply in love with this young lady
whom he had met since he came to Zurich.” So

123

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Steinmetz recalled the episode. “He finally got to
the point where he wrote to his uncle and told him all
about it, mentioning also that the young lady came
from a wealthy and aristocratic Swiss family. His
uncle wrote back a letter of indignant disapproval.
He emphasized that he had sent Asmussen to Zurich
to study, not to fall in love; and he ordered him to
return to San Francisco at once, enfdrcing this com¬
mand by promptly cutting off his allowance.

“So Asmussen was compelled forthwith to make
plans for going to America. He and I talked about
his prospective trip a great deal. It caused us both
to think about the western world, and it made me
think that perhaps I ’d like to go to America some
day also. In fact, he and I agreed that as soon as
I was able to secure funds I was to follow him.

“Then suddenly, a few nights before Asmussen
was to start, as we were discussing the matter, which
we were always doing then, Asmussen exclaimed:
‘Well, why not come along with me?’

“‘With you?’ said I. ‘But — I have no money.’

“ ‘Don’t mind that,’ he said. ‘I have enough to
take us both over if we travel cheaply. I will pay
our way, and you can make it up to me later.’

“It seemed like an exciting adventure to travel
across the sea to the New World. And so, after
thinking it over a little while, I accepted his invita¬
tion. We had a celebration in honor of this decision,
with a dinner and a party that lasted until very
late.

124

TRANSITION YEAR AT ZURICH

“The next morning, about ten o’clock, I had not
yet got out of bed when I heard a loud knock at the
door of my room. I called out for my visitor to
enter, and thereupon I found him to be a Mr. Uppen-
born, of Munich, the editor of a German electrical
publication, in which I had written articles. He was
the head of an electrical testing bureau and a scien¬
tific man of prominence. Having come to Zurich on
business, he had decided to look me up because of the
articles I had written for him.

“I was glad to see him and asked him to be seated.
But when he looked around for a place to sit down,
he found every chair in the room was filled with
something, either clothes, hooks, or papers. He
found a seat at length, however, and we had a long
talk, I being still in bed. When I told him that I
was planning to leave in a few days for America, he
became very much interested and finally asked me to
act as correspondent in America for his publication,
which I agreed to do. He also gave me a letter of
introduction to Rudolf Eickemeyer, who had an elec¬
trical establishment in America.”

Thus, in a most informal manner, close upon the
heels of his buoyant, almost haphazard decision to
cross the ocean, Steinmetz had placed in his hands an
important link in the chain of occurrences that was to
influence his whole career after he reached the United
States.

The following day, Steinmetz and Asmussen left
Zurich on their long journey. Asmussen paid his

125

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

friend’s way as well as his own; otherwise it would
have been quite impossible for Steinmetz to make the
trip at that time.

Forced to avoid travel through Germany, they set
out by way of Cherbourg and Paris, thence going to
Havre, where they embarked on a French immigrant
steamer, La Champagne, traveling in the steerage.
They were placed with Swiss and Austrian emi¬
grants. The rest of the steerage was occupied
by Italians. Steinmetz always remembered that
voyage :

“It was the most pleasant trip I ever made. I was
not once seasick, and we made a very jolly excursion
of it, all the way over.”

The voyage consumed eight days. During most
of that time Steinmetz did his best to pick up a little
English. Asmussen gave him what instruction he
could, but the time was so brief that when they finally
reached America, Steinmetz could speak hardly any
English beyond a few brief phrases.

It was now the latter part of May, 1889. Stein¬
metz had been away from Breslau about a year.
That move had been a decided break in his affairs,
one of a succession of sharp changes that followed
each other through much of his life. Yet the step he
took in coming to America was a far bigger break,
upon which impended happenings that he himself
foresaw not.

And here he was at length, a-sail on the broad At¬
lantic, cutting loose from the last vestige of the

126

TRANSITION YEAR AT ZURICH

world and the life that was familiar to him, going to
a country whose language he knew not, dependent
upon a friend and fellow-traveler for funds, and
without the slightest idea as to what he was to do for
a living. Yet he had his health, he was young, and
he was enthusiastic.

His other assets were bigger than either he or any
one else dreamed of at the moment. The course of
time and the play of events were to bring these tem¬
porarily hidden talents very conspicuously to the sur¬
face in the new, unknown land where a brilliant ca¬
reer awaited him.

127

CHAPTER IX

STEINMETZ BECOMES AN AMERICAN

%

A WARM, pleasant afternoon — the first of
June, 1889. The keen sea air whiffing over
the waves of the lower bay. The French
immigrant liner La Champagne working her way
through the passing sea traffic, and off ahead of her
a sight for the soul to gaze upon and never forget —
the great figure of Liberty, with her quenchless
torch !

Many wondering eyes looked up at that figure
from the deck of the French liner ; eyes that' had
never seen the spectacle before. The young Ger¬
man, Steinmetz, looked eagerly with the rest. But
he was frank in saying, in his later years, that he was
hardly any more contemplative, at the moment, of
the symbolism thus arisen before him, than were the
other immigrants in their exciting realization that
America was at hand.

Yes, here was America! Young Steinmetz, turn¬
ing from the heroic statue, looked with equal wonder
round about upon the busy scenes of the great port,
the vessels looming up with the drift of smoke about
them, and the first suggestion of the bustling

128

STEINMETZ AN AMERICAN

city, the ever-astonishing waterfront of the western
metropolis.

The spirit of it all took hold upon him that sunny
afternoon, coming up the harbor. He felt the surge
of adventure. The sights, the sounds, the smells of
this new sea-washed shore were all about him. Amer¬
ica and her advantages were swiftly imagined as
he stood there. And they were inevitably more
sharply defined than is the case with the young man
who is born on the soil and grows up in the land, hav¬
ing his country’s grandeur unfolded gradually before
him.

But the more unpleasant realities of life, as en¬
countered in the process of landing from an immi¬
grant vessel, intruded upon his romantic fancies.

It was a Saturday afternoon when the vessel
docked. The cabin passengers were put ashore at
once. But those in the steerage, Steinmetz and As-
mussen among them, were held on board until Mon¬
day. Saturday and Sunday were warm, pleasant
days; but on Sunday night the wind changed, blow¬
ing damp and cold through an open port upon Stein-
metz’s head as he slept.

This sudden veering of the breeze, his first experi¬
ence with the fickle North American climate, com¬
plicated his landing experience most uncomfortably,
for he awoke with a very bad cold, which caused one
side of his face to become swollen, and made him feel
miserable generally.

Yet he hopefully confronted the immigration of-

129

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ficers, accompanied by his loyal friend. Together
they landed at old Castle Garden, now the Aquarium,
forerunner of Ellis Island.

If Steinmetz had been alone that day, his dream
of coming to America might have ended abruptly
right there at Castle Garden. His forlorn appear¬
ance, swollen face, empty purse, and stumbling Eng¬
lish caused the immigration authorities to shake their
heads. His knowledge of English was so scant that
when the officials asked him if he knew the language
he could only reply, “A few.” After some minutes
of searching questions and puzzled answers the
official decision was reached and made known
to him. He could not land! He must go back to
Europe !

The tremendous disappointment that leaped into
his eyes when he understood this decree did not alter
the official attitude. With disconcerting briskness
they sent him to the detention pen.

But his traveling companion saved the situation.
Asmussen explained to the officers that Steinmetz
and he were together. He stoutly declared they
would stick together after landing and that he would
personally see that Steinmetz did not become desti¬
tute in a strange land. Asmussen spoke English
fluently. Moreover, he showed a fairly substantial
sum of money, which, he declared, belonged to them
both. He was willing to make himself responsible
for the welfare of his friend; and, upon his represen¬
tations, Charles P. Steinmetz was finally admitted to

130

STEINMETZ AN AMERICAN

America, which was to he for him the land of friends,
fame, and fortune.

Yet, as already revealed, Steinmetz himself had
not a penny in his pocket when he first set foot upon
American soil. His traveling companion was his
financier. He owed his friend money for paying his
way over from Europe; he owed him also for any
expenses that came up from day to day. He himself
was destitute.

Thus it was that the two young friends found
themselves in New York with both funds and pros¬
pects uncertain. Yet those few weeks were weeks
of happiness for them. Asmussen had relatives in
Brooklyn, and there they obtained lodgings until
they could hunt up work.

The Brooklyn people received Steinmetz with as
much hospitality as they did their own kinsman.
They made it pleasant for him while he boarded
there, and helped him to learn English better. And
soon he began hopefully to visit the places of which
he had been told, or to which he had letters of intro¬
duction, looking for a chance to work.

The first person whom he approached, seeking a
position, was the engineer of the Edison machine
works, to whom he bore a letter of introduction, writ¬
ten by Mr. Uppenborn. But there was no opening
here; the engineer made that quite plain.

“It seems to me,” he remarked, as he dismissed his
caller, “as if there was a regular epidemic of electri¬
cians coming to America.”

131

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

The next day Steinmetz went to Yonkers and
called upon Rudolf Eickemeyer, who conducted a
prominent manufacturing establishment near the
railroad station, having succeeded the original firm
of Eickemeyer & Osterheld. What happened when
he entered the office is told by Walter S. Emerson,
a nephew of Eickemeyer ’s, who was at that time an
office clerk, in addition to other duties.

“He had come directly from the railroad station,”
Mr. Emerson relates. “He wore plain, rather rough
clothes and a cap. I got the idea, from looking at
him, that he was some chap who had knocked his way
from place to place, looking for a job.

“I asked him whom he wanted to see. He replied:
‘Mr. Eickemeyer,’ speaking in a quick manner.

“I went up-stairs and found Mr. Eickemeyer.
‘Uncle,’ I said, ‘there ’s a man to see you down in the
office. * I don’t know his name ; he might be a f fellow
who has come off a freight-train. I ’ll follow you
down.’

“I went down behind Mr. Eickemeyer and stood in
the door as the two met. Then I heard the visitor’s
name. I’ heard him say: ‘I’m Mr. Steinmetz’;
and then they began to talk German and sat down
together at Mr. Eickemeyer’s desk.

“I stayed a little while, then left. A little later I
glanced into the office. They were still talking to¬
gether, Mr. Eickemeyer sitting at his desk and Stein¬
metz in a chair alongside. They talked for a couple
of hours.”

132

STEINMETZ AN AMERICAN

It seems that when Eickemeyer made his appear¬
ance, Steinmetz arose and said, mustering his best
English :

“Have I the honor to speak to Mr. R. Eicke¬
meyer?”

Eickemeyer, who was a good judge of men, looked
the young fellow over with a quick, keen eye, nodded
understanding^, and said, with a smile:

“Sprechen Sie Deutsch?”

And then all went well. Feeling more and more
at home, Steinmetz talked eagerly with Eickemeyer
in German. They enjoyed a stimulating conversa¬
tion, in the course of which all the latest news in elec¬
tricity and electrical matters, as well as the most
recent technical developments, were fully discussed.

Steinmetz himself pictures this notable meeting as
an opportunity for both to engage in an enjoyable
technical discussion about various electrical subjects.

“I inquired if I had the honor to be addressing Mr.
Eickemeyer, whereupon he said, ‘Sprechen Sie
Deutsch,’ uttering it as a command, or a request,
rather than a question. I then presented my letter
of introduction from Mr. Uppenhorn. After that
we talked for an hour or more, our chief subjects of
conversation being transformers, storage-batteries,
and apparatus having to do with magnetism. He
was much interested in the subject of transformers
and storage-batteries, inquiring from me the latest
developments in Europe concerning these machines.
He was doing but little real electrical work at that

133

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

time, his business consisting chiefly of the manufac¬
ture of hat machines.”

This interesting interview did not produce a posi¬
tion for Steinmetz, however. All that Eickemeyer
could do was to take the young man’s name and ad¬
dress, promising to inform him if an opening
occurred.

But Carl Steinmetz was not the sprt of fellow to
sit down and wait for opportunity to seek him out.
A week later he again presented himself at Eicke-
meyer’s plant, to see if there was a chance for him.
His persistence was rewarded. He was told to re¬
port for work the following Monday morning.

His job was to be that of a draftsman at two dol¬
lars a day, or twelve dollars a week. And that was
his start in America, secured principally by his per¬
sistent effort, within two weeks after he landed at
Castle Garden.

A profitable commentary on the turn of events
which made Steinmetz an employe of Rudolf Eicke¬
meyer is to be found in the “General Electric Re¬
view” for September, 1912. Writing under the title
of “Steinmetz and His Discovery of the Hysteresis
Law,” Douglas S. Martin says:

“Two weeks later [after landing at Castle Gar¬
den] , Steinmetz presented his letter of introduction to
Rudolf Eickemeyer at Yonkers. The element of
chance probably was at work here, as there were
other nebulous plans then in his head; but it may
also be in the belief that here would at least be work

134

STEINMETZ AN AMERICAN

and opportunity for a man with some knowledge of
electrical matters. Actually his knowledge was
somewhat limited, at least so far as practice was
concerned. He had never handled — hardly ever
seen — even a direct current motor; and, although he
had published in Switzerland an able paper on the
design of transformers, the sight of one of them ( ‘con¬
verters’ as they were then called) had never been
vouchsafed to him.”

Promptly upon finding employment, Steinmetz
took steps to establish himself in the western republic
in another respect. Unwavering in his decision that
America would be his home and his country thence¬
forth, he had speedily appeared before a naturaliza¬
tion court and had taken out his first papers. He
wanted to be made a citizen of the new land to which
he had come. This purpose was consummated in due
time, for five years later he returned to Yonkers and
received his second papers, which raised him to the
status of a fully naturalized citizen of the United
States.

Almost the moment that Steinmetz had steady
work, he dropped into an easy, Bohemian mode of
living, which yet catered in a peculiar way to his pe¬
culiar social needs. In a sense it was the forerunner
of a more pronounced period of queer masculine
housekeeping many years later in Schenectady, out
of which finally blossomed the home life that per¬
manently enriched his mature years.

135

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

This first adventure in rough-and-ready domestic¬
ity was shared by his chum, Asmussen (who had
found it desirable to stay in the East for a while),
just as his later bachelor establishment was to include
his adopted son, Joseph LeRoy Hayden.

Steinmetz was always chummy by instinct. He
hated a solitary life; and his disposition made it easy
for him to avoid such a state, for his intimate asso¬
ciates could scarcely ask a more thoughtful or cour¬
teous companion. That was what first attracted
Asmussen to him. And now, as chance decreed, both
of them were making a start in the same city, for As¬
mussen had found a place with the De La Vergne
Refrigerating Machine Company, also in Yonkers.

From Brooklyn to Yonkers is a long, monotonous
trip to make every morning, day after day. The
two young men had to rise at five o’clock, eat a lunch¬
room 'breakfast, take the Roosevelt Ferry to Mhnhat-
tan, rattle up to Forty-second Street on the elevated
railroad, and then get a train for Yonkers.

This was too inconvenient to last; and after a few
days they rented a room in Harlem, where they set
up housekeeping. At least, they called it housekeep¬
ing, although doubtless it would have shocked any
systematic housewife, especially those of strict New
England proclivities.

They divided the household duties as equitably as
might be. Steinmetz, who got up early and took a
train at 7 :15, was responsible for preparing breakfast
for them both. Asmussen, who was able to get home

136

Photograph by Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr., Medalist of The Royal Photographic Society
of Great Britain

Rudolf Eickemeyer of Yonkers, who gave Steinmetz his first job
in America

STEINMETZ AN AMERICAN

earlier in the evening than Steinmetz, acted as
purchasing-agent, laying in all the supplies and get¬
ting the supper.

It was a lark for them both. And they were both
alert to enjoy it. Sometimes they had the most
laughable, uproarious arguments. And sometimes
they provoked each other to tremendous, though
good-humored, protests over various high-handed
proceedings.

Thus, when Steinmetz found it desirable to take a
lunch with him, he nearly drained the coffee-
percolator each morning to provide for his own break¬
fast and to fill the coffee-bottle in his lunch-box.
Consequently, Asmussen, upon arising a little later,
found so little coffee left that it was necessary for
him to brew a fresh supply. Repeatedly the Stein¬
metz longing for the beverage put him to this incon¬
venience. But he evened up the score at night; for,
being the first to get home, he always drank up the
best of the tea before Steinmetz could arrive.

The dish-washing question was the issue on which
they most frequently split. As in many another
household, it was an eternal bane. Each tried to
shirk it. And each kept strict watch to prevent the

i _

other from shirking. The upshot was a succession of
comical altercations, ending as a rule in a truce, under
which, by mutual consent, the dishes went unwashed
until they were next needed.

After a while they conceived the excellent idea of
dispensing with plates by using squares of paper,

137

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

which could be thrown away after each meal. But
there were still the cups — and, worst of all, the
frying-pan !

They discovered, a little later, a larger and more
pleasant room, on 122nd Street, and moved in. This
room had a big stove, but they still continued to use
gas for their cooking. The stove served a more use¬
ful purpose for them: it became a common rubbish
receptacle and was almost always filled up with paper
wrappings that had contained meat, cheese, butter,
and other provisions.

The result was what might have been expected.
One evening, when the two young men were eating
supper, they suddenly discovered a mouse quietly
running about, picking up crumbs. Amused at the
temerity of the little animal, they threw it some bits
of food. They were surprised to see the mouse, after
nibbling away, suddenly run into the stove. Investi¬
gation disclosed that the stove was undoubtedly the
headquarters of a good-sized tribe.

It was not long before a number of mice ventured
boldly out into the room. By throwing crumbs to
them on many occasions, Steinmetz and his friend
finally got the mice so tame that they felt quite at
home in the presence of their human benefactors.

They felt so much at home, in fact, that they pro¬
ceeded to multiply exceedingly. Soon they were
overrunning the place. The men stopped feeding
them, and the mice began eating the food supplies
without asking permission. More than that, they

138

STEINMETZ AN AMERICAN

began dining on clothing, especially handkerchiefs.

This, of course, could not continue. Yet Stein-
metz was quite unable to bear the thought of killing
his tame mice. He protested against such a mon¬
strous suggestion. Asmussen was easily persuaded
that it would be quite a needless cruelty. There was
a far better method of dealing with the problem. It
was a perfectly simple plan, which young Steinmetz
advocated, Asmussen agreed to, and both promptly
carried out.

They just moved away, leaving their beloved mice
to whatever fate might befall, but, for the time be¬
ing at least, in complete possession of the premises.

Six weeks had now passed, and the young men had
advanced in their work. Both were receiving eight¬
een dollars a week. By living economically they
had saved a tidy sum, all of which was regarded as
the possession of Asmussen, because he had paid the
entire expense of their joint trip to America.

The savings which Asmussen thus acquired finally
enabled him to send for his fiancee in Switzerland
in calm defiance of his uncle in California. She
came to the United States shortly afterward, and
they were married in New York.

They rented an apartment in the Bronx, and
promptly invited Steinmetz to make his home with
them. Steinmetz, however, was getting more and
more interested in his work. He wanted to travel to
and from the Eickemeyer plant more readily. So

139

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

he decided to locate near the factory, and found a
place in Yonkers that suited him.

This was in the home of Edward Mueller, who was
the factory draftsman at Eickemeyer’s when Stein-
metz first started working for Eickemeyer.

Of his life in the Mueller home there is a lively
reference in a letter Avhich Mr. Mueller wrote to him
on December 30, 1911, thanking him for Christmas
remembrances which Dr. Steinmetz had sent to the
Mueller family. It is evident from passages in this
letter that Steinmetz was very much of a fun-loving
young fellow, and that he enjoyed some merry times
with his Yonkers friends.

“We are deeply touched,” wrote Mr. Mueller, “by
the way your memory keeps fresh all the details of
those good old times. Indeed do we remember those
happy, interesting days, wrhen you won your bet that
you would eat all the noodles, when you gave a lec¬
ture on electricity to the German Socialist section;
the time of grand Eickemeyer and old Getty, and
Dick Tischendorfer ; when you read your first paper
on hysteresis in your rubber shoes and with your
trousers turned up; the big sleigh that was built in
the den, as well as the geometric soap bubbles; when
you used to pull mother’s apron-strings, or tie her in
her chair with same, when you chased the girls around
the table with a broom, etc., etc., etc.”

The weeks and months that now followed consti¬
tuted the first period of Americanization for Stein¬
metz. He began to be an American in spirit. He

140

STEINMETZ AN AMERICAN

observed the American customs and habits that
passed before his eyes in teeming succession from
day to day. He saw American scenes and meditated
upon them, met American men and women and stud¬
ied them. Week by week his English began to im¬
prove. He gave as much spare time as he could to
becoming familiar with the language, and sometimes
he received assistance from the friends he was mak¬
ing. Before long he was able to converse with in¬
creasing ease in what had been only a few months
before an entirely unfamiliar tongue.

From the moment that he became established in
America, Steinmetz allied himself with the technical
agencies of his profession. Within a few months he
made application for membership in the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers, and was admitted
toward the end of 1889. He also joined the New
York Mathematical Society, now the American
Mathematical Society, taking an active part in this or¬
ganization for a number of years and reading several
original papers.

But now he was finding engineering making more
demands upon him than mathematics. Slowly he be¬
gan to give more attention to the former and less to
the latter — not because he wanted to, for Steinmetz
was always a mathematician by choice and enjoy¬
ment, but because engineering problems and develop¬
ments came to constitute more entirely his daily work.

“Gradually,” he says of this period, “I drifted
out of pure mathematics, to my very great re-

141

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

gret; but engineering now occupied all my time.”

His first public appearance in America was at a
meeting of the American Institute of Electrical En¬
gineers in 1890. It was during a discussion that fol¬
lowed a paper on “The Armature Reaction of Al¬
ternators,” read by Thorburn Reid. Steinmetz criti¬
cized the theory which Mr. Reid advanced in this
paper as incomplete because the third harmonics had
not been considered. The author of the paper chal¬
lenged the criticism by stating that a consideration of
the third harmonics would make the theory too
complicated.

Nothing more was said upon the subject at that
meeting, but Steinmetz quietly proceeded to work
out the theory, including the third harmonics.
Months afterward, to the surprise of Mr. Reid and
the other engineers present, he unfolded this theory
in the first paper which he ever read before the
American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

Eventually Mr. Reid and Steinmetz became the
best of friends. Mr. Reid was at one time an as¬
sociate of Dr. Steinmetz in the General Electric
Company and assisted him in publishing the first edi¬
tion of one of his most successful technical books,
“Alternating Current Phenomena.”

There were other incidents during this period
similar to the one just mentioned, all of which began
to direct more than passing attention to the young
German scientist who was on Eickemeyer’s staff at
Yonkers. That he was a master mathematician,

142

STEINMETZ AN AMERICAN

although only twenty-four years of age, was evident.
Men began to show a readiness to listen when he
spoke, in the belief that he would have something to
contribute to their engineering and mathematical
knowledge.

His reputation in America was taking form. The
stage was almost set for his first startling revelation of
his mathematical ability.

At the same time, it is apparent that circumstances
largely steered him into the field of electricity and
electrical problems. He did not — indeed, could not
— deliberately and consciously give up mathematics
for electricity, or for anything else. On this point
Martin writes with keen appreciation of the
situation :

“It has become increasingly apparent that the
science of applied electricity would have been a
heavy loser had that slight inclination toward matters
electrical been omitted from Steinmetz’s composi¬
tion. For he is as much mathematician as engineer,
and as much physicist as mathematician; and he
might so easily have decided to leave electricity alone.
It is only by reflecting upon what he has since
achieved and the regard in which he is held by elec¬
trical men, whether they know him or not, that we
can be sufficiently thankful for the chance which
landed him, twenty-four years old, on these shores
on the first of June, 1889; and the chance (it was
little more) which led him into Eickemeyer’s factory
two weeks later.”

143

CHAPTER X

ELECTRICAL EVENTS AT YONKERS
HE world of electrical men ‘and electrical

affairs was not concerning itself exclusively

-“k by any means with the river city of Yonkers
in 1889 and 1890. In fact, its attention just then
was much more closely concentrated upon Menlo
Park, New Jersey, where Edison was doing astonish¬
ing things. Folk had not ceased marveling over the
incandescent electric lamp, which was just coming
into its own.

Yet in Yonkers, during that period, a young
fellow who seemed but a youth compared to the great
inventor — in truth Steinmetz was not quite twenty
years younger than Thomas A. Edison — was quietly
working and studying and, most significant of all,
was thinking. And his thinking was deeply con¬
cerned with his work.

For a while this young chap was engrossed in his
daily duties as draftsman. He was learning the
ropes in the establishment where he worked. But
that did not last long. Steinmetz, of all men, was
able to master rapidly the details of a given task.
Consequently, when his work began to arouse his
initiative and to lead him on to become an original

144

ELECTRICITY AT YONKERS

thinker, as it speedily did, he threw into it all the
enthusiasm of a genius.

An excellent character glimpse of the man a few
weeks after he started work with Eickemeyer is
afforded by Walter S. Emerson, who, as a fellow-
employee, sometimes saw Steinmetz about the plant.

“He picked things up mighty quickly,” recalls
Mr. Emerson. “I don’t remember anybody I ever
saw at my uncle’s factory who picked up the ropes
quicker than Mr. Steinmetz. He was a pleasant,
genial man, whom everybody got to like. He moved
about so quickly and alertly that it was a matter of
general comment. He would come downstairs two
steps at a time. He was up and down like lightning.
If we heard a clatter of feet on the stairs we ’d
remark to one another : ‘There ’s Steinmetz, coming
down on his neck.’

“Not long after he came, he and my uncle became
engrossed in field-coil work. I overheard them talk¬
ing together one day, and caught a quick, eager
remark from Steinmetz: ‘We’ve got to excite the
fields! We’ve got to excite the fields!’ I did not
understand what it meant, but I could not forget
the tremendously absorbed, quick way in which he
spoke.

“He was frequently doing small jobs for persons
around the plant. When we were cleaning up in the
offices some time later I came upon a gold watch laid
away on a top shelf in his laboratory, and restored it
to him. He was glad to get it and told me he had

145

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

taken it to get the magnetism out of it for some one
he knew and had then forgotten to return it.

“Naturally I have changed my opinion of Mr.
Steinmetz from the impression I got of him the first
day I saw him, when he looked to me like a young
fellow who had been traveling ‘blind bagagge.’ I
soon became aware that Steinmetz was no tramp. I
have never stopped contrasting his final position and
fame with that period of his first work in my uncle’s
establishment, when I knew him as one of us, an
every-day worker like all the rest, so far as we could
see. It is amazing to me to think that a man could
have a brain that would carry him ahead so rapidly
and so far.”

The story of the magnetized watch bears upon a
procedure which was doubtless duplicated upon
many occasions. The immediate vicinity of a piece
of electrical apparatus in those early days of modern
electrical science was quite likely to be charged with
magnetic currents.

All dynamos and motors of the period were crude
by comparison with the Eickemeyer types, which were
of an absolutely new design and confined all of the
lines of magnetic force within the frame of the ap¬
paratus so that the surrounding air was free of mag¬
netic leakage. It was therefore possible to bring a
watch within the magnetic field of these machines
without affecting the steel works and thus rendering
it useless as a timepiece.

Magnetism could be drawn out of a watch by a

146

ELECTRICITY AT YONKERS

simple process, discovered by Steinmetz, restoring it
to its time-keeping function; and the watch referred
to had evidently been left with him for treatment, by
some friend outside of the establishment, who had
ventured too near an old-type machine of other
makers.

It has been said that Steinmetz drifted into Eicke-
meyer’s factory by little else than a happy chance.
But it was more than mere chance; it was something
very much akin, in certain aspects, to a strange lead¬
ing of fate.

This does not seem in the least an exaggerated view
when it is understood how completely Eickemeyer’s
influence brought out the best that Steinmetz had to
offer ; started him, in effect, upon that line of research
which enabled the young mathematician to put his re¬
markable ability to useful service.

At this potentially momentous interval in his life,
Steinmetz was all aflame with scientific enthusiasm,
young and buoyant, intensely interested in life and in
the great world which is the stage of all human en¬
terprise and achievement. But he was in the rough.
He had not yet found himself. He did not even
know, with full assurance, what he wanted to do in
life, what career would suit him the best.

He very much needed a congenial, understanding,
encouraging mind to open up for him all the possi¬
bilities that were crowding close at hand in electrical
science. And that was precisely what Eickemeyer

147

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

provided. Speculation is idle as to what might have
been; yet it is quite pertinent to raise the question as
to whether Steinmetz, amid less stimulating condi¬
tions, would have been led to make the investigations
he did make, or to become so swiftly and so surely
a giant in electrical engineering.

Steinmetz himself, years later, spoke his solemn
conviction upon this point. It was during a quiet
early autumn evening at his beloved camp on the
Mohawk in Schenectady, when he had lapsed into a
mood of gentle reminiscence. There was with him at
the time Mr. Eickemeyer’s son, Rudolf Eickemeyer,
Jr., who was making his first visit at the camp. The
two had drifted into talk about the old days in Yonk¬
ers, when the biggest problems of electrical science
had not yet been entirely unmasked. Finally Mr.
Eickemeyer said :

“Why is it that you think so much of my father?
What has so exalted his memory in your mind?”

“I ’ll tell you, Rudolf,” answered Steinmetz, “why
your father’s name is dear to me. I came to him
with a vast amount of knowledge which I had ac¬
cumulated through the years. It did not enable me
to more than make a bare living. Your father took
me in hand, made me a part of his intimate business
relationship in the line of his inventions, and showed
me as long as I was with him how I could apply my
knowledge and make myself useful to myself and to
the world.”

148

ELECTRICITY AT YONKERS

Rudolf Eickemeyer, Sr., of whom Steinmetz thus
spoke so feelingly, and to whom he later dedicated
his first scientific text-book, was unmistakably a man
of remarkable scientific ability, as well as a leading
inventor. He had revolutionized the hat industry,
through his improvements in hat-making machinery,
and later brought out many epochal inventions of
an electrical nature, including the first alternating
current motor, the use of carbon for brushes, a
method of sectional windings for armatures which
greatly improved this process, a new iron-clad dy¬
namo and motor, and his ingenious magnetic bridge.
His total inventions numbered more than one hun¬
dred and fifty.

Eickemeyer’s early career was similar, in one or
two episodes, to that of Steinmetz. He, too, had
been involved in agitation against the German Gov¬
ernment. And he, too, had left Germany a refugee.
He was a revolutionist in the revolution of 1848, as
an outcome of which thousands of fine young Ger¬
mans migrated to America. It was the first stir¬
rings of a new spirit in Germany, which was to strug¬
gle for years against unsympathetic governmental
forces in the trend toward modernism.

At the time of the revolution Eickemeyer was a
student in South Germany.' The students were a
prominent factor in the uprising, joining the move¬
ment in large numbers. It required the presence of
Prussian troops, with uncompromising orders to

149

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

“shoot to kill,” to quench the flame of the revolu¬
tionary activity and lead the students to return to
the universities.

The universities, however, received them but coldly.
None were actually expelled, but life was made so
unpleasant for them that many took refuge in an
enforced immigration.

Eickemeyer was one of these. Hfe and his chum,
George Osterheld, scraped together all the money
they could and came to America. They got work
as laborers on the New York Central Railroad, then
in course of construction, at Lodi, near Buffalo.
Later Eickemeyer’s mechanical ability got him a
place in a large shop in Buffalo, where he one day
led a strike. The strike was successful; nevertheless,
Eickemeyer found it advisable to get work elsewhere
after the trouble was over. This was what caused
him eventually to make his way to Yonkers, there to
establish a small machine shop.

As Yonkers was then the center of the hat-making
industry, Eickemeyer quickly found plenty to do re¬
pairing hat machinery. He became interested in the
hat machines themselves, made improvements in
them, and took out patents. Then he began manu¬
facturing his improved machines.

A few years later, electrical developments began
to attract Eickemeyer’s attention. Seeking diver¬
sion by a different type of endeavor, he went into
the electrical field in a tentative, half -inquiring fash¬
ion. He conducted a number of experiments, which

150

ELECTRICITY AT YONKERS

assumed such serious import that he followed them
with many successful inventions.

Martin has the following to say about Eickemeyer,
in his writings in the “General Electric Review”:

“Apart from the extent to which the electrical in¬
dustry as a whole is indebted to him [Eickemeyer]
for pioneer work in the design of alternating current
machines, Steinmetz himself owed much to the in¬
spiration which he drew from close contact with the
older man in his researches on magnetic materials.

“Well as Eickemeyer’s name is known amongst
electrical engineers, his work in this field was in
reality no more than incidental to the main work of
his life. Hat-making may sound like an unromantic
calling; but in the middle of last century, when the
crude and wasteful methods of hand production
represented a condition which was crying for a man
who could produce automatic apparatus, the hat busi¬
ness as a vocation was full of attraction for a man
with imagination and the ability to invent. Eicke¬
meyer possessed both ; and they enabled him to
revolutionize the then prevailing practices in the hat¬
making industry, both in America and abroad.”

A further insight into the dynamic career of the
one man who did more than any one else to develop
Steinmetz is found in the “Electrical Engineer” for
December 17, 1890:

“He had always followed in a general way the
various advances in the sciences, taking great inter¬
est in electricity; and when the Bell telephone was

151

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

brought out, having more time and means at his dis¬
posal than he had previously enjoyed, he took up
electricity as a study for his leisure, rather than with
a view to applying it in a practical way. Experi¬
menting with various forms of telephones, he be¬
came familiar with the peculiarities of different
forms of electromagnets; and from their use in
telephones to the construction of dynamos was but a
step.

“The celebrated ironclad dynamos and motors
known as the ‘Eickemeyer’ were the first attempt on
his part to put to practical use the results of electri¬
cal studies and investigations extending over a space
of nearly ten years. . . . The Eickemeyer motors
have also been applied to electrical railway work,
and found highly efficient.

“The question of the best material to be used in
the construction of dynamos caused Mr. Eickemeyer
to set to work to get some instrument that would en¬
able him to determine readily the relative values,
magnetically, of various qualities of iron and steel;
and the result was a magnetic bridge, by means of
which the magnetic value of the material could be
told as readily as a loaf of bread is weighed on the
scales of a bakery. The instrument has proved a
complete magnetic laboratory in itself, and by its use
Mr. Eickemeyer has been able to determine many
questions in the construction of electric devices which,
without it, would have been difficult and expensive
experiments.”

152

ELECTRICITY AT YONKERS

Steinmetz gave Eickemeyer unreserved credit for
these same achievements, which he came to appre¬
ciate the longer he was associated with this valuable
friend.

“The original partner of Mr. Eickemeyer was
George Osterheld,” Steinmetz told his adopted son,
J . LeRoy Hayden, a few months before his death.
“Upon his death, a younger brother, Henry Oster¬
held, was made a member.

“Mr. Eickemeyer took a great interest in all my
investigations. In fact, our relations quickly be¬
came very cordial. It was an establishment with a
little over one hundred employees, and Mr. Eicke¬
meyer was pretty much the whole supervisory force.
He soon found out I could calculate and thereupon
asked me to do that sort of work. So I went into
work on magnetism, and he allowed me to operate
his magnetic apparatus, including his magnetic
bridge.

“Studies in magnetism had been quite extensively
made by Mr. Eickemeyer before I went into his or¬
ganization. I carried them on further, working at
this all through 1891 and 1892, under Mr. Eicke¬
meyer ’s direction. While I was in Switzerland, I
had studied transformers, which were new in 1888.
I wrote a paper on the theory of alternating current
transformers, which was published in German; but I
did not actually see a transformer until I got to Yon¬
kers. I then wrote another paper, further studying
this subject.”

153

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

When Steinmetz went to work for him, Eicke-
meyer was one of the leading citizens of Yonkers.
His home was noted for its delightful open-hearted
hospitality. A large, square, handsome house, built
of brick, it was set high on a commanding bluff on
Linden Street and was known as Seven Oaks. A
grove of century-old trees, which fairly surrounded
it, was the origin of the name. There were many
servants, and large, commodious rooms, for Eicke-
meyer was a man of prosperity. His family con¬
sisted of his wife, three boys, and three girls.

As he had begun his electrical experiments only a
short time previously, Eickemeyer was then manu¬
facturing a comparatively small number of motors
and generators (or dynamos, as they were then
called), and these were of a very early type. They
were all designed for direct current operation and
were to be used for all purposes, including electric
cars. This latter was an application of electricity
in which there was just then much experimental ac¬
tivity but as yet no practical usefulness, as the ex¬
periments had not met with success up to that time.

One of the pioneers in this undertaking, however,
Stephen D. Field, a nephew of Cyrus W. Field, had
come into Eickemeyer’s establishment shortly before
the appearance of Steinmetz. Field was continually
endeavoring to develop an electric railway car; in
fact, he had already devised a crude type of electric
locomotive, which was originally built for the New
York Elevated Railroad Company, although it

154

ELECTRICITY AT YONKERS

failed to come up to expectations in actual test.

Field had been associated with Eickemeyer since
1884, having in that year brought his design for an
electric car motor to Eickemeyer, who was engaged
in building the machine. The motor was covered in
a number of patents, which were held by Field; and
in seeking to have it constructed for actual testing
he made the Eickemeyer factory his manufacturing
agent. Eickemeyer and Field eventually organized
a separate company for exploiting their combined
street-car motors, but they never reached the manu¬
facturing stage, on account of the sale of the Eicke¬
meyer plant to the General Electric Company.
Some of Field’s first motors were the motive power
on New York’s first cross-town electric cars, until
supplanted by more improved types.

Monday, June 10, 1889, is the date on which Carl
Steinmetz entered the employ of Rudolf Eickemeyer.
This is clearly established by Steinmetz ’s time-book,
neatly and faithfully kept in his own handwriting.
On the cover it bears the words “Time Book,” also
in Steinmetz’s painstaking hand, with its quaint Ger¬
man script, and above appears the label, affixed with
a rubber stamp: “Charles Steinmetz, Electr. En-
gineer.

It can be seen from this that Steinmetz had begun
to Americanize his name, but had not yet inserted
the initial “P.” in place of his two middle names.
The entire four years which Steinmetz spent as an

155

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

employee of Eickmeyer’s are accurately recorded in
this time-book. The particular piece of work on
which the young draftsman was engaged each day
is put down, and every holiday is noted. There are
also two or three periods, of several days’ duration
each, where the notation opposite the dates reads
“Sick with la grippe.” The record, in one way or
another, accounts for every working* day of the en¬
tire period.

It also discloses that the greatest mathematical and
electrical genius of his age began work with a ten-
hour day. Every one has heard of Steinmetz’s fam¬
ous prediction, uttered during the last year or two
of his life, that within the next century the indus¬
trial world would operate on a four-hour work-day,
which, he believed, is as long a period of continuous
labor as men ought to undergo. He himself knew
what it meant, in his own life, to put in more than
twice that length of time as a working-man; but he
also knew how little mere hours count when men’s
work fascinates them to such a degree that it ceases
to be work at all, in the sense of toil. Whatever his
views in those first years in America, he was as re¬
liable as the sun itself in his own work, for his time-
book indicates that he had a full ten hours to his
credit every day of his Yonkers employment, ex¬
cept when he was absent because of sickness.

His first drafting job, on that tenth day of June,
1889, was to make an assembly drawing of Eicke-
meyer’s detailed drawings of the motor for electric

156

ELECTRICITY AT YONKERS

cars. This work he noted in his time-book as “street
car motor No. 3.”

He was busy with this until June 22, on which date
he began to make drawings for “switch of overhead
conductor”; and this continued until July 6, when his
work changed to drawings for “electric trolley.” All
of these drawings were related to the proposed elec¬
tric street-car.

From July 11 to July 13, he worked on an electric
water-pump, and from July 13 to 22 he was busy
with fourteen-inch and twelve-inch dynamos; then,
until July 22, with a drawing for an alternating cur¬
rent motor, all these being Eickemeyer’s devices.

And this last is significant in itself, since it fore¬
shadows the work which precipitated that notable
line of investigation resulting in his discovery of the
law of magnetic losses in alternating current motors,
the thing that first made Steinmetz famous among
electrical engineers.

Affixed to the last page of entries in the time-book
is a receipt for fifty dollars for “wages in full to
date,” signed by “Charles P. Steinmetz,” and dated
February 15, 1893. The “P.” here appears in his
name, and thus it is clear that he adopted his unique
middle name of “Proteus” some time between 1889
and 1893.

The way in which this came about, as Dr. Stein¬
metz himself used to relate it, was that, having be¬
come an American, and feeling proud of the fact, he
wanted to have a truly American name. Hence he

157

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

called himself at first plain Charles Steinmetz. But
after a while he observed that the names of most
Americans consisted of a first name and a middle ini¬
tial. So, to be like other Americans, he resolved that
he must have a middle initial, also. He did not
immediately decide what the initial should be and
was still pondering the matter when an old friend of
his university days in Germany dropped in one day
to renew acquaintance. He greeted Steinmetz with
a boisterous “How are you, Proteus?” and a warm
grasp of the hand. The sound of the old term awoke
pleasant memories in Steinmetz’s mind, stirring his
ever-susceptible social trait. He resolved in that
moment to perpetuate the old university nickname
by incorporating it into his new Americanized name ;
and from that time forth he became Charles Proteus
Steinmetz, commonly signing himself Charles P.
Steinmetz. And this, it must be admitted, ha'd as
truly an American aspect as could possibly be de¬
sired.

From the outset, Steinmetz found plenty of room
for the exercise of his initiative in assisting in the
making of finished drawings of the electric car motors
which had been sketched by Eickemeyer and Field.
The same can be said of his work on the detailed
drawings of Eickemever’s original line of motors and
dynamos which were forthcoming at a slightly later
period.

The investigations of these two men, each a genius

158

ELECTRICITY AT YONKERS

in his own way, soon dropped into a permanent re¬
lationship. Eickemeyer at that time was display¬
ing truly remarkable inventive ability; and Stein-
metz assisted in perfecting the working drawings of
these various inventions. In doing so, it seems quite
likely that he observed possibilities for going a step
further, a change in this detail or that, which made
the device more efficient. And he would work these
out in consultation with Eickemeyer as he proceeded
with the drawings.

Nothing is on record to show that Steinmetz im¬
proved any of Eickemeyer’s inventions in this way,
but it is quite possible that he suggested modifica¬
tions which, being satisfactory to Eickemeyer, were
incorporated into the finished design wdth his full ap¬
proval.

Eventually three electric street-cars were equipped
with the motors designed by Eickemeyer and Field,
their construction having been carried out from the
drawings of Steinmetz and the other draftsman.
These three cars were first operated, in trial runs,
on the Steinway Road, in Brooklyn.

Almost without exception, the trials were made on
Sundays. Every Sunday morning, a party of hope¬
ful men eagerly set out from Eickemeyer’s factory,
Steinmetz among them, to -see the new electric cars
start on their experimental trips.

Passengers were not lacking, for it was a new thrill,
with all the elements of a novel adventure. The
public, however, treated the electric cars pretty much

159

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

as a joke. People rode in them because it was a
unique “stunt” to enjoy the sensation of traveling
over the ground without being drawn by horses.
Nevertheless, for the practical business of getting
anywhere at any specified time, they still relied on
the faithful horse-cars or their own two legs.

It must be confessed that this was hardly more
than natural, since scarcely a week passed that one
or more of the electric cars did not break down.
Usually the car that started in the morning had to
be ignominiously towed back to the factory, more or
less completely crippled. Another would then be
sent out to take its place. Sometimes that one, too,
went wrong. Then the third and last would be
called upon, and that occasionally ran until after¬
noon. The week that followed was spent in repair¬
ing the cars for a repetition of the trials on the suc¬
ceeding Sunday.

The Eickemeyer-Field cars presented one espe¬
cially vexatious problem. The trolley-wheel at the
end of the pole, forming the contact-point by which
the electric current traveled from the feed- wire to the
motor of the car, could not be kept in place on the
wire. As the first cars constructed were provided
with two trolleys, the wheels of which ran on top of
the wire, instead of beneath it, continual watchfulness
was necessary to keep them where they belonged.

Field once conceived the plan of making a magnet
out of the trolley-wheel. His idea was that by mag¬
netizing the wheel it would always attract the wire

160

ELECTRICITY AT YONKERS

to it, so that the two would be continually glued to¬
gether, so to speak, yet without preventing the wheel
from traveling over the wire as the car proceeded.

The plan seemed so logical that it was decided to
give it a trial. But the actual test proved disastrous.
The moment the car started, the heavy wheel pulled
off, and down came the whole trolley-pole, almost
crashing through the roof of the car. That wound
up the experiment with magnetized trolley-wheels
in a pretty conclusive manner.

This was the period in which Eickemeyer brought
out an electric motor especially designed to operate
elevators, at the request of Norton P. Otis, an old
friend, of Otis Brothers & Company. It was a shunt-
wound motor, one of the first of its type to be de¬
veloped. Eickemeyer then invented all of the re¬
quired devices for its control by the operator in the
elevator-car.

The outcome of this was the organization of the
Otis Electric Company, a branch of Otis Brothers
& Company, which built the first successful com¬
mercial elevator. It soon developed into a flourishing
business which expanded into the big industry that
it is to-day. When the Eickemeyer plant was bought
up by the General Electric Company, the business
of manufacturing the elevator-motors was not in¬
cluded in the sale but was taken over bodily by the
newly formed Otis Elevator Company.

All these experiments were intensely interesting to
the inquiring and observing young draftsman, who

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

was working out most of the designs for the experi¬
menters. Nothing was lost upon Steinmetz, but on
the contrary he quietly absorbed the succession of
ideas which these events brought before him. He
realized more or less clearly that he was watching
the never-tiring, never-defeated genius of human in¬
vention, which was bound to win in the long run and
would stick to it until the victory was realized.

But Steinmetz, for the most part, kept himself in
the background, for these men were older and more
experienced than he was. They were the inventors
and master minds of the moment; he was, just then,
an unknown worker at desk and drawing-board, busy
with his T-square, compass and rule, although he
could discard his mathematical tools much more
safely than could most designing draftsmen, on ac¬
count of his natural aptitude for mental calculations.

Then one day, as will appear in the pages im¬
mediately following, his daily work, in relation to
these electric motors for trolley-cars, caused him to do
some important research work of his own, out of
which proceeded his first astonishing discoveries and
mathematical formulas, establishing new and most
valuable practices in the whole broad field of electric
motor design.

162

CHAPTER XI

STEINMETZ MAKES HIS FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

EMPLOYER and employee, in the case of
Eickemeyer and Steinmetz, gradually came
to have relations that were exceedingly
warm. Eickemeyer, as the presiding genius of the
whole factory organization, kept a keen oversight
of all the work done in the plant. Every day he
went on tours through the factory, observing what
was in progress in each department.

The workers, both high and low, looked up to him
as a remarkable man and one who, like themselves,
had mastered the machinist’s trade. He was tall,
straight as an arrow, with the head of a patriarch,
and they felt a certain degree of awe in view of his
brilliant inventive faculty. But in all daily working
relations, the entire place was like a big family.
Eickemeyer was a true exponent of thoroughness,
exacting, with an inborn dignity, but by no means
severe, and he always recognized, encouraged, and
enjoyed the slightest trace of originality in his
workers.

It was inevitable, under these conditions, that
Steinmetz should attract his attention. This first
happened about two weeks after Steinmetz began

163

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

his duties, when the two met in a mutually agreeable
consultation. It came about somewhat peculiarly,
during one of Eickemeyer’s daily tours through the
plant. Eickemeyer entered the drafting-room
abruptly, to inquire: “Does any one know what will
take an aniline stain off my fingers?”

“Yes,” promptly answered Steinmetz, “sulphuric
acid will do it.” *

And then he explained how to use the sulphuric
acid to obtain satisfactory results. Eickemeyer
stayed several minutes, talking with Steinmetz about
his work, and observing his enthusiasm. He found
Steinmetz so alert and so appreciative of research
work that from that time forth the drafting-room be¬
came one of his favorite stopping-places. Some
months later, as will be seen, this eager interest of
Steinmetz in the work he was doing led to his selec¬
tion as- the logical man to establish an experimental
laboratory on a small scale.

Socially the two were equally congenial. The bril¬
liant, hard-working young draftsman was able to
make himself at home almost anywhere; and before
long the “big boss” invited him to make a Sunday
afternoon call at the Eickemeyer home, Seven Oaks.
The family was cordial to the young stranger, who
fitted into the home circle most congenially.

Soon it was the practice for Steinmetz to call
every Sunday, spending most of the time between
three and ten o’clock there. Other visitors also
came, for Eickemeyer liked to keep a semblance of

164

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

open house Sunday afternoons and evenings. A
mingled scientific and social atmosphere had de¬
veloped through the years, which appealed very
strongly to Steinmetz’s ever-gregarious leanings.

The time was spent, as Steinmetz described it, “in
discussing what had been done during the preceding
week with the various lines of investigation and ex¬
periments in which we were both interested. We
would talk about these matters all the afternoon.
Then we would have supper, and after supper we
would meet friends of Mr. Eickemeyer’s and have
social visits together.”

Martin refers to these Sunday afternoon visits in
discussing the fraternal intimacy that grew up be¬
tween Eickemeyer and Steinmetz, an association
much closer than existed between Eickemeyer and
any other man in the establishment. If Eickemeyer
had been out of the office for a period, because of
ill health, he would go through the whole plant upon
his return, to see how things were going.

“Finally,” writes Martin, describing such a trip
of inspection, “came the testing laboratory and the
man in charge [Steinmetz]. The relations here
were quite different. Eickemeyer would sit down
and talk with Steinmetz by the hour. When we
remember that, whatever their actual experience in
the field of applied electricity, here were two of the
most capable minds which that science has yet known,
it may be judged that these were illuminating con¬
versations; and the present-day engineer would be

165

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

prepared to give much for a record of them, if such
had been preserved.

“These laboratory consultations were conducted
probably with no more formality than was observed
when the men met outside the factory. Steinmetz
and Eickemeyer were a great deal together, and both
had this matter of the magnetic qualities of iron
greatly at heart. The subject, it may readily be im¬
agined, was therefore constantly under discussion;
and the speculation occasioned by some result which
may have been found during the week’s testing was
allowed full scope in the meeting on the following
Sunday afternoon, which Steinmetz soon fell into
the way of habitually spending at the big Eickemeyer
house on the hill. He was living meanwhile with
Edward Mueller, his predecessor in the drafting-
room, and at this time the senior draftsman to the
factory.”

Those Sunday evening gatherings at Seven Oaks
were rich in conversational repartee, vivacious with
social good feeling and constantly tinged with mo¬
ments of historical interest. Apparently the com¬
pany frequently numbered a dozen or more; and
when the supper-hour arrived, the big table in the
dining-room was made still bigger, until it stretched
almost from one wall to the other, leaving scarcely
room enough for the servants to squeeze through as
they passed to and fro in waiting upon the guests.

At the head of the table was Eickemeyer, a com¬
manding figure with alert countenance, keen, quick,

166

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

discerning eyes, and full flowing beard, looking the
part he played in the life of the city as the patriarch
of Yonkers. The visitors were people from various
professional and occupational classes, men with tech¬
nical leanings appearing somewhat in the majority.

A personage frequently seen at the table was Rob¬
ert Parkhill Getty, one of the real pioneers of the
town, whose boyhood had been lived in New York
when the present metropolis was little more than an
overgrown village. He had been part and parcel of
Yonkers since his young manhood; consequently
his personality was strongly stamped upon the
community.

In 1857 he had been a village trustee, and he was
intermittently president of the board until 1869.
With the attainment of a city charter, he became
water commissioner, and in 1881 he entered upon
nine years’ service as city treasurer.

Mr. Getty was one of the men whom Steinmetz
thoroughly enjoyed, for the old pioneer had a de¬
lightful fund of anecdotes, which went back to the
provincial days of New York. How quaintly rustic
it must have seemed to hear him relate the scenes he
witnessed around his boyhood home, which faced a
little square in down-town New York, where village
customs still clung with winsome tenacity, and where
there was a village pump to which he often saw Mrs.
Commodore Vanderbilt come down with her pail to
draw water with her own hands like the good house¬
wife that she was.

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Those were the days, too, when the entire area
north of the old New York City Hall was nothing
but a series of grazing fields for cows, with a few
settlements scattered here and there; and when the
City Hall itself was “two-faced” — finished hand¬
somely in front, but plain, unadorned brick at the
back, on the theory that nobody would have occasion
to go beyond that point, as the city all lay in the
other direction. If a person wanted to go up to
what was later 125th Street, Mr. Getty recalled, it
was necessary to hire a horse and carriage and start
the day before!

The heartening circle around the long Eickemeyer
table sat in charmed silence as a rule, Steinmetz with
the rest, when Mr. Getty loosed the flood of his rec¬
ollections.

And there was Steinmetz himself, perfectly at
home amid the interchange of wit and wisdom.' An
eager listener, a quick, enthusiastic talker, convers¬
ing not alone on technical matters but on many other
subjects that chanced to receive a hearing, he was a
noticeable companion on these pleasant occasions.

Steinmetz was alike admired and respected by
those who met him at Eickemeyer’s Sunday night as¬
semblies and who came to realize the character of the
man. The glances that turned in the direction of
this odd little person who was barely visible above
the table-top, were entirely friendly, never disparag¬
ing, although his actions were peculiar to himself.
He had a way of sitting poised on his chair so that

168

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

he could feel capable of passing a dish or taking
whatever was handed to him.

He would generally adopt a method wholly orig¬
inal in securing a biscuit or a slice of bread without
the trouble of having them passed to him. With feet
resting on the rungs of his chair, he would balance
himself skilfully and, when properly poised, would
suddenly lunge forward, fork uplifted like a harpoon,
to spear a biscuit, pause a moment to maintain his
balance, and then drop suddenly backward into his
seat. In all this manoeuvering, let it be said, he was
wholly unconscious of any unconventional effect; it
was merely his own naive manner of meeting the im¬
mediate situation without causing inconvenience to
others.

On one of these evenings, a young member of the
circle, from motives best known to himself, suddenly
said, “Please, Mr. Eickemeyer, what is the difference
between the yolk and the white of an egg?”

“Ask Steinmetz to tell you,” exclaimed Eicke¬
meyer, with a smile, as if he knew what was forth¬
coming.

Whereupon, to the surprise and delight of the
questioner, Steinmetz entered upon a dissertation as
to the chemical and other qualities of an egg. He
was so conversant with the subject that he spoke as
if the inquiry had unlocked a perfect reservoir of
stored-up knowledge; and he held the earnest atten¬
tion of the entire group for fifteen or twenty minutes.

“It seemed,” said the younger Eickemeyer, many

169

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

years later, “as if words of explanation from Stein-
metz were, like a great teacher, ever on the tip of his
tongue, only awaiting the formal question to burst
forth so readily as to be like water from a fountain.
For his was a never-ending fountain of knowledge;
and, to one intellectually hungry, sitting at table with
Steinmetz was to be the guest at a banquet.”

In truth, Steinmetz usually commknded close at¬
tention whenever he had anything to say ; and he and
Eickemeyer were absorbed for hours in technical dis¬
cussions during the long Sunday afternoons, to the
wonderment of all who chanced to hear them. They
nearly always talked on electrical subjects during
these Sunday visits but once in a while switched off
to more general matters. The younger Eickemeyer
constantly found it fascinating to stroll into the li¬
brary and listen to the talk of these two masters of
research and experiment, both of them torches to
their fellow-men, and one of them destined to become,
not only a torch, but a blazing beacon upon a lofty
hill.

Appreciating, as he did, a mind as original and
alert as that of Steinmetz, Eickemeyer naturally
came to discuss ways and means of expanding his in¬
vestigations during the frequent talks which they had
in the drafting-room at the factory. Within a few
months he was led to speak of the possibility of a re¬
search laboratory for the plant. Such a project, he
explained to Steinmetz, was much needed in view of

170

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

the advanced point which he had thus far reached in
his inventive work.

“Would you feel like establishing such a labora¬
tory for us?” inquired Eickemeyer.

“Yes, yes!” answered the young draftsman. “I
will do it.”

And he did. He established it simply by taking
possession of an extra room, acquired for the pur¬
pose by Eickemeyer, and going to work, with one
assistant, of whose services he was not always as¬
sured. This was the Eickemeyer experimental lab¬
oratory; an unpretentious, rough little workshop,
but one of the historic spots in the history of electri¬
cal science, for it was here that Steinmetz did the
work which led to his revolutionary discoveries in the
field of magnetic losses, or the law of hysteresis, as
electrical engineers term it.

“It was probably about March of 1890,” says Mar¬
tin, in the “General Electric Review,” “that he be¬
gan to specialize on magnetic testing. For the pur¬
pose of carrying out this work on a large scale and
in a more thorough manner, Eickemeyer leased a
room adjoining his existing factory, in which the test¬
ing equipment became installed.

“The laboratory itself was about 20 feet wide by
30 feet long, and at the present time [1912] shows
little signs of its use twenty years ago as a magnetic
research room. On a recent visit to Yonkers, the
only piece of equipment which Dr. Steinmetz could
trace as having held its place unchanged since his

171

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

time was a very rusty wash-stand in a corner of the
room by the window. The laboratory (as it then
was) is located on Nepperhan Street, Yonkers, and
the passenger to New York can easily see the build¬
ing to-day as his train passes through Yonkers sta¬
tion on the New York Central line. Although the
Eickemeyer Company was bought up at the end of
1892, the name ‘Eickemeyer & Osterheld Manufact¬
uring Company’ is still standing on the north wall.

“Steinmetz was placed in charge of the new lab¬
oratory. His assistant, a man skilled in the hat
machinery business, was liable to be called out at a
moment’s notice to investigate and remedy troubles
in the machines used in hat-making.”

Dr. Steinmetz recalled the days in this experi¬
mental laboratory with pleasant zest and modest ref¬
erence to his own activities therein.

“The laboratory,” he said, “came about as a ihatter
of course. When I first began to work at Eicke-
meyer’s, there was one other draftsman there, Muel¬
ler, at whose home I finally boarded. We were in
the same room together.

“Later the second floor of the next building to
Eickemeyer’s factory was secured, a door was cut
through, and that became my own room. That was
where I worked from that time forward, where the
laboratory was set up, and where I made my investi¬
gations into the law of hysteresis. At first I had a
shopman working under me, and later a draftsman.

“The shopman did the mechanical work of the lab-

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FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

oratory. He was not there all the time, as he was an
expert repairer of hat machines, and if anything went
wrong with these machines he was sent for imme¬
diately. Thus he would disappear from my room for
a day or two days at a stretch ; but I had him most of
the time, even so. This was Eickemeyer’s research
laboratory — that one man and myself. Later, as I
have said, a draftsman worked under me.

“This was the room where Stephen D. Field used
to come and sit by the fire. It was a cold room in
the winter; so I bought a good-sized stove. It took
a big fire to keep the stove going, and that made the
room roasting hot. When I tried to check the fire,
it would go out.

“We used paraffin paper to revive the fire, and
later from the pattern-shop we procured linseed-oil,
which was rather explosive if used too freely. On
one occasion I blew off the top of the stove with it.”

The laboratory soon developed into the most jovial
spot in the factory. The men with Steinmetz were
fond of a joke now and then, and Steinmetz himself
relished the pranks which occurred there. In one of
these the good-natured Field was the victim.

Field, it appears, enjoyed lounging in the labora¬
tory and talking. He had a favorite nook beside the
stove; and one day, while he was dozing there, one
of the men poured a cup of linseed-oil on the fire,
ostensibly to rekindle the blaze. The oil, used so
generously, blazed up with a roar and a mild explo¬
sion. Field was awakened with a jump and started

173

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

out of his chair in momentary panic. The onlookers,
meanwhile, were laughing in suppressed mirth, Stein-
metz among them, as they observed Field looking
sheepishly about to see who had disturbed his slum¬
bers. After that he never sat down by the fire with¬
out first glancing about to see if any one was near
enough to play tricks.

Some time later a new-comer appealed. This was
Tischendorfer, a young chap just arrived from Ger¬
many, and believed to be the draftsman to whom
Steinmetz referred. The latter described Tischen¬
dorfer as “the Dutchest Dutchman I ever saw”; and
it was decreed that he should undergo an initiation.
Linseed-oil was again utilized, this time for the pur¬
pose of dipping a cigar.

The cigar was presented to Tischendorfer, who
lighted it and began smoking. As the cigar burned
down, the linseed-oil gave off an almost unbearable
odor, which soon filled the whole room. Tischendor¬
fer, however, turned the joke on the jokesters by
smoking the cigar down to the smallest butt with ap¬
parent unconcern, while every one else was made ex¬
tremely uncomfortable by the atmosphere that was
created.

“It was about this time,” comments Martin, “that
the want of a more thorough understanding of the
magnetic properties of iron was felt by alternating
current designers very acutely.”

There were two engineering text-books upon this

174

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

general subject, which were consulted at that period
by all designers of electrical apparatus. These were
the published tables of Ewing, “which left off at the
very point where a designer of a commercial machine
might have found them useful” ; and the theory of the
magnetic circuit, which was clearly understood and
had been treated in a book by Gisbert Kapp, pub¬
lished in 1886.

The whole big problem, as it cropped up persist¬
ently before the electrical engineers of that day, is
not difficult to grasp with an elementary, non¬
technical explanation; and we have just such an ex¬
planation, by none other than Steinmetz himself, who
was amazingly skilful in the role of teacher, able to
explain with clearness a subject which appears intri¬
cate to understand. And here is what Steinmetz
says of the dilemma facing electrical pioneers in the
last decade of the nineteenth century:

“In most electrical apparatus magnetism is used.
Sometimes the magnetism remains constant, as in
the fields of direct current machines; sometimes the
magnetism alternates, as in transformers.

“When the magnetism alternates, it consumes
power. Such power consumption means loss of ef¬
ficiency and results in heating. It is therefore of im¬
portance to the builder of electrical apparatus to
make the designs so that this loss of power by alter¬
nating magnetism (called ‘hysteresis’) is as small as
possible.

“However, the laws of this power loss were en-

175

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tirely unknown at that time, and many engineers
even doubted its existence. The designer of electri¬
cal apparatus simply built the apparatus, then tested
them, and when the hysteresis loss was found too high
and the efficiency too low, or the machine too hot,
they tried again. This, obviously, was not a satis¬
factory way.

“Now, in this experimental work I was Mr. Eicke-
meyer’s assistant, and I had to calculate and design
an alternating current commutator motor, of the
same type as that now used on the New York, New
Haven, and Hartford Railroad and other railroads.
I knew there would be a loss of power in the alternat¬
ing magnetism of the motor, and I wished to calcu¬
late this ‘hysteresis loss,’ to get the efficiency of the
motor. I therefore looked through the literature ob¬
tainable and found two tables of hysteresis losses
given, dne by Ewing, in his book on magnetism, ' and
one by Kapp, in his little book on alternating cur¬
rents.

“Unfortunately, the two tables disagreed with
each other very much, and the curves given by the
tables differed in shape from each other. I then
studied both tables and found that Kapp’s table must
contain a typographical error.

“From Ewing’s table of hysteresis losses, however,
I derived mathematically a law, the ‘law of hystere¬
sis,’ showing how the hysteresis loss increases with the
increase of magnetization. Roughly, it is that every
time the magnetization doubles, the hysteresis loss

176

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

trebles. This law of hysteresis, as derived from Ew¬
ing’s data, I published in the ‘Electrical Engineer’
for December 9, 1891. Then I started testing my¬
self the various kinds of iron and steel, and other
magnetic materials which were available, and gave
the results of these tests in the first paper on the law
of hysteresis, before the American Institute of Elec¬
trical Engineers.”

That, in the simple language of this master mathe¬
matician, is the story of his discovery of the law of
hysteresis losses. To the uninitiated it may appear
to be merely a somewhat expanded process of rou¬
tine, which does not sound particularly notable when
so easily stated. But it was a process which no elec¬
trical engineer of the period had been able to work
out ; a process that cleared up, for all time, a problem
that was vexing every designer of electrical machines.

As one scientific authority has expressed it: “In
plain words, he gave a method by which engineers can
figure how much magnetizing current they should use
to magnetize a given piece of iron to be used in an
electrical generator or motor, to throw off so many
lines of magnetic flux (or flowing of a magnetic cur¬
rent). They could thus figure how many watts of
loss there would be in the iron, and therefore how hot
the iron would become when worked in given condi¬
tions.”

The significance of it all is pointedly indicated in
Martin’s account in the “General Electric Review.”
He thus describes the occasion for seeking this law,

177

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

and how Steinmetz, with his intense mathematical
mind, penetrated to the great secret:

“Steinmetz and Eickemeyer were now [late sum¬
mer of 1890] engaged on the design of the single¬
phase commutator motor with compensated winding
[Eickemeyer’s best-known contribution to the elec¬
tric storehouse]. Both men realized the limitations
placed upon them by this ‘groping^ in the dark.’
Steinmetz took all of Ewing’s results which he could
lay hands on and subjected them to a very critical
examination. He probably suspected that he would
. . . discover ‘that law of nature which gives the de¬
pendence of the hysteresis upon the magnetization.’ ”

Martin quotes Steinmetz, at this point, as saying:
“The results of my calculation seemed to me inter¬
esting enough to publish, in so far as all these ob¬
servations fit very closely the calculated curve within
the errors of observation; and the exponent of the
power was so very nearly 1.6 that I could substitute
1.6 for it.”

Continuing his comments, Martin says: “Great
and important as is the work which Dr. Steinmetz
accomplished in later years, there is a point of view
from which it may be said that his chief claim to
greatness rests upon the establishment of this funda¬
mental law of magnetism, a law which, it is true, was
announced empirically, hut which may at some time
in the future be found to possess a real physical
significance.

“This investigation took Steinmetz through the

178

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

summer and fall of 1890; and by the time his article
appeared, he was already at work on hysteresis tests
in the Yonkers laboratory, much more complete than
any which had been made up to that time, carried
out on any and every sample of iron which could he
obtained, and employing what seems to us the crud¬
est power plant and testing outfit. They were never¬
theless to be massed into the paper before the In¬
stitute which was to establish his growing reputation
upon a permanent and unassailable basis.”

This famous paper, which was really two papers,
or one paper divided into two parts, created a sensa¬
tion among electrical engineers, as well it might.
The first part was read before the American Insti¬
tute of Electrical Engineers on January 19, 1892,
barely more than five weeks after the appearance of
the article in the “Electrical Engineer.” The second
part followed nine months later, on Stepember 27,
1892.

Approximately two hundred pages in the proceed¬
ings of the Institute are taken up by these papers.
The actual length of the first was forty-eight pages,
while the second took up 130. This is a total of 178;
but in addition Steinmetz contributed at considerable
length to the discussion that took place after the pre¬
sentation of the papers.

Nobody who is not a member of the electrical en¬
gineering profession, or endowed with a love for
mathematics, can appreciate, from what has thus far

179

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

been said, how deeply mathematical these papers
were. Least of all can they realize this from any¬
thing that has been quoted from Steinmetz himself.

Yet even to the keenest mathematical minds in the
assemblage of engineers at the Institute’s meetings
they were extremely impressive, not alone for the in¬
valuable formulEe which they placed at the disposal of
the profession for the first time, but .fully as much
for the brilliant, intensive process of calculating
which they revealed. The technical editor of the
“Boston Transcript” summed it up adequately when
he recently wrote:

“Steinmetz made himself famous, so far as electri¬
cal men were concerned, by a masterly paper before
the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in
1892. That paper dealt with a subject upon which
nearly every one at the time was pretty meagerly in¬
formed'. It was not written in brilliant English^ and
many of its 200 pages were filled with mathematical
signs and an advanced reasoning, which put the whole
work on a plane considerably above the head of the
average electrical engineer of the day. But from it
all emerged a fact and a law — a fundamental law of
magnetism. Steinmetz found an exponent connect¬
ing the magnetization with the hysteresis loss. . . .

“That alone should make a man famous; because
it was nearly all pure pioneering; was based on work
which had to be carried out with the crudest possible
power plant and measuring outfit ; and because it fur¬
nished results which were of immediate commercial

180

Steinmetz in 1890, just before he read his famous paper on the
law of hysteresis before the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

importance. That investigation into the phenomena
of the magnetic circuit, and the discovery of the 1.6
law, was one of the most valuable things which Stein-
metz has ever done.”

As remarkable as any characteristic of these aston¬
ishing expositions by this young man of twenty-
seven, with his sadly crippled body but his powerful
brain, was their completeness. In his second paper,
to cite one example of this, Steinmetz included com¬
prehensive data on the magnetic constants for all
magnetic materials known at that time. He also
gave equally thorough data on the magnetic charac¬
teristics and the saturation values, so-called, of these
materials. That is, he showed the greatest value of
magnetism which a given material could carry.

He showed that cast-iron, extensively used at that
time, will carry only about half as much magnetism as
wrought-iron ; and that cast-steel, then just coming
into use in electrical machinery, is intermediate be¬
tween cast-iron and wrought-iron. Some grades of
cast-steel, he revealed, will carry magnetism in values
as high as wrought-iron.

It has been pointed out that the discovery of the
law of hysteresis brought Steinmetz into acclaim with
extraordinary swiftness, especially so when it is
realized that he had but three years previously landed
at Castle Garden as a steerage passenger who
could not speak enough English to impress the immi¬
gration officials. But it is worthy of note that any
engineer who was then designing electrical machines

181

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

was confronted with difficulties in dealing with the
magnetic circuit, difficulties which seemed perfectly
insurmountable in the light of any working data ob¬
tainable. He was therefore very ready to give a
hearing to any theory that appeared to show the way
out. Furthermore, there are indications that during
1891, the year in which the experiments at Yonkers
were conducted, many of Eickemeyer’s friends who
were prominently placed in the electrical profession
visited the laboratory and became more or less famil¬
iar with what was going on there.

The field was thus unquestionably fertile for the
potent seed which Steinmetz sowed therein when he
stood before the gathered celebrities of the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers and sprinkled math¬
ematical equations among them with a precise, and
withal a liberal, hand.

>

All men identified with the electrical profession
now knew that a new thinker, a powerful analytical
mind, had arisen among them in the person of this
young man of dwarfish stature with the quick man¬
ner and the gentle, friendly eyes. When President
Frank Sprague introduced Steinmetz for the second
section of his paper, he remarked upon the reputa¬
tion already obtained by the author in this branch
of research, adding, “His work in the past has been
most important in its character, and this paper will
fully support the reputation he has already earned.”

Nevertheless, the discussion which followed the

182

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

paper suggests that the new theory, with its very
complete verification by the author, was just a little
over the heads of the electrical authorities of the time.
Those who were fully capable of appraising it ac¬
corded it instant recognition; and the rank and file
followed inevitably in due course of time.

Of the several comments expressed during the
meeting of September 27, 1892, that of Dr. A. E.
Kennedy is noteworthy. “I think it will be unneces¬
sary,” he said, “for me to express the general and
very high opinion in which we hold the paper to which
we have just listened. It is a classic to us, and I
think it will be a classic to a great many more than
ourselves. The Institute may well congratulate it¬
self upon this paper.”

Mr. William Stanley, one of the pioneers in his
own field of electrical research, remarked: “It
seems to me that Mr. Steinmetz has done for the
magnetic circuit very much what Ohm did for the
electric circuit. He has defined the law relating loss
of energy to flux. To the constructing engineer,
working with the alternating current appliances of
to-day, the paper affords more assistance than any¬
thing we have ever listened to.”

Applause was also granted by Dr. Charles E. Em¬
ery when he said: “This paper has evidently re¬
quired an enormous amount of earnest work. It is
a very notable example of successful experimental
investigation, for which, as well as for the clear and
complete manner in which the subject has been ex-

183

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

amined and presented, the author is indeed to be
congratulated.”

The attitude of the profession is finally summa¬
rized by the expressions of electrical magazines of
the period, especially the “Electrical Engineer” of
January 27, 1892, and the same publication for Oc¬
tober 19, in the same year. In the former issue,
speaking of Steinmetz’s first paper, the statement is
made that “the American Institute of Electrical En¬
gineers has been the medium for bringing out not a
few papers of scientific interest and practical impor¬
tance ; but we believe that none of more absorbing in¬
terest and practical utility has been presented to the
Institute than that of Mr. Charles P. Steinmetz last
week on the law of hysteresis.”

When the second section of the paper was pre¬
sented, the “Electrical Engineer,” on the latter date
mentioned, said that “he thus finally brings the mag¬
netic circuit within the reach of analytical treatment,
in the same way that the electrical circuit has been
mastered by Ohm’s law. . . . He holds out to us the
hope of our obtaining a full understanding of the
phenomenon of magnetism in the near future.”

The stir occasioned by these papers and the atten¬
tion which they centered upon the person responsible
for them did not dim in Steinmetz’s mind the assist¬
ance which his association with Eickemeyer had given
him. Both then and ever after he credited Eicke¬
meyer and the latter’s magnetic bridge with helping
him along the path to final success.

184

FIRST CLAIM TO RENOWN

“Mr. Eickemeyer had designed and built,” he says
in his reminiscences, “a very ingenious instrument,
the magnetic bridge, which permitted the comparison
of the magnetic carrying capacity of different mate¬
rials.

“He adopted a sample of very soft Swedish iron
as standard, and gave the quality of the other iron
samples in percentages of this standard. Thus, in
building electric machines, when casting the field
frame, a piece was cast with it, cut off, turned to size
and magnetically tested, the field winding of the
machine being then calculated from this data. Then
we made extensive tests on cast steel, for the various
manufacturers of cast steel.

“Mr. Eickemeyer, being very much interested in
magnetism, encouraged my investigations, and for a
long period I spent practically all my time in mag¬
netic research and testing. Mr. Eickemeyer materi¬
ally assisted with advice and kindness, so that consid¬
erable credit for the results of the magnetic investiga¬
tions is due to him.

“Much of the work on the determination of the
constants given in the second paper was done on Mr.
Eickemeyer’s magnetic bridge. While this instru¬
ment had the disadvantage of giving only compara¬
tive results, when carefully handled it was very satis¬
factory, and its use constituted probably the first sys¬
tematic testing of all the magnetic materials used in
electrical machine manufacture.”

The effect of the law laid down by Steinmetz be-

185

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

came manifest as time went on. Electrical manu¬
facturing processes were stimulated, and electrical
engineering was aided and enlightened. The induc¬
tion motor and the polyphase motor, as now known,
were perfected by utilizing the new formula.

And the reaction toward the personal status
of young Steinmetz was pronounced. He became
widely known among electrical ‘scientists. His
mathematical genius was recognized as far above the
ordinary.

Nevertheless, this young man, not yet thirty, con¬
tinued quietly his daily work in Eickemeyer’s estab¬
lishment at Yonkers, unperturbed by the sensation he
had awakened; unperturbed, also, even in the face of
events which began to shape themselves in this year
that were to precipitate another change in his for¬
tunes and his physical environment.

- *

\

186

CHAPTER XII

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT MEETS ITS MASTER

STEINMETZ in his later years once made a
modest estimate of his life’s work. It was as
near as he ever came to writing his memoirs.
In a few very sketchy pages he reviewed the big
things of his career, as he saw them in the retrospect.

He disclosed the interesting circumstance that,
viewing his life as a whole, there were three “most
important” achievements. And first of these three
to be named by him was his investigation of magne¬
tism. The second was his development of a prac¬
tical method of making calculations with the baffling
alternating current. The third was his general study
and theory of “electrical transients.” He never ac¬
tually completed this last, for it embraces the pranks
and upheavals played upon electrical systems by
lightning, in itself a broad field of research, and with
which he was still busy when death suddenly closed
his career with a dramatic swiftness equal to one of
those very lightning-flashes that he was so fond of
theorizing over.

But our immediate concern, at the period in his ca¬
reer now under consideration, is with the second of
that mighty trio of mathematical masterpieces by

187

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

which the whole profession of electrical engineering
has benefited.

All the evidence at hand would seem to indicate
that Steinmetz passed immediately from his work on
the law of hysteresis to his study of the alternating
current problem. The one rather naturally opened
into the other, since the discovery of the law of hys¬
teresis brought on a greater field of* usefulness for
machines using alternating current, as distinguished
from direct current.

Steinmetz undoubtedly perceived this himself, or,
what is more probable, he foresaw it. Hence, no
sooner had he completed his intricate mathematical
work upon the magnetic theory than he embarked
upon an even more intricate line of mathematical re¬
search in seeking to solve the puzzle of the alternat¬
ing current.

It is hardly possible to exaggerate the great ser¬
vice to all enlightened peoples which Steinmetz per¬
formed in both of these investigations. The electri¬
cal profession benefited most directly, to be sure.
But this is the electrical age in the world’s history;
not a day passes but that nine tenths of all Americans
either avail themselves directly of some service of
electricity or are served by this mighty force in¬
directly. Every time they ride on a street-car, every
time they take an elevator, every time a housewife’s
tired arms are spared by the willing motor in her
electric washing-machine or some essential industrial

188

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

process moves smoothly forward under the drive of a
motor many times larger, it is a recognition that
electricity is the burden-bearer of the race.

And these motors, whatever their size, if they use
alternating current in their operation, are every one
of them a purring, whirring, power-producing monu¬
ment to the mathematical genius of Steinmetz. For
every one of them has embodied in it, as its indispen¬
sable foundation of efficiency, that fundamental law
of hysteresis losses which Steinmetz successfully
worked out.

Moreover, since it is probably true that alternating
current serves the every-day rank and file of the
population much more frequently than does direct
current, Steinmetz further made his life of undying
usefulness to all future generations by providing
electrical engineers with a method of making their
alternating current calculations. That achievement
enabled these electrical engineers from thenceforth
to develop to the utmost limit and with the utmost
celerity the possibilities of electrical application.

In electrical engineering, alternating current is one
of the two kinds of electrical current in every-day
practical use. The other kind is direct current.

The difference between the two is very distinct.
Direct current flows continually in the same direc¬
tion. Thus it can be measured in amperes (the am¬
pere being the unit for measuring the flow of an elec-

189

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

trie current) , and its action can be calculated numeri¬
cally in a simple manner.

But alternating current does not flow con¬
tinuously in the same direction. As its name implies,
it alternates, flowing first in one direction, then re¬
versing and flowing in the opposite direction, then
reversing again and flowing in the original direction,
and so back and forth, back and forth, usually 120
times every second. In certain applications of elec¬
tricity, however, alternating currents are made to al¬
ternate not merely 120 times per second but thou¬
sands and thousands of times per second.

The alternating action was thus described by Dr.
Steinmetz: “The current rises from zero to a maxi¬
mum; then decreases again to nothing, reverses and
rises to a maximum in the opposite direction; de¬
creases to zero, again reverses and rises to a maximum
in the first direction — and so on.” \

No wonder mathematicians were baffled by the pe¬
culiar nature of this mysterious force! And in deal¬
ing with it thirty years ago they were hampered by
an imperfect understanding of the mathematical prin¬
ciples involved. Alternating current was particu¬
larly baffling in that, unlike direct current, it has no
value and no direction. Its value continually
changes, and so does its direction.

“Thus,” says Dr. Steinmetz, in his explanation of
this problem, “in all calculations with alternating
current, instead of a simple mechanical value of the
direct current theory, the investigator had to use a

190

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

complicated function of time to represent the alter¬
nating current. The theory of alternating current
apparatus thereby became so complicated that the
investigator never got very far.

“True, practical electricians had been building and
operating alternating current machines, and they se¬
cured, for practical use, a numerical value for the
alternating current by means of an ammeter (an in¬
strument for measuring in amperes the strength of
an electric current) . But you could not make any
calculations with it.”

Meanwhile the problem had been very much ag¬
gravated both by Steinmetz’s own work on the law
of magnetism, as already shown, and by the inven¬
tion of the alternating current transformer. This
type of electrical machine is one of the essential units
in long-distance transmission of electric currents.

By means of transformers, electric currents can
be sent for miles and miles from a distant generat¬
ing station, at a relatively high voltage, and then re¬
duced to a lower voltage upon arrival at substations,
so that they can be eventually distributed to stores,
offices, factories, and family dwellings at the custo¬
mary 110 volts.

It was apparent to Steinmetz, as well as to every
one else, upon the appearance of the alternating cur¬
rent transformer, that electric power transmission
and distribution would thenceforth be by alternating
current. Yet the alternating current theory was so
hopelessly complex that the most astute engineer

191

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

might have been pardoned for tearing his hair over it
in despair.

Repeated efforts were made, before Steinmetz’s re¬
search, to make use of various graphic methods ; that
is, by diagrams and geometrical figures. A whole
series of diagrams for alternating current calcula¬
tion had been worked out by Kapp, Blakesley, and
others. But these endeavors failed to unravel the
real tangle, which presented as insurmountable an
obstacle as ever.

The dilemma, indeed, seemed utterly impossible of
practical solution. Here was the alternating cur¬
rent, admittedly a most useful manifestation of elec¬
tricity; a form of electric current which could be
subjected to great increases or decreases in voltage
by means of the newly invented transformer. Here
was a means of sending useful energy to distant
places, -the very thing of which industry and society
stood most in need.

And here, on the other hand, was the great barrier
to its highest development and application, the fact
that electrical engineers were wholly unable to find
out just how far they could go in utilizing it, be¬
cause they could not subject it to any satisfactory
mathematical calculations.

The situation was tantalizing. The world of elec¬
trical men — and unconsciously the whole great world
of affairs in general — was fairly yearning for a gen¬
ius to appear with the magic key which would
unlock, in a trice, the door to this thoroughly exas-

192

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

perating puzzle. And that is precisely what Stein-
metz did.

As early as 1890 Steinmetz had begun to sense the
challenge of the problem. As he became more and
more absorbed in his studies of magnetism, the un¬
ruly character of the alternating current made it¬
self increasingly apparent. For a while, before com¬
pleting his tests under the new law of hysteresis
losses, he was considering the nature of both these
difficulties.

In his initial work on the subject of the alternating
current, Steinmetz tried to do what almost every one
else had attempted. He endeavored to apply the
graphic method. He published a theory of the alter¬
nating current transformer in graphic treatment, this
paper appearing in 1890 in the “Electrical Engi¬
neer,” and in the same year being published in Ger¬
man in the “Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift,” of Mun¬
ich. This followed closely upon his studies of the
same general subject while he was still in Zurich,
where he published a theory of transformers (or
“converters” as they were then called), without,
however, even having seen one until after he came to
America.

He quickly perceived the shortcomings of the
graphic method. The impossibility of solving the
problem by that means impressed him with inescap¬
able finality.

“Such graphic methods,” he said, in discussing the

193

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

subject, “have been used and are still used, to some
extent, with success. They are good for getting a
conception of the relation of the different alternating
currents and voltages to each other. For calcula¬
tion, however, they are of very limited value.”

The final solution came through the application of
pure mathematics. It involved a degree of intricate
mathematical work that would bewilder the untech-
nical layman. In truth, the complete elucidation of
the theory which eventually solved the puzzle, written
by Steinmetz himself, for the enlightenment of the
profession, fills three volumes. When he first ex¬
pounded it as a paper before one of the scientific
bodies, the introduction alone consumed far more
than the time allotted the speaker on the program of
the session.

For the simple purpose of following the thread of
the man’s career, and of molding an estimate ofi, his
genius, let it merely be stated here that Steinmetz
found a mathematical method of reducing the alter¬
nating current theory to a basis of practical calcula¬
tion; a fact easy to state, but tremendous to grasp.

Steinmetz has himself explained how he did it. As
a preface to his explanation, which is interesting to
follow even though it deals with processes beyond
the grasp of those not mathematically inclined, it may
be remarked that in higher mathematics there are
symbols known as “ordinary numbers” and “general
numbers,” the former much less complex than the
latter.

194

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

“The idea suggested itself at length,” to quote now
from Steinmetz’s statement, “of representing the al¬
ternating current by a single complex number, or
‘general number,’ as it is better called. This proved
the solution of the alternating current calculation.

“It gave to the alternating current a single nu¬
merical value, just as to the direct current, instead of
the complicated function of time of the previous
theory; and thereby it made alternating current cal¬
culations practically as simple as direct current cal¬
culations. Indeed, the same calculations apply, ex¬
cept that the numerical value explaining the alternat¬
ing current is a general number, while that explain¬
ing the direct current is an ordinary number.

“The introduction of the general number has elim¬
inated the function of time from the alternating cur¬
rent theory, and has made the alternating current
theory the simple algebra of the general number, just
as the direct current theory leads to the simple alge¬
bra of the ordinary number.”

So Steinmetz had now solved the perplexing prob¬
lem. But to solve it was one thing; to make the
solution clear, even to highly technical mathematical
men, was quite another. The task of finding the way
out had been accomplished. But a second task, as
arduous as the first, still , remained. This was the
task of enabling others to see the pathway, of show¬
ing the blind the road leading to the light.

What happened next when Steinmetz, having
worked out the new process, proceeded to expound

195

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

it for the practical use of the electrical engineering
profession, is naively related in his own words.

“When I realized,” he says, “the enormous power
of this method in resolving the apparently most com¬
plicated problems of alternating current theory into
simple algebraic equations, I wrote out a rather com¬
plicated outline of this new method. I gave first the
explanation of the method, and then its application
to the more important alternating current circuits and
apparatus.

“This paper I presented to the International Elec¬
trical Congress in 1893. The Congress was divided
into three sections — theory, theory and practice, and
practice. My paper was presented as the second on
the program of a morning session in the section on
‘Theory.’

“The first paper was a highly theoretical discus¬
sion, and to my dismay I watched one hearer after
another silently rise, edge to the door, and disap¬
pear. I began to fear that I would have no hearers
left.

“But fortunately, just before I began, a very in¬
teresting paper in another section, which had numer¬
ous hearers, concluded, and, being followed by a
rather uninteresting address, caused most of the hear¬
ers in that section to leave. Many of them, feeling
it their duty to attend the reading of more papers,
came into my section, and so filled it up again.

“We had an hour allowed us for presenting each
paper. If needed, we could get a ten-minute exten-

196

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

sion. I got two such extensions, each of ten minutes,
after the hour allowed me was up; and by that time
I was almost through with the introduction!”

Naturally, no one at the International Congress
grasped the idea which Steinmetz had embodied in
this formidable document, much less understood its
significance. Steinmetz realized this but was hope¬
ful that he would acquaint the scientific world with
his theory when the paper was published. Somewhat
to his dismay, he learned that the International Con¬
gress did not have sufficient funds to pay the cost
of publishing his paper. The immediate result was
to postpone for several years the time when the pro¬
fession should become familiar with the procedure of
alternating current calculations by the symbolic
method, as this sort of equation is termed.

A curious situation faced Steinmetz during this
period, a period which really stretches through all
the years between 1893 and 1897, by which time he
had become fairly well established in Schenectady as
an employee of the General Electric Company. It
was an experience that suggests something of the
irony of genius, at least the irony that at times at¬
tends the career of a mathematical genius.

E or in this interval of four years Steinmetz under¬
went the fate of the pioneer in applied mathematics.
Having penetrated to realms hitherto untrodden, he
found himself in unapproachable solitude.

He had brought forward a theory, a proposition;

197

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

and no one but himself was familiar with it, nor could
any one else understand it ! Steinmetz, with his sym¬
bolic method of alternating current calculation, was
a perfect prototype of Einstein, with his theory of
relativity.

The reality of this inability to grasp the new
method becomes more emphatic in the light of the
next series of papers which Steinmetz presented be¬
fore the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
These papers went into the symbolic method more
thoroughly, bringing out more of its practical side;
for, as Steinmetz himself perceived, the symbolic
method would remain unknown as long as his paper
before the International Congress lay unpublished.

“I developed it [the symbolic method] further, in
its application to all kinds of alternating current ap¬
paratus and phenomena,” he says, “and presented it
in a number of papers before the American Institute
of Electrical Engineers.

“I believe it is due largely to the grand old man
of the A.I.E.E., ex-Secretary R. W. Pope, that
these papers were accepted, for I believe practically
nobody read or understood them, as might be ex¬
pected, since thejr used the symbolic method, which
was still unpublished in the manuscripts of the In¬
ternational Congress papers.”

Publication of all these papers finally came about
through the efforts of Steinmetz himself. He nego¬
tiated with the predecessors of the McGraw-Hill
Company of New York to bring out in book form

198

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

not only the International Congress paper but also
all the papers delivered before the American Insti¬
tute of Electrical Engineers. This book presented
the papers all worked up together into a general
system, which became Dr. Steinmetz’s first electrical
text-book, under the title of “Theory and Calcula¬
tion of Alternating Current Phenomena.” It first
appeared in 1897 ; and about this same time the pro¬
ceedings of the International Congress, including
Steinmetz’s original paper on the symbolic method,
were also finally published by the McGraw-Hill
Book Company.

One would suppose that these publications would
have been sufficient to introduce the symbolic method
to electrical engineers generally. But Steinmetz
perceived that it would be necessary to go further
than this.

As the symbolic method was new to college in¬
structors, and hence still newer to the students, he
saw the need of a text-book which would explain this
method satisfactorily for class-room use by students
of electrical engineering. This was all the more es¬
sential since the general number, or complex quan¬
tity, although it was part of elementary algebra and
introduced in the high schools, was so little used that
students who later encountered it in alternating cur¬
rent studies had forgotten it and found it difficult to
understand.

Hence, Steinmetz finally brought out another text¬
book, as an introduction to his work on “Alternat-

199

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ing Current Phenomena,” embracing not only an
explanation of the general number as used in alter¬
nating current calculations but also a series of lec¬
tures given before graduate students of Union Col¬
lege. These lectures dealt with direct current ap¬
paratus, and with alternating current apparatus
from a somewhat different point of view, and so
suggested publication. The title of* this new work
was “Theoretical Elements of Electrical Engineer¬
ing.”

But the prolonged process of thoroughly acquaint¬
ing engineers present and prospective with the new
theory did not even stop here. Steinmetz wanted to
get back to the very high-school period of explana¬
tion. He wanted boys who took a scientific course
in high school, and who might incline toward electri¬
cal engineering in the technical college, to have the
means- of preparing themselves from the very begin¬
ning with the complex quantity and thus lay a solid
foundation for their later work.

This led him to write “Engineering Mathematics,”
which he intended to be “a complete elementary trea¬
tise on the general number, the trigonometric series
and the differential equation of electrical engineer¬
ing as the three mathematical tools which are of fun¬
damental importance in electrical engineering, and in
which the mathematical preparation of the student is
entirely inadequate, even in the college mathematics
course.”

While these various text-hooks were preparing, the

200

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

original work on “Alternating Current Phenomena”
had expanded in bulk, through succeeding editions,
until at length it became necessary to divide it into
more than one volume. This brought about its pub¬
lication in three volumes: “Alternating Current
Phenomena,” “Electric Circuits,” and “Electrical
Apparatus.”

All this effort, with the one purpose in view of
helping others to a clear understanding of methods
which would be of immense value to them and of last¬
ing benefit to society at large, betokens far more than
the mere intensive mental activity of the keen¬
thinking scientist. It discloses also an almost in¬
finite patience, combined with all the acumen of the
teacher, the faculty for making clear to some one else
what he understood himself.

And in all this there was further apparent a kindly,
even a companionable attitude toward the many who
at first were bewildered b}^ the intricacies of the sym¬
bolic method. Here was none of the superiority of
greater knowledge or the arrogance of unusual abil¬
ity. Far from looking down upon his fellow-
engineers because they did not readily grasp his
theory at the meetings of the A.I.E.E., he himself
gave the one obvious reason why they did not grasp it,
the fact that his original explanation had been buried
in some unpublished manuscripts, so that the new
symbolic method was naturally unknown. A cour¬
teous way of saying that of course if they knew the
working of the symbolic method, which most of them

201

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

had forgotten with the years, they would easily have
comprehended its application to alternating current
calculations !

Steinmetz received his reward, if he regarded it as
a reward to see his theory stand the test of practical
usage, after it came to be understood; and finally to
see this method, which at first had bewildered all who
tried to use it, become so generally ‘adopted and so
successfully used that even the most complicated
phenomena of alternating current distribution, such
as are dealt with in the great transmission-lines of
to-day, no longer have any terrors for those who work
with them.

“They are now easily calculated,” modestly re¬
marked Dr. Steinmetz, many years later. “And
with the great development of alternating current en¬
gineering, in power transmission and distribution, we
never 'have any phenomena now which cannot be
solved and calculated.”

Yet, as already observed, this is due fully as much
to the ability of Steinmetz to play the teacher to a
whole rising generation of electrical engineers as to
his genius in originally solving the tangle. He wrote
a different type of book for every one concerned,
clear back to the boy in high school.

He was, in a very literal sense, the great torch
lighting the way into new realms; and without his
guiding beacon-light, his reassuring genius in finding
the way, his unwavering foresight as to whither the
unfamiliar path would lead, America’s electrical de-

202

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

velopment would have been but a stumbling and a
groping progress.

Long before Steinmetz had witnessed the univer¬
sal adoption of his symbolic method, indeed, only a
few months after his final paper on the law of hys¬
teresis losses, the Eickemeyer & Osterheld Company
passed out of existence as a separate business estab¬
lishment. The interests of the company were pur¬
chased by a recently formed concern, which had come
into existence on April 12, 1892, the General Electric
Company.

When this new business organization was estab¬
lished, by the union of the Edison General Electric
Company, of New York, and the Thomson-Houston
Electric Company, of Lynn, Massachusetts, its im¬
mediate policy was to buy up any electrical manu¬
facturers, with their patents, which looked promising.

The suggestion of Eickemeyer ’s establishment as
one of these was first made by Norton P. Otis, of
Yonkers, one of the founders of the Otis Elevator
Company. He expressed the opinion to the officials
of the new General Electric Company that Eicke¬
meyer had inventions and manufactured products
which the merged company could not afford to ignore
if it wanted to make a good start toward electrical
development in general. Negotiations followed, cul¬
minating with a meeting of the interested parties in
New York, and the arrangement, at that time, of
satisfactory terms.

203

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Primarily, the General Electric Company bought
Eickemeyer’s business because of the latter’s patents
and valuable electrical applications. Secondarily, it
is quite evident that the General Electric Company
wanted the services of the youthful mathematical
master, Steinmetz.

The news of the whole transaction was imparted to
Steinmetz by Eickemeyer, who told him that it had
been arranged for him to be transferred to the Gen¬
eral Electric Company. Steinmetz appears to have
consented without the slightest hesitation.

A few days later, Steinmetz met some of the Gen¬
eral Electric officials, who came to Yonkers to see
what they had bought and to confirm the understand¬
ing that Eickemeyer’s brainy engineer was to enter
the new organization. At different times during this
period Steinmetz met for the first time E. W. Rice,
Jr., later president of the General Electric Company
and now honorary chairman of its board of directors ;
G. E. Emmons, who eventually became manager of
the Schenectady works and is now vice-president in
charge of manufacturing; and Dr. Louis Bell, in
charge of new developments for the company.

Mr. Rice in particular was the representative of
the General Electric Company who interviewed
Steinmetz on the question of entering the employ of
the General Electric. He describes his visit to
Eickemeyer’s plant, and his first meeting with young
Steinmetz, as follows:

204

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

“I was then in charge of the manufacturing and en¬
gineering of our company, and my views were sought
as to the desirability of acquiring Eickemeyer’s
work. I remember giving hearty approval, with
the understanding that we should thereby secure the
services for our company of a young engineer named
Steinmetz. I had read articles by him which im¬
pressed me with his originality and intellectual power,
and believed that he would prove a valuable addition
to our engineering force.

“I shall never forget our first meeting at Eicke¬
meyer’s workshop in Yonkers. I was startled, and
somewhat disappointed, by the strange sight of a
small, frail body, surmounted by a large head, with
long hair hanging to the shoulders, clothed in an old
cardigan jacket, cigar in mouth, sitting closs-legged
on a laboratory work table.

“My disappointment was but momentary, and
completely disappeared the moment he began to talk.
I instantly felt the strange power of his piercing but
kindly eyes, and as he continued, his enthusiasm, his
earnestness, his clear conceptions and marvelous
grasp of engineering problems convinced me that we
had indeed made a great find. It needed no pro¬
phetic insight to realize that here was a great man,
who spoke with the authority of accurate and pro¬
found knowledge, and one who, if given the opportu¬
nity, was destined to render great service to our
industry.

205

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

“I was delighted when, without a moment’s hesi¬
tation, he accepted my suggestion that he come with
us.”

As revealed by Mr. Rice, Steinmetz did most of
his work on the calculation of alternating current
phenomena after going with the General Electric
company. His mastery of this problem did much
to enable the General Electric Company to forge
ahead until it commanded a position of leadership in
the world of electrical affairs. As Mr. Rice has ex¬
pressed it, “Steinmetz brought order out of chaos” in
the matter of alternating current calculations.

“He abolished the mystery and obscurity surround¬
ing alternating current apparatus, and soon taught
our engineers how to design such machines with as
much ease and certainty as those employing the old
familiar direct current.

“It Vas fortunate indeed for our company* and
for the electrical industry that Steinmetz became as¬
sociated with us at the critical time when the alter¬
nating current development had just started. It is
not too much to say that his genius and creative
ability was largely responsible for the rapid progress
made in the commercial introduction of alternating
current apparatus.”

The great torch of Steinmetz’s extraordinary tal¬
ents was now blazing brilliantly, its far-spreading
light increasing as time went on, and leading elec¬
trical men toward the approaching dawn of the

206

THE ALTERNATING CURRENT

world’s electrical era. More indirectly, this great
torch was lighting the way to a richer life for mil¬
lions and millions of people, in America and through¬
out the civilized world.

207

CHAPTER XIII

STEINMETZ A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

OTWITHSTANDING the genuine eager¬

ness with which Steinmetz, the young engi-

^ neer possessing the masterly intellect, had
accepted the proposal of E. W. Rice, Jr., to join the
newly organized General Electric Company, he
found it difficult to bid farewell to Yonkers. He
never liked these breaks in life, as he used to call such
occasions. And this was one of them.

“It was a break when I left Germany for Switzer¬
land,” he once told a group of friends. “It was an¬
other break when I came to America; and it. was
again a break when I left Yonkers and went to Lynn
to join the General Electric organization.”

His voice had a tinge of sadness in it as he spoke ;
and it was apparent that his ties at Eickemeyer’s
were not lightly broken.

There was another much deeper consideration at
the moment. Not very long before, he had expe¬
rienced one of the more heart-tearing breaks that
come in life, the remembrance of which had not yet
left him. This was the death of his father, which
had occurred at the old home in Breslau about a year
and a half previously. He had received word of it

208

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

through a cabled message from one of his half-sisters.

Since the May morning when he said good-by to
his father in the Breslau home, as he hurriedly pre¬
pared to flee from impending arrest, he had never
again seen his parent ; and only once or twice had he
written home after coming to America. But the sor¬
row of this loss, when it came, was none the less keen.

It would seem that Steinmetz, in his inmost mind,
had rather felt that Eickemeyer was, in a certain
sense, much like a father to him during those happy
years in Yonkers. Their relations, at all events,
were very intimate, with a certain suggestion of filial
regard on the part of young Steinmetz, particularly
after that poignant cablegram arrived.

Beyond all this, his natural disposition was such
that Steinmetz was always pleased to make friends;
he was a great man for having cronies about him.
The facility for keeping these friends was little less
than a gift. Hence, he found it painful to say
good-by to Eickemeyer and to the nondescript yet
talented circle of Yonkers celebrities who had gath¬
ered with him those Sunday evenings at Seven Oaks.

Moreover, this was no mere departure to another
locality. It was the complete transfer of the very
company with which he had been associated. Eicke¬
meyer was no longer in business at all but left after
a while for a southern journey after a warm parting
from Steinmetz. The latter stayed in Yonkers for
some few months to superintend the transfer of the

209

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Eickemeyer patents and engineering data from
Yonkers to Lynn, which was for a time the head¬
quarters of the General Electric Company. Then
he also went to Lynn, finding himself assigned to the
staff of H. F. Parshall, head of the General Electric
Company’s calculating department.

It is on record that Steinmetz went with the Gen¬
eral Electric Company as a rank-and-file employee,
valued above the average, to be sure, yet none the less
an employee as distinguished from an official. He
received a modest salary, compared to what he was
eventually to earn, although it was good pay for an
engineer in that period.

It is pertinent to observe at this point that he did
not seek participation in the so-called official manage¬
ment of the company. In an organization where
even the officials regard themselves as employees,
Steinmetz seemed to take a quiet pride in remaining
in the employee class beyond any question of doubt —
one of the useful servants of the corporation, a valu¬
able part of a great machine. This was his feeling,
at least to a considerable extent, notwithstanding the
premium that came to be placed upon his services, and
the wisdom of the General Electric Company, both
in giving him ample freedom of activity and in mak¬
ing it to his financial interest always to stay with it.

It is no less true that Steinmetz did not seek big
pay. He might have tried his hand at bargaining
for a fat salary when he perceived how eager Mr.
Rice was to engage him. Instead of that, he agreed

210

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

to the latter’s proposal “without a moment’s hesita¬
tion.” It was the first instance where he really dis¬
played his attitude toward personal wealth, the atti¬
tude of a pure-grained altruist, seeking only the best
possible chance to do the work which fascinated him
and which he believed would be of value to society at
large.

And now began the golden age of electricity, which
is even to-day hardly more than at the dawn. The
thirty-year period between 1893, when Steinmetz
joined the General Electric Company, and 1923,
when he passed to the great beyond, saw an astound¬
ing forward stride in the electrical profession. But
the biggest men in electrical affairs, then as now, rec¬
ognized that much of this mighty development was
due to the gentle-eyed, unostentatious, path-lighting
torch-bearer of modern electrical engineering.

This remarkable attribute of Steinmetz was recog¬
nized perhaps more quickly by E. W. Rice, Jr.Athe
General Electric engineer who secured the services
of Steinmetz for the organization, }han by almost any
one else of that day. To Mr. Rice is to be credited
the honor of linking up Steinmetz with a great com¬
pany, which was itself under the helmsmanship of
remarkable business leaders, distinguished for their
sagacity and vision. The commercial super-genius
was Charles A. Coffin, the young Lynn shoe man
who deliberately entered the electrical manufacturing
business because he foresaw that it was going to be
the big business of the future.

211

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

The General Electric Company thus began its
amazing career of development well supplied with
high-caliber human material for its commercial ad¬
vancement. From the moment of its inception, its
broad program was to sell the electrical idea to whole
communities, entire cities, wide regions of the coun¬
try ; in short, the nation itself.

It likewise possessed exceptional engineering tal¬
ent. Professor Elihu Thomson, of the old Thomson-
Houston Company, was then, and has been since,
an engineer of the first rank, a pioneer in research
work and invention; and E. W. Rice, Jr., was des¬
tined to contribute much valuable work to engineer¬
ing developments for which the company came to be
noted.

The addition of Steinmetz was the acquirement of
the keystone, completing an able engineering staff.
Without the masterly guidance of Steinmetz, Jiow-
ever, the General Electric Company’s engineers
would have been deprived of the torch they needed,
and the company itself could hardly have taken the
rapid strides forward which soon began to put it in
a position of advantage. On the other hand, with¬
out the facilities which the General Electric Company
gave him from year to year in the way of quarters
and apparatus, the unhindered opportunity to do
whatever work appeared at the moment of the great¬
est benefit to the general cause, and the constantly
growing engineering personnel to whom to impart
his mathematical methods and through whom to be-

212

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

come more than ever noted in the profession, Stein-
metz would have been a long time in stepping into
his proper niche as a world-famous electrical genius.

Unquestionably, therefore, Steinmetz and the
General Electric Company were of immeasurable
help to each other — one of those instances where, in
the course of time, each made the other famous.

The calculating department of the General Elec¬
tric Company at Lynn, where Steinmetz now took up
his work, handled all the mathematical computations
involved in the design of the electrical apparatus that
the company was manufacturing. Hence, it was the
one department where Steinmetz belonged and
where, as it happened, he felt at home from the
beginning.

That particular period constituted the infancy of
electrical practice. The potential power of mighty
Niagara was just beginning to be put into service.
The General Electric Company had only just com¬
pleted its River Works at Lynn, which was not as
extensive as it is at present.

In the calculating department, under Mr. Par-
shall, was done all the pioneer engineering and all
the designing for every class of apparatus, no matter
for which field of service intended — work which to¬
day is highly specialized and scattered through sev¬
eral departments, classified by the character of the
machines.

Steinmetz quickly found new cronies among the

213

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

young engineers who worked under Parshall. The
staff numbered all told about nine men. Those who
became the most congenial associates of the brilliant
new-comer included E. J. Berg, who, with his brother,
Eskil Berg, was to share with Steinmetz, a year or
two later, in one of the most unique semi-Bohemian
domestic establishments that have ever given shelter
to a group of scientists. *

The first engineering problem which Steinmetz was
asked to pass upon after he became a General Elec¬
tric engineer was in relation to electrical machines
for the first power-plant at Niagara Falls. The
General Electric Company was preparing a proposi¬
tion for this power-station, which at the moment was
the biggest job engaging the attention of electrical
men. There was nothing especially remarkable
about the proposed apparatus — at least not to
Steimfietz — although his associates were immediately
impressed by the readiness with which he handled the
mathematical calculations involved and the lightning-
like swiftness with which he obtained his results.

Steinmetz next made an investigation of the trans¬
formers built by the company, to see how they could
be improved. He was unquestionably exercising his
keen facility for looking ahead when he took up this
line of work; for he foresaw with the utmost clear¬
ness just how electrical expansion was to proceed, in
a general way, and how indispensable to that expan¬
sion the transformer was to be.

During this period, also, he studied the induction-

214

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

motor, which was then just being designed. Work¬
ing with Dr. Louis Bell, he conducted tests that led
to the redesigning of these motors and the production
of an improved type.

It was now about the middle of 1893, or perhaps
around September; and the whole work of the de¬
partment, indeed, the work of the entire plant, be¬
gan to be seriously cut down by the disastrous busi¬
ness panic of that year. After a few weeks the times
became so dull that there was virtually no work for
the calculating department to do.

The money-market was naturally affected, so that,
although the General Electric Company was doing
a very good business considering its youth and the
stringency of the times, it experienced considerable
difficulty in doing its financing. Steinmetz and the
rest of them were not always positive that they
would receive their money on pay-day; hut the com¬
pany always succeeded in meeting its obligations to
its employees, although it had to pay a high rate to
obtain money.

Morning after morning, Steinmetz reported for
work but was told that no work had come in. No one
was buying electrical apparatus; hence the company
was not designing or building any new machines. So
Steinmetz sat around in Parshall’s office, and he and
Parshall, with W. C. Fish, another of the engineers,
spent much of the interval smoking, telling stories
and cracking jokes. Frequently they put in hours
at a time in this manner.

215

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Meanwhile, the shops were idle at least half the
time. About a hundred men were working three
days every second week. Parshall’s staff was cut
down until he had only three men left, and these
three worked but three days a week. They were E.
J. Berg, E. B. Raymond, and Steinmetz.

The General Electric Company, although only a
year old at the time, had a creditable* exhibit at the
World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893. Perhaps the most
prominent part of the exhibit was the Intramural
Railway, a third-rail system which ran on an elevated
structure. Motor-cars hauling trailers constituted
the trains. This was probably the first elevated elec¬
tric railway in America.

A party of engineers was sent to Chicago by the
company to superintend the exhibit. The group in¬
cluded Steinmetz, who was alert to see everything

>i

that was in any respect a new development. \

He experienced while there a pleasant surprise
upon running across an old friend of his Yonkers
days, none other than Tischendorfer, “the Dutchest
Dutchman.” When Eickemeyer sold out, Tischen¬
dorfer had gone back to Germany, where he became
prominent in the Schukert Company, now the Sie¬
mens- Schukert Company, manufacturers of search¬
lights. At the World’s Fair this concern had an ex¬
hibit of searchlights, of which Tischendorfer was in
charge.

Steinmetz was greatly amused by observing the
good time Tischendorfer was having playing various

216

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

small pranks ; in his reception-room beneath the floor
of the main exhibition-hall he entertained with sau¬
sages and German wines and obtained illumination
by tapping the wire that supplied current for a
neighboring exhibit, much to the perplexity of the
owner of the exhibit.

The welcome renewal of acquaintance with the er¬
ratic Tischendorfer and the equally welcome addi¬
tions to his list of congenial friends gave to this year
1893 much that appealed to the peculiar social dis¬
position of Steinmetz. In rather pronounced con¬
trast, however, was his considerably less congenial
leisure life during his residence in Lynn.

His living-quarters consisted only of a room in a
boarding-house at the corner of Commercial and
Common Streets. There was a grocery store on the
ground floor, and many other small stores and room¬
ing houses in the neighborhood.

The husband of the landlady kept a small second¬
hand furniture store. His great weakness was an
over-fondness for liquor, which led him to stay out
until the small hours of the morning and to make so
much noise when he did come home as to awaken
nearly everybody in the house. Steinmetz did not
enjoy this, although he found the landlady herself
most agreeable. His departure for Schenectady
came before he had been impelled to find another
boarding-place where his slumbers would not be
periodically disturbed.

After Steinmetz went to Schenectady, however, the

217

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

times became so very bad in Lynn that his erst¬
while landlady decided she, also, could do better in
the new headquarters city of the General Electric
Company. She left her husband in Lynn, which
proved a good thing for her new enterprise. But
after an interval, the husband showed up in Sche¬
nectady, whereupon business began to fall off at the
boarding-house. Steinmetz had a room there for a
while before he became permanently settled in the
Mohawk Valley city, although he lodged for the first
two weeks of his residence in Schenectady at the Edi¬
son Hotel.

In December, 1893, word was passed around
among the men of Parshall’s department that the en¬
tire department was to be transferred to Schenectady.
The news was a bit dismal to Steinmetz, for it forced
upon him another one of those unpleasant breaks.

With all his sagacity for predicting the trend of
electrical development, he could not apply the faculty
of foresight to his own affairs, or else he would have
discovered that this was the last break he would be
obliged to undergo.

The transfer to Schenectady afforded him an in¬
terval in which he could return to Yonkers for a
Christmas visit with his old friend and former fellow-
worker, Edward Mueller, draftsman at Eickemeyer’s
factory when Steinmetz first went there, and with
whom he had lived during most of his residence in
Yonkers. This was not his only return visit to Yon-

218

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

kers, for several times after he went with the General
Electric Company his former employer, Eickemeyer,
sent for him to seek his advice on some question or
invention with which the latter was working. This
continued until the death of Eickemeyer, in Jan¬
uary, 1895, at Washington, while on a trip to the
South to recover his health, which was poor during
the last few years of his life.

Not all the men who were with Parshall in Lynn
were included in the group that was transferred to
Schenectady. The transfer was effected in January,
1894, and it brought Steinmetz into considerably
greater prominence than he had previously experi¬
enced. The principal reason for this was the de¬
parture of Parshall for England, where he was sent
by the company to conduct extensive tests of some
large alternators which were not operating satis¬
factorily. Subsequently he became an independent
consulting engineer in London.

At Schenectady, Steinmetz soon was conceded to
be the one great indispensable person among the en¬
gineers who were engaged in alternating current
work. The recognition which was his from the mo¬
ment he joined the General Electric organization at
Lynn was increased many-fold as soon as he estab¬
lished himself in his new environment. By tacit ap¬
proval and official decree, he became the head of the
reorganized electrical calculating department, which
particularly concerned itself with the calculation and
design of alternating current machines.

219

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Every engineer who worked under Steinmetz in
the next four or five years depended upon the “little
giant” to show him the symbolic method in making
calculations with the alternating current, so that the
calculating and designing department in reality re¬
solved itself into a sort of glorified school-room.
Steinmetz was the schoolmaster ; and never was there
a more discerning, painstaking, or jlatient school¬
master. Many folk who knew Steinmetz at various
times in his life have agreed that they never once saw
him exhibit the least degree of impatience, nor the
slightest discourtesy toward those who sought his help
in the mathematical work of the office.

By the class-room method this mathematical genius
of electrical engineering gradually demonstrated the
working of his symbolic method until he had made all
the General Electric engineers familiar with it.
There are men still on the engineering staff of the
General Electric Company who gained their first
knowledge of this procedure from Steinmetz in the
days of the old calculating department.

“We became pretty familiar with the symbolic
method at length,” said one of Steinmetz’s “boys”;
“but we never really mastered it. We could never
do the things with it that Steinmetz could do. Stein¬
metz grasped a thing all at once, even an intricate
mathematical problem.

“E. J. Berg, who worked as his assistant, used to
say that Steinmetz could take any equation up to
the third degree and visualize it out in space. There

220

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

is not one man in a thousand who can do that.

“Yet he was not arrogant in the smallest degree.
He never ‘showed off’ his knowledge, or tried to
glorify himself. He was one of the most modest of
men, and realized more than any one else that he did
not know it all. He showed this in the way he would
answer an inquiry. He never considered himself in¬
fallible, and hence would never give an answer that
suggested finality. He would say, ‘That looks all
right ; we ’ll try it.’ He would tell you whether a
proposition appeared sound or not, but he would not
assert, with conceited positiveness, that it absolutely
was, or was not, correct, as though he were a divinely
appointed oracle in whom there could be no error.”

Among the well-remembered feats in mental
mathematics performed by Steinmetz and preserved
from this period was the question that somebody
raised in the course of the day’s work as to the cubic
content of metal which is removed from a cylindrical
rod two inches in diameter when a two-inch hole is
bored through the rod, separating it into two pieces.
By all ordinary methods, obtaining the answer to
this proposition would require considerable time.
But when it was laid before Steinmetz he merely con¬
sidered for a moment, and in less than two minutes
he had worked it out in his head, quietly stating the
answer.

From 1894 to 1898, Steinmetz and his corps of
assistants had the entire burden of alternating cur¬
rent calculation and design. During most of these

221

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

years the department was housed in what is now
Building 4 of the Schenectady works, later going to
the front of Building 6, where it was located several
years longer, and where Steinmetz remained until
he moved into the handsome new general office struc¬
ture, designated as Building 2.

The ultimate organization was as follows : Charles
P. Steinmetz, engineer in charge; IJ. J- Berg, as¬
sistant on general work; A. E. Averett and Walter I.
Schlichter, assistants on induction motor work;
Eskil Berg, assistant on synchronous motor work.

Every indication points to a profound realization
on the part of all these men, and all others who had
occasion to work with Steinmetz, that they were as¬
sociated with a veritable genius in their own particu¬
lar field. It is apparent that the engineers of the
company were amazed day after day by the almost
uncanny facility of Steinmetz for immediately^ solv-
ing the most intricate mathematical problems with¬
out recourse to paper and pencil. He had made a
deep and lasting mark upon the profession of which
he was a member — evidenced, if in no other way, by
the utter inability of the rest of the staff to work out
their alternating current calculations without falling
back upon the author of the symbolic method.

And in this year 1894, the year of his removal to
Schenectady, Steinmetz took the step that consum¬
mated his naturalization as an American citizen.
The necessary five-year period since his entrance into
the country in 1889 had now elapsed, and hence he

222

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

was eligible, under the law, to apply for his final
papers.

Steinmetz, therefore, journeyed back to Yonkers
on the proper day, appeared before the court, and
was made a full citizen of the United States, his
willingly adopted country, acquiring citizenship in
the speediest possible time allotted for such proceed¬
ings. And those who knew him best discerned much
quiet satisfaction in his mind over his acquirement of
full American citizenship.

He cast his first vote as a naturalized citizen at the
municipal election in Schenectady in the autumn
of 1894.

The building at Schenectady in which the electrical
calculating department was first quartered made no
claims to being fire-proof. In Building 4, the ac¬
commodations were merely temporary, while altera¬
tions were being made in the building at large.
Rough wooden partitions were all that divided the
various offices from each other.

Because of this, and because the company con¬
sidered that a general policy of conservation was
wise, as the number of its employees began to increase
and the safe-guarding of its property from accident
assumed greater importance, a “no-smoking” policy
was inaugurated. The announcement of this decree
was conveyed to the engineering force by means of
prominent placards stating that smoking was not
permitted in the offices. These posters made their

223

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

appearance very soon after Steinmetz had become
established and his department had begun to
function.

Now, Steinmetz, by this stage in his career, had be¬
come a firm believer in smoking. Already he and his
cigar were absolutely inseparable; not a day passed,
and not a moment in any day, but that Steinmetz
was to be seen with a long, thin cheroot in his mouth.
No one could remember having observed him with¬
out it, nor could Steinmetz himself conceive of
working without a haze of blue smoke about his
head.

Hence the dramatic possibilities that were ap¬
parent when Steinmetz first caught sight of the
neatly lettered cards which placed the official ban
upon the use of tobacco during working-hours!

As it happened, however, no temperamental inci¬
dent developed, either then or at any later time.
N either was there any cessation of smoking by Stein¬
metz. So far as any of his associates of the period
can remember, the “little giant” merely made some
half-whimsical comment, the burden of which was
that he could not work without smoking and that
therefore he intended to continue smoking.

Thereafter he apparently gave no thought to the
signs but went on with the investigations and calcula¬
tions of the moment. No one took him to task for
smoking in defiance of the official dictum, for it was
daily apparent to every official of the company that
without Steinmetz the General Electric engineers

224

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

would be virtually helpless in trying to handle the
alternating current by the symbolic method.

And as time went on, Steinmetz showed himself
more and more valuable to his employers; hence he
was permitted to smoke in his own office and labo¬
ratory with an ever-decreasing probability that he
would be told it was against the company’s rules.

As the circumstances of those days are recalled, it
appears that Steinmetz was not alone in his course of
action. Most of the other engineers of the company
also chose to ignore the no-smoking rule, although
few of them intimated that they might have to quit
work if unable to smoke.

This incident was the origin of perhaps the most
famous Steinmetz anecdote in existence. The story
was related, in the innocence of its original occur¬
rence, by some of the engineers to their friends.
Then it began to spread among other departments
in the General Electric works. The propensity for
exaggeration soon got in its work; and as time went
on, the episode became so universally known in
Schenectady at large that to this day it is a household
legend throughout the length and breadth of the Mo¬
hawk Valley. Few remembered, or ever knew, after
a while, that Steinmetz was not the only engineer who
declined to be bound by the anti-smoking decree.
Nor did his quiet, unspectacular protest figure in the
occurrence as it came to be popularly told and retold,
neighbors relating it to each other, residents recalling
it for the benefit of out-of-town visitors, storekeepers

225

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

recounting it to their customers, and the customers
to their friends. Every smoking man seemed to seize
upon it as a classic and to feel a hidden delight ovetr
the discovery that at last there had come forth a
worthy champion of the whole great fraternity of
smokers.

In the endless succession of repetitions, through a
long stretch of years, the incident finally became so
badly twisted around that Steinmetz was represented
as a tobacco devotee who stayed at home rather than
work without his cherished cigar; and the exagger¬
ated version of the affair described with impressive
detail how they missed the “little wizard” when a
complicated mathematical problem came up, which
nobody else could do anything with; and how a “high
official” of the company hurried to Steinmetz’s home
to find out what the matter was, receiving the gentle
ultimatum: “No smoking, no Steinmetz.”* The
earnest solicitation of the official that Steinmetz re¬
turn and the eager assurance that he would be al¬
lowed to smoke without let or hindrance was por¬
trayed as the closing scene of this narration of the
happening.

As this memorable little tale became better and
better known, the good folk of Schenectady came to
venerate Steinmetz’s cigar very nearly as much as
the man himself ; and on the day of his death this was
the first thing that some of them, at least, remem¬
bered about him when they heard the news.

But they recalled it more as an expression of

226

A CORPORATION EMPLOYEE

kindly esteem than with the slightest thought of dis¬
paraging his real life achievements; and it was all
a tribute to the deep human appeal of the man, the
evidence that, after everything was said and done,
he was as human as any of us, with his likes and dis¬
likes, his hopes and his anxieties. And so, in every
possible sense, he really was.

>

227

CHAPTER XIV

THE LIFE OF A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

POSSESSING curious social instincts, which
led him to seek out liberal-thinking, self-
reliant chums among his daily associates,
Steinmetz displayed his fondness for intimate com¬
panionships more and more as he advanced in the
estimation of his fellow-men. People who did him a
service, however small, those who merely showed
thoughtful human interest in him and his affairs,
were apt to find themselves rewarded with his per¬
manent friendship. If these people were thrown in
with him by the common bond of professional inter¬
ests or by daily work together, they were likely to
become his lifetime intimates, his room-mates or
housemates, in short the counterpart, with Steinmetz,
of a domestic circle.

It was thus that one of the most striking, perhaps
the most winsome, of all his human relationships blos¬
somed into full flower. As every one knows, the last
period of his life was remarkable for a wonderfully
happy family group, in which Steinmetz was the
center of the picture, first as “dad” and then as
“grand-daddy,” by adoption, to a whole array of
young folk.

228

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

And yet the beginning of this peculiarly delightful
association was in some comparatively insignificant
occasion, some forgotten interest which was displayed
in his welfare, or some chummy disposition casually
uncovered, which literally won the heart of Steinmetz
and led him eventually to adopt, as his own son,
Joseph LeRoy Hayden, who was closer to Steinmetz
than any one else in his later life. Hayden himself
was led to wonder at it all, having no definite con¬
sciousness of any single reason for the development
of this intimacy. The beginning of it was so hazy
that it would be impossible to ascribe it to any tangi¬
ble incident.

Hayden had not yet come into Steinmetz’s life
when the latter arrived in Schenectady, in January,
1894, his feelings rather depressed over this new and
swift change in surroundings. He viewed with no
great anticipations the old barge-canal, the winding
Mohawk, and the low, flat tract on which the build¬
ings of the General Electric works were huddled in
an unpretentious group. His one consolation in this
whole dispiriting business of changing his headquar¬
ters was that some of his Lynn cronies had come
along with him.

Of these companions, E. J. Berg was at that time
the first and foremost. The two of them were very
much together outside of office-hours. They thor¬
oughly explored the town, walking frequently up and
down State Street, where Steinmetz, a queer, gnome¬
like figure stepping quickly along in the company of

229

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

his stalwart comrade, attracted constant attention.

After a week or so, the two chums, having got into
the new routine and finding time to carry their obser¬
vations further, discovered that Schenectady had a
few compensations about it, after all, the principal
one of which was the Mohawk River. When they
became aware of the possibilities offered by this ram¬
bling, placid stream, with its low banks and distant
hills, they decided that they were going to like their
new home.

Forthwith the pleasant occupation of exploring
the river absorbed their leisure for many weeks.
With the approach of spring, their activity increased.
They were not content merely to walk along the river
banks; they agreed that it was absolutely essential
that they should have a boat. F urthermore, it would
have to be a boat built to order.

After considerable difficulty, they persuaded an
old river-man named Joiner, who had a great local
reputation, to undertake this task. Joiner, although
a skilled craftsman, had long since retired from busi¬
ness; hence he was reluctant again to take up his
tools; he was even stubborn in his refusal. Eventu¬
ally, however, the engineers persuaded him that they
were serious and that they would pay him well, Stein-
metz acting as spokesman in the deal. The boat was
thereupon built, proving, when it was finished, all
that they could desire. This boat finally became the
sole property of Steinmetz, as he bought out the in¬
terest of E. J. Berg.

230

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

The acquisition of the boat intensified their interest
in the river and its scenery. Long trips up or down
the stream came to be the favorite diversion on week¬
ends and holidays. And one of the first of these, on
a Sunday afternoon early in the summer of 1894, had
the effect of converting Steinmetz into a permanent
lover of the Mohawk.

This excursion carried the party some miles above
Schenectady, as far as the mouth of a small tributary
stream locally known as Viele’s Creek. Attracted
by the pleasant vista at this point, they rowed into
the mouth of the creek, proceeding further and
further, until the boat suddenly ran aground on a
gravel bar.

Two of the party clambered out and waded ashore,
wandering along the bank on foot. Steinmetz and
Berg stayed in the boat, which had floated off the
bar after being lightened. By intermittently rowing
and pushing, they boated a considerable distance,
finally landing and climbing to a delightful spot on
a high bluff, from which they could see the quiet
river, with here and there an island, and beyond the
hazy outlines of the hills.

There the land party found them somewhat later,
admiring the outlook and eating their lunch. All
agreed that the spot would make an ideal site for a
camp. Little else was said upon the subject, and no
one imagined that there would ever be a camp actu¬
ally established on the spot.

Five years later, however, there really was a camp

231

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

on that site; and it was the camp of Charles P. Stein-
metz, the ardent admirer of the Mohawk.

Long before Steinmetz had completed his first
year in Schenectady he felt thoroughly at home there.
He had ceased living in hotels and boarding-places;
instead, he and his partner, E. J. Berg, had rented a
house. It was the beginning of a j oily, fraternal,
free-and-easy mode of life, with many Bohemian
touches about it, a bachelors’ hall with ultimately a
trio of bachelors as inmates, each of whom was free
to indulge the idiosyncrasies of his bachelor nature.

It might appear, from a chronicle of that curious
domicile, that the idiosyncrasies were rather freely
scattered among the inhabitants ; yet, for sheer whim¬
sicality, Steinmetz probably outdid them all. It was
he who paid the least attention to conventions of
dress ; it was he who was most apt to undertake Some
chemical experiment in the house, with the probabil¬
ity that woodwork or furniture would become
blotched with stains, or, if it was a particularly dar¬
ing experiment, the retorts might blow up; and it
was he who managed to gather unto himself the near¬
est approach to a private zoo that the staid descend¬
ants of Schenectady’s Dutch settlers had ever beheld
in their midst.

It would have astonished the business and profes¬
sional men whom Steinmetz encountered in his engi¬
neering work, the business promoters of the General
Electric Company, and the public that had just

232

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

begun to hear, in a hazy manner, about young Stein-
metz, could any of them have seen what went on in
the private dwelling-place of this master of things
mathematical “after hours.” The man who was the
brains of many electrical achievements was a leading
spirit in a group of fellows who complacently shifted
for themselves, yet maintained a fairly pretentious
domestic organization, strictly on a partnership basis,
with a woman housekeeper and cook, and sometimes
an extra maid of all work.

As like as not, at any moment, they would slight
all domestic operations if some fascinating electrical
subject was absorbing their attention. This was par¬
ticularly true of Steinmetz.

Naturally, it was not long before some of the pe¬
culiar habits of the odd-appearing young engineer
began to be noised around the town. People told of
seeing him repeatedly walking the streets without a
hat, and sometimes in cold weather without an over¬
coat. It was recounted that he thought nothing of
wearing an old sweater, or ill-matched trousers and
coat, when in the presence of prominent officials of
the General Electric Company.

These incidents, in time, became the originals of
many of the best-known Steinmetz anecdotes, some
of them as proverbial as the smoking story. The
incidents themselves were not actually numerous ; the
same cannot be said of the anecdotes that have grown
out of them.

The first of the chummy domestic establishments

233

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

in which Steinmetz was a figure was located in a
rather small, plain-looking house on Washington
Avenue, a comparatively short walk from the Gen¬
eral Electric works. Here Steinmetz and Berg, like
two kindly, sociable souls, conducted a masculine
community of their own that was not unlike the
rooming life of Steinmetz and Asmussen several
years before in Harlem. *

About 1897 the house on Washington Avenue was
relinquished for a larger one at the corner of Liberty
and College Streets, where the partners set up a more
elaborate residence. A year later the bachelor circle
was enlarged by the arrival from Europe of Mr.
Berg’s brother, Eskil BeTg, who came to Schenectady
to join the General Electric staff of engineers, and
who thenceforward became a harmonious unit at the
Steinmetz-Berg fraternal fireside.

So unrestrained was the life of this household, as
regards self-imposed rules or communal restrictions,
so completely was each one left to follow his own
whims and fancies, always retaining a healthy consid¬
eration for the others, that the amused friends of the
trio came to allude to the home of these original souls,
with recognition of the appropriate geographical lo¬
cation involved, as Liberty Hall.

Certain it is that Steinmetz, for one, felt free to
indulge several characteristic hobbies. The first of
these was his fondness for rare plants, especially cer¬
tain varieties of cacti. He had a small conservatory
built to adjoin the house, and there he installed sev-

234

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

eral specimens of this plant, which he had purchased
with the thought of starting a collection. He soon
had a respectable showing of growing things, which
he cared for with much patience, and which he de¬
lighted to show his friends.

Later additions to the collection consisted of some
very fine orchids, always a favorite flower of his, and
a number of different kinds of ferns.

Soon, also, he and the Bergs began to acquire all
sorts of curious pets. Most of them were bought at
first by E. J. Berg, who cared for them and saw that
they were fed. Some, however, were the special
property and particular delight of Steinmetz. They
were all kept in the back yard, where various pens
and cages were constructed for their accommodation.

Of the whole array of pets, Steinmetz had an ex¬
ceptional attachment for a couple of jet-black crows,
with which he had made friends in some unaccount¬
able manner. And fast friends they were, Steinmetz
and the two crows, so much so that they would fly
down into the yard to be fed, when they saw him
come out of the house, and would perch on the sill of
his bedroom window when they knew he was in the
room.

Steinmetz named them John and Mary and went
through the formality of conversation with them just
as if they were human beings. In fact, he coincided
with Ernest Thompson Seton by averring that one
can understand the language of crows if one will only
take time and pains to learn it. He always main-

235

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tained that he could tell perfectly when John and
Mary wanted something to eat, or when they were
provoked over anything.

It is unquestionably true that these crows really
did identify Steinmetz to the extent of flying into the
yard to “chat” with him, and locating his bedroom
by peering in all the windows until they discovered
him. *

The friendship between Steinmetz and the crows
continued, to the great amusement of the neighbors,
throughout the lives of the birds. This was not as
long as it might have been, because of an unfortunate
occurrence. For one of the crows met a tragic end;
which one, the historical records of Liberty Hall fail
to disclose. It was while the two crows were flitting
about the menagerie yard, awaiting the appearance
of Steinmetz in fancied security, that a pet raccoon
confined in one of the pens got loose in some manner,
surprised one of the crows, and slew the hapless bird
on the spot. He had even begun to eat his victim
when the crime was discovered and the culprit driven
off. The other crow did not survive this sorrowful
event, while Steinmetz was much grieved over the
deaths of both of them. He had them stuffed and
kept them the rest of his life, assigning them a promi¬
nent perch on a high bookcase in his Wendell Avenue
home.

The taxidermist, to Steinmetz’s unending satisfac¬
tion, preserved a decidedly chipper look about the
crows, so that Poe’s raven would hardly have felt at

236

One of Steinmetz’s queer pets. John the Crow, looking in the window
of Steinmetz’s room at Liberty Hall

Steinmetz’s favorite dog, Buck, wearing a cap and smoking a pipe.
Photographed by Steinmetz at Wendell Avenue, on the lawn

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

ease in their presence nor have found much provoca¬
tion for his mournful refrain of “Nevermore!”

The list of birds and animals which Steinmetz and
the Bergs finally collected at Liberty Hall at length
became so impressive that the fame of the place
spread throughout the neighborhood. Mr. Berg
added several cranes and a few young eagles. There
were also some owls, which were much thought of
by the men, although at times they frightened the
servants by hooting in the night.

Among the special favorites was an unusually in¬
telligent monkey named Jenny, who was a source of
continual amusement. She stayed with the men
until their circle began to break up, when she was
given away. Squirrels and dogs were numerous at
different times.

There were several raccoons, more or less tame.
One of these was the chum of all the men and seemed
such a knowing little chap that he was allowed to
roam all over the house until the cook objected that
he was helping himself to things from the larder.
After that he had to stay inside his pen.

Finally there was a lusty three-foot alligator, in
which Steinmetz took a special interest, finding de¬
light in showing his friends how he could make the
alligator do almost anything he wanted it to do. By
this time the renown of the menagerie was wide¬
spread, and the men frequently invited school-
children in to see the sights.

237

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Steinmetz was very fond, at this period, of per¬
forming laboratory research experiments at all hours.
He always liked to have a home laboratory, and
there he was to be found working long after he had
left his office at the plant. Most people would have
thought Steinmetz overworked if they had seen him
spending whole evenings in this manner; but it was
not work to him. Electrical engineering to Stein¬
metz was the one fascinating delight — something he
wanted to be busy at all the time.

His Liberty Street laboratory was begun in his
own room but soon expanded to such an extent that
it was moved out to the stable. Some of the simpler
experiments, however, were still performed in the
house for the sake of convenience ; and it must be ob¬
served that most of the time Steinmetz was eminently
successful in his uncertain venture of mixing home
life and laboratory activity. *

There was no lack of tranquillity, as a general
thing, in Liberty Hall. Still, it must be confessed
that once or twice the chemical operations of Stein¬
metz were of such an unexpected nature and pro¬
duced such harrowing consequences that they led the
housekeeper to enter astonished protests. This hap¬
pened when a retort was upset, spilling the liquid
contents upon the carpet, where they left a large
stain ; or when chemicals were distilled which left an
almost unbearable stench about the house. Femi¬
nine patience was especially tried one evening when
the flame from a laboratory burner set fire to the

238

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

room, giving the whole house a few minutes of very
real and unwelcome excitement.

During the winter of 1895-96 one of Steinmetz’s
sisters. Miss Clara Steinmetz, came for the first
of several visits. She assisted in some of the house¬
keeping duties during this stay, and more so during
a later visit when Steinmetz was the only one of the
trio remaining in the house.

She was made welcome, although from all accounts
the mixture of home life, laboratory activity, and
scientific discussions, with its pronounced atmosphere
of masculine peculiarities, did not greatly appeal to
her. She did not see the logic, for instance, of har¬
boring such an array of meat-eating animals as to
result in a monthly bill for food for the pets that
was sometimes larger than the bill for feeding the
human beings.

Moreover, Miss Steinmetz was taken sick during
the winter, and the young engineers of Liberty Hall,
in boyish roguishness, pretended among themselves
that she was suffering from scarlet fever. Whether
or not they intimated this to her is not clear, but
at least they had the house for a few days in a
state of mild consternation; and let it be under¬
stood that the whole establishment was in quar¬
antine. *

Miss Steinmetz was an artist of some talent (a
little later she painted a portrait of her brother, which
long hung in the Wendell Avenue house), and being
attracted to New York as a favorable atmosphere

239

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

for artists, she left Schenectady in the spring, to live
in apartments in the metropolis.

The happy-go-lucky life at Liberty Hall continued
at an accelerated pace. About this period, as
nearly as can be determined, Steinmetz and the Berg
brothers organized their weird Mohawk River Aerial
Navigation, Transportation, and Exploration Com¬
pany, Unlimited. The “unlimited” » aspect of this
fun-promoting organization came from the circum¬
stance that any number of members could gain ad¬
mittance, on the sole qualification of possessing a
two-dollar entrance fee. There is no authentic
record as to the size of the membership, but it is in¬
dicated that “a large number” of General Electric
engineers was enrolled.

The particular object of the Mohawk River Aerial
Navigation, Transportation, and Exploration Com¬
pany, Unlimited, was the construction of air-gliders.
In this worthy enterprise they displayed a magnifi¬
cent anticipation, by a few years, of the gliders that
have been developed to-day as a successful type of
aerial transportation in Europe. Three or four
gliders were actually built under the supervision of
Steinmetz and the Bergs.

The machines were given practical tests on the hills
at Hoffmans, a small suburb of Schenectady on the
Mohawk River. But they never would stay up in
the air. As E. J. Berg explained it, “we did not
get just the proper construction of the wings.” The
company was a serious affair, however, to the extent

240

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

of actually planning to market and exploit the glid¬
ers, if they could ever be made to glide.

Steinmetz was the embodiment of enthusiasm over
this whimsical side-project. He came out to the
tests with a camera, prepared to make a photo¬
graphic record of the experiments. Not to be denied
this culminating satisfaction, he did take several pic¬
tures of the gliders while the machines were resting
on the ground. Then he retouched the negatives to
make it appear that the gliders were in the air; and
the doctored photographs were solemnly exhibited to
a number of the wondering members of the company,
who for a while were allowed to cherish wild dreams
of a tremendous business development when the in¬
ventors began to publish their great discovery.

Several whimsical incidents during this and the
succeeding years at Liberty Hall reveal the Stein¬
metz character in all its spontaneous boyishness.
His passionate devotion to cigar-smoking would al¬
most serve to discount the remarkable contest in ab¬
stention in which he and E. J. Berg engaged, were
it not vouched for by Mr. Berg himself. The two
had fallen into a discussion at dinner one evening as
to the possibility of exercising sufficient self-restraint
to abandon any habit of long standing. Steinmetz
thought it was quite possible, but Berg was not con¬
vinced. Finally, Berg averred that there was no way
of finding out except by a practical test, in true en¬
gineering style; and he accordingly proposed that

241

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Steinmetz and himself should both refrain from
smoking for a period of a year.

Steinmetz immediately agreed. They called
Berg’s brother, Eskil Berg, to witness, and both pro¬
ceeded from that day forward to leave all forms of
tobacco strictly alone. Strange as it may seem, they
kept to the agreement without a break. For twelve
months the engineers at the General Electric works
witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of Steinmetz
working minus his cigar. Some of them must have
thought the mathematical master had undergone a
change of heart about observing the no-smoking
decree.

When the date arrived that marked the termina¬
tion of the year, Steinmetz was in Cleveland, on a
business trip, while Berg was in Schenectady.
Early in the day, Berg despatched a telegram to
Steinmetz to this effect “Year is up, and I ’m, smok¬
ing for all I ’m worth.” He had scarcely got the
telegram off when a telegram from Steinmetz was
handed to him, sent about an hour previously and
conveying the same message almost to a word.

It is recalled by Steinmetz’s associates that he
never had the taste for beer which was common to
most Germans. He would sometimes take a little
with his meals, and now and then would drink some
wine, but he was rather noticeably un-German in the
matter of his beverages.

He was quite fond, however, of a very fine Jamaica
rum which was sent to him by his friend, William

242

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

Stanley, of Pittsfield. In fact, he aroused E. J.
Berg’s displeasure by appearing to take advantage
of Mr. Stanley’s generosity when the rum was gone
to the extent of hinting that he would be glad to have
another supply. Mr. Stanley promptly sent him
several gallons more.

Berg decided that this was going too far; so he
took Steinmetz to task about it, contending that he
could get just as good rum by buying it and that it
would be better to replenish their store in that man¬
ner. Steinmetz held that there was no better rum
to be found, whereas Berg declared that Steinmetz
would not know the difference if he tasted a really
inferior brand.

To prove his point, he slyly watched when Stein¬
metz drank rum from the decanter on the table, and
for each glass of rum that Steinmetz poured out,
Berg secretly put into the decanter a spoonful or
two of strong beer. Steinmetz never perceived the
difference in the taste of the rum, until at length
Berg was able to prove to him that he was drinking
about ninety per cent poor beer and ten per cent
good rum, without having the slightest inkling of it.
This little trick, it is related, greatly shocked Stein¬
metz, who considered it far from courteous. But
he said no more to Mr. Stanley on the subject of rum.

Steinmetz had the fraternal esteem of his associates
— the Bergs and the many engineering friends who
dropped in to visit them almost nightly — to such an
extent that he was elected president of a whimsical

243

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

sort of club, which was long kept up, known as the
Society for the Equalization of Salaries. It held
weekly sessions every Saturday night.

The bond of friendship between them all was in
reality of the very finest and strongest; and Stein-
metz was happy in the good graces of several women
of the neighborhood, in addition to his boon com¬
panions among the men. For, contuary to some un¬
fortunate misapprehensions concerning him, Stein-
metz was as much pleased to have the esteem of
women as of men, and he was always a capital com¬
rade to small girls.

The neighbors who most frequently dropped in to
see him personally were the Kruegers, who lived a
little further down on Liberty Street. Mrs. Krue¬
ger and her two children, Carl and Gretchen, were
keen admirers of Steinmetz; and in their society he
found much congenial interest. >

Substantiating this impression of the genuine ap¬
preciation which Steinmetz felt of feminine charms,
and directly contradicting the notion that he was
over-bashful toward women, Berg records that Stein¬
metz had several most cordial friends among the fair
sex, while, as for children, Berg remarks, “He re¬
mained a child in spirit all his life, and loved children
and young people generally.”

In the autumn of 1900 — it was October 20, by
Eskil Berg’s diary — the gradual break-up at Liberty
Hall began. Eskil Berg himself moved away on

24 4

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

that date to another part of the city. E. J. Berg
continued to live with Steinmetz for a time ; then he,
too* went elsewhere in Schenectady to live, and Stein¬
metz stayed there for a time alone.

He continued as the sole permanent occupant of
the Liberty Street house, except for one or two visits
from his sister, Miss Clara Steinmetz, until well into
the spring of 1901. But he was by no means left
in complete solitude. Various acquaintances among
the young men at the General Electric plant called
frequently in the evenings, and he also saw consider¬
able of his friends, the Kruegers.

Early one evening in that winter, not long after
the Bergs had moved away, two young men dropped
in for a brief visit. One of them was an acquaintance
of Steinmetz’s named Chamberlain, whose social in¬
clinations led him to stop in to see Steinmetz when¬
ever opportunity offered.

The other was Chamberlain’s room-mate, a young
engineer at the General Electric works who, up to
that evening, had never seen the brilliant mathemati¬
cal worker. It was Joseph LeRoy Hayden, who
eventually was to become Steinmetz’s foster-son.

The two were shown into the house by Miss Stein¬
metz and conducted up-stairs to a large hallway, on
the second floor, which served as a reception-room.
From one of the rooms opening out of this hall they
presently saw Steinmetz emerge and walk toward
them. He greeted Chamberlain in his customary
quick, eager, alert manner, and shook hands with

245

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Hayden, whom Chamberlain introduced. Then
they all sat down and visited for a while, talking
about a variety of subjects, until the young men took
their leave.

Hayden carried away with him an impression of a
singular personality. He had observed with inward
wonder the sight of this little gnome of a man, whose
head seemed large out of all proportion to his body,
whose face was kindly, with much hidden keenness
about it, and who looked young despite the luxuriant
dark gray beard. His manner seemed to Hayden
to be reserved almost to the point of shyness.

Perhaps it was that very reserve that led men to
seek a closer acquaintance with Steinmetz; for no
one ever felt that he knew Steinmetz perfectly after
only one meeting, nor indeed after many meetings.

At all events, Hayden was eager to meet Stein¬
metz 'again, so that Chamberlain had no difficulty in
persuading him to make other calls. Steinmetz, on
his part, ever responsive to those who took more than
a passing interest in him, seemed to welcome this
opportunity for an intimate friendship with a relish
that suggested the yearning he always felt for con¬
genial companions.

And so Hayden became one of the group of young
fellows who knew Steinmetz well enough to drop in
once in a while, assured that they would always find
a welcome, and aware that Steinmetz was a man
worth talking with. Hayden and Steinmetz liked
each other almost from the first, although there was

246

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

no definite acknowledgment of friendship; it was
simply a slow-growing process, which for a long time
exhibited no unusual characteristics. Hayden kept
coming more and more frequently, however, until he
was to be found at Liberty Hall more or less every
evening.

Steinmetz, throughout this interval, lasting until
the end of the winter of 1900-01, was taking his meals
at Mrs. Krueger’s hospitable home but living in the
old Liberty Hall house, maintaining his small con¬
servatory, and keeping a good many of the array of
queer pets that had been collected while the Berg
brothers lived with him.

Just at this time, however, Hayden heard him talk¬
ing a good deal about a real-estate venture in which
he was interested. He had been attracted by the
opportunity to purchase land and build a house of
his own through the formation, a short time pre¬
viously, of the General Electric Realty Company.
This concern had purchased, for restricted residential
development, a large stretch of undeveloped prop¬
erty in northeast Schenectady, beyond Union Col¬
lege, for the purpose of reselling it to persons con¬
nected with the General Electric.

Steinmetz realized that he needed more of an estab¬
lishment for his dwelling-place than he could ever
secure in a rented house. This conviction had been
borne in upon him rather sharply by a fire that
burned down the stable in which he had his labora¬
tory, consuming some of the laboratory equipment

247

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

and leaving him almost wholly devoid of one of
his chief delights. This unfortunate event had
occurred before Hayden first called upon him;
but it was still a topic of conversation with
Steinmetz, who discussed it with his friends, and also
told them about his plans for buying property in the
General Electric realty tract and building his own
house. *

As spring drew near, Hayden heard much discus¬
sion during his evenings at Liberty Hall about the
Steinmetz camp, which had only been constructed the
previous year. Steinmetz had leased the site on
which, five years before, he and his party of friends
had stopped during a Sunday excursion to eat lunch
and admire the view. He had engaged a farmer
who lived near-by to do the actual building of the
camp,' which in the beginning was simply one 'fairly
large room with a gabled roof, the front half sup¬
ported by timbers, so that it looked like a little hut
on stilts.

The camp had acquired something of a reputation
the previous year among the young fellows who knew
Steinmetz well, for invariably they were invited to
“come out to camp” every week-end of the spring
and summer. Hayden also received this inevitable
invitation in the ordinary course of events, until al¬
most every Saturday and Sunday found him at the
rough-and-ready little lodge that nestled among the
trees on the bluff of the creek; and there he was

248

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

drawn closer than ever into the circle of Steinmetz’s
friends, to the growing satisfaction of both.

The camp on Viele’s Creek was so very new that
Steinmetz was not yet satisfied of its stability when
he began inviting his friends in the spring of 1901.
Placed as it was on the side of a rather steep slope,
not more than fifty feet from the water’s edge, it
jutted out from the embankment in some ten or fif¬
teen feet of overhang, held up beneath by slender-
looking two-by-four timbers. All around it were
the trees, brushing so close that the camp was a
veritable arbor, shut in on every side except the front¬
age that looked out upon the creek.

The extreme front of the large main room, that
part of the shack-like structure that overhung the
hank, had never been put to the test to determine its
strength. Steinmetz speculated for several days as
to how strong this side of the lodge might be. At
length he resolved upon a convincing experiment,
quite characteristic of the man in its naive mingling
of care-free merrymaking and unconscious risk to the
merrymakers.

He asked a considerable number of his friends
among the young fellows at the General Electric
works to come out for a house-warming. He also
brought out a band of six or eight pieces. The band
was placed as far out on the overhanging part of the
main room as possible, close by the large, wide win¬
dows. A bowl of fragrant punch was also placed
in that part of the room, attracting the frequent foot-

249

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

steps of nearly every member of the party. Stein-
metz stood by, looking on as the festivities proceeded,
watching to see whether the floor would give way or
hold.

Throughout the evening the supposedly doubtful
wing of the structure, braced only by its rows of two-
by-fours, received all the walking about and massing
of human weight that any one could desire for a prac¬
tical test; and the foundation of two-by-fours
held fast! After that occasion Steinmetz never
doubted that his camp was stout enough for him to
live in it.

The official dress at camp for the men was a
bathing-suit, particularly when it was a stag-party.
If there were ladies among the visitors, then the
young engineers appeared in city clothes. Stein¬
metz himself, however, invariably wore his bathing-
suit tvhile at camp, regardless of whom hfe was
entertaining.

Only one beverage was known at these week-end
parties. This was a particularly delicious variety of
Swedish punch. Likewise there was no variation in
the Sunday dinner. The official bill of fare called
for beefsteak, cooked to a tender brown. Steinmetz
usually acted as the cook.

After the meals, the men who were visiting Stein¬
metz lined up around the dish-pan, and a simple but
inflexible system was followed in handling the after-
dinner camp chores. The first fellow cleared the
table ; the second cleaned the dishes ; the next washed

250

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

the dishes ; the fourth dried them and put them in the
cupboard.

The official work at the camp, the one enterprise in
which everybody was expected to bear a hand, was
the building of a dam across the creek below the camp
to enable Steinmetz to paddle around in his canoe
without getting stuck on the sand-bars. This was
the great “engineering” job at Camp Mohawk, as
Steinmetz called his lodge.

Viele’s Creek in those days was a shallow stream,
in dry seasons little more than a succession of pools.
Later it was filled deep by the back-wash that fol¬
lowed the deepening of the Mohawk to form part of
the New York State Barge-canal. But in the
early years of the Steinmetz camp, there was
seldom enough water to allow a canoeist to get
very far.

The dam was located at a point where the water as
it backed up formed a broad and fairly deep lagoon.
It made a fine swimming-pool and pond for canoe¬
ing. The dam itself was simply a stone wall thrown
across the course of the stream and cemented to¬
gether with gravel.

The whole crowd of camp visitors, led by the en¬
thusiastic Steinmetz, would go out and work on this
dam Saturday afternoons and again on Sundays.
The work was kept up in spasmodic fashion all sum¬
mer and continued two or three summers after that.
Even then it could hardly be said to have been com¬
pleted, because the current frequently washed out the

251

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

gravel cement and loosened or carried away some of
the stones.

On Sundays a party of women sometimes went out
to the camp, escorted by Mrs. Krueger, who gener¬
ally acted as camp hostess, assisted by her daughter
Gretchen. Steinmetz provided the transportation,
in those days consisting of horse-drawn stages, such
as were popular for straw-rides in the winter. It
was the regular thing on Saturdays and Sundays to
hire one or two of these vehicles from livery-stables,
while frequently some of the fellows would paddle
out from Schenectady in canoes, coming as far up
the creek as beyond the dam.

Gradually young Hayden, who was considerably
Steinmetz’s junior, began to draw into more intimate
friendship with the whimsical mathematician and
lover of river life. It was not a great while before
Hayden seemed to be more of a real companion to
Steinmetz than any of the others, except perhaps
Mrs. Krueger’s boy Carl, of whom Steinmetz was
always very fond.

Perhaps this was because of Hayden’s readiness to
devote himself more than most of the fellows to help¬
ing run the place. This, to be sure, caused the two
to be thrown more together than would otherwise
have happened. Once or twice Steinmetz wanted
some one to stay out over Sunday night with him.
As nearly all the other young men were obliged to
go to work at seven o’clock, they begged off and went
home Sunday nights. But Hayden’s work did not

252

A BOHEMIAN SCIENTIST

start until eight o’clock, and so he said he was willing
to stay and help in the work of cleaning up, making
everything ready for the next week-end gathering.

Meanwhile these spring months of 1901 were un¬
usually absorbing for Steinmetz because of his home-
building venture. This project was undertaken
without any notion of what it was to lead to, yet it
proved one of the mile-stones of his peculiar, eccen¬
tric home life, the future hearthstone around which
most of the deep affection of his sensitive nature was
to be lavished.

>

253

CHAPTER XV

STEINMETZ INVENTS AN ARC-LAMP

IN the early spring of 1901 Steinmetz prepared to
build a house of his own, and it seemed to him
to be the most tremendous enterprise he had
ever undertaken. It absorbed his thought and en¬
ergy exclusive of everything else, for the time being.
He studied over it as intensely as he did over his most
astounding mathematical investigations, with all their
significance for the welfare of mankind’s practical
life.

There was this difference, that, whereas he com¬
pletely- mastered the most forbidding equations in
mathematics, the matter of building a house was
almost too much for him. Problems and formulas,
with all their fearful array of signs and symbols, had
no terrors for him ; but the necessary details involved
in erecting a dwelling, these, indeed, were a mystery
of large proportions to the versatile Steinmetz mind.

There were unusual factors, too, that arose from
his personal preferences and the aspirations that were
dearest to his heart. For Steinmetz knew quite
clearly what sort of a place he wanted. He had
made up his mind how he would begin to build, what
he would do first of all. And it was not the house

254

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP

itself which he put foremost on the list. It was the
matter of a conservatory for his plants and pets, and
of a laboratory for his electrical and chemical
experiments.

Thoughts of his personal comfort apparently were
secondary with him. He planned to rough it by liv¬
ing in the laboratory if necessary. But his orchids,
his cacti, and his ferns — these must be given shelter
before anything else was done! He could not feel
easy until he knew they were completely protected
against the harshness of the next winter.

Similarly Steinmetz put his scientific enterprises
ahead of his home life. Really to live, according to
his way of thinking, one must have a well-equipped
laboratory, and freedom to spend about two thirds of
every twenty-four hours conducting those fascinating
investigations which he seemed to enjoy more than
fine clothes, good things to eat, or a costly home.
Other folk might revel in luxury or drink their fill
of the foaming nectar of pleasure ; Steinmetz got his
fun out of his laboratory work, with his conservatory
of peculiar plants and still more peculiar pets to fall
back upon in moments of leisure, and, for real holi¬
days, his rough little camp on an inlet of the
Mohawk, which was his unfailing source of absolute
recreation. »

And so he set about building his own house by first
building a house for his horticultural collection; and
next by erecting a private laboratory with a most
orthodox atmosphere of switches and lamps, batteries

255

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

and transformers, compounds and tubes and retorts.
These represented the delights of the scientist, with
which he found pleasure in working, although he him¬
self would never call it by that inaccurate, toil-
suggestive term.

To have seen Steinmetz in these spring and sum¬
mer days of 1901, any discerning observer could have
sketched out the real life-interest of the man beyond
the possibility of error. Only a zealous disciple of
science, only a lover of nature and some of nature’s
peculiar plant forms, could have budded in the man¬
ner that Steinmetz builded on that wooded piece of
land with its frontage bordering along what was to
be Wendell Avenue, and bounded on one side by a
little dell, through which rippled a gurgling brook.

The real-estate transaction through which Stein¬
metz actually acquired his property was carried out
in the autumn of 1900. There is good reason to sup¬
pose that Steinmetz hoped to begin building opera¬
tions early enough the following spring to give him
a place of his own before his lease on the Liberty
Street house ran out in May. Any such expecta¬
tions were dashed, however, when the first of May
arrived, for at that date nothing whatever had been
accomplished on the Wendell Avenue property.

Finding himself thus faced by a sudden dilemma,
Steinmetz interviewed his landlord and persuaded
the latter to let him stay two months longer on Lib¬
erty Street. Then he set about to get his new

256

Photograph by Rudolf Eickemeyer *

The original camp of Steinmetz on Viele’s Creek, a tribu¬
tary of the Mohawk River

*

*.

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP

laboratory and his conservatory under construction
with all possible speed.

He made arrangements through E. W. Rice, Jr.,
then vice-president of the General Electric Company
in charge of technical work, whereby the laboratory
was built for him by the company at a moderate cost.
The conservatory he built with his own funds, as also,
later on, the house.

F airly early that summer both laboratory and con¬
servatory were ready. They were connected by a
passage through a basement structure, which served
later as the foundation for the house. The labora¬
tory as originally built — it was enlarged in later years
— was a square-shaped structure, two stories in height
and sufficiently spacious to house all the equipment
and supplies which Steinmetz wanted to put in it.

On the ground floor there were three rooms, all
quite bare. The walls were brick and plaster, un¬
adorned ; the floors consisted of stout wooden planks.
The center room was provided with a work-bench
along the whole of one side. Up-stairs there were
two smaller rooms.

No sooner was the laboratory completed than
Steinmetz took possession. Almost immediately he
began moving in various electrical paraphernalia and
special laboratory equipment. Also, from the Lib¬
erty Street lodgings, he brought up a modest array
of house furnishings which he had accumulated dur¬
ing the preceding six or seven years. Quite uncon¬
cerned as to what sort of home surroundings he might

257

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

expect, he calmly planned to combine his own living-
quarters with the laboratory for as long a period as
need be. Meanwhile, ignoring this rather barren
prospect regarding his personal comfort, he gave
careful attention to the completion of the conserva¬
tory, and to the important task of moving his collec¬
tion of plants into their new quarters.

Queer as the Steinmetz laboratory-Jiome undoubt¬
edly was, it yet breathed the personality of its occu¬
pant. The intimates of Steinmetz, walking through
the rooms a month after their owner established him¬
self, might have guessed that this was the Steinmetz
haunt supreme. A stranger, however, would have
been pardoned for regarding it as a den of incom¬
prehensible perplexity.

The rooms all had plenty of window light, for the
building was unobstructed on all four sides until the

residence was built abutting it on the east. Bulbous

\

electric lights were hung around or snugly stored
away on shelves. Glass-paneled lockers held various
odds and ends of laboratory supplies. Strange me¬
tallic apparatus stood in helter-skelter groups about
the floor — switchboard panels, small transformers,
and tables or benches displaying rows upon rows of
storage-batteries. Chaotic tangles of wires were in
evidence in one or two places, or were to be seen pass¬
ing and repassing overhead.

In the midst of this incongruous display, one or
two parlor chairs sat about; a handsome table, which
obviously was no part of a laboratory’s fittings, a

258

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP

bookcase, and some ornaments of bric-a-brac height¬
ened the contrast. There was an old horsehair
lounge, also, and in one of the smaller rooms a table
of some dimensions which later became the dining-
table. Meals were cooked in this room over a gas-
burner ; and Steinmetz himself was cook, butler, and
chief dish-washer.

The second floor provided sleeping-quarters for
Steinmetz and later for Hayden as well, each occupy¬
ing one of the two small rooms.

If they were called upon to entertain overnight
guests, which was sometimes the case during the ex¬
periments with the magnetite arc-lamp, some one
slept down-stairs on the old lounge, or on an old cot
in the wash-room. This wash-room was provided
with a fine enameled bath-tub, and there was a sepa¬
rate hot-water tank and gas-heater. As a rule,
however, when the gas-heater was lighted, it had a
disconcerting habit of emitting a violent puff of
flame, which was sufficient to frighten any one
strange to the place, however much he might desire to
bathe. Steinmetz and Hayden knew how to manage
this apparatus to perfection, but Steinmetz, at least,
was sometimes inclined to keep the secret to himself
if there was a chance to have a bit of a joke at the
expense of a visiting engineer.

As for the conservatory, always a spot of placid
delight to this oddly disposed scientist, whose heart
was as large as his brain, it was snugly built and well
occupied from the first. It was laid out in two sec-

259

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tions, entirely inclosed in glass, the smaller section
opening out of the larger at about the center. In
this lesser room was a small pool, where Steinmetz
was in the habit of enjoying a morning dip, although
during the latter years of his life he discontinued this
practice, allowing water-lilies to take possession of
the pool and cover much of its surface with their
broad leaves. The path running through both rooms
ended in a platform with a low railing overlooking
the pool, and here Dr. Steinmetz liked to come in
moments of thought, to lean upon the rail and gaze
down at the motionless water.

Originally the pool enabled the doctor to realize
one of his fond dreams. For several years he had
set his heart on having a fish-pond, and the pool in
his new conservatory was no sooner finished than he
had it supplied with various species of fish and water
life. He replenished it from time to time 4n a
thoroughly characteristic fashion. Whenever he had
terrapin soup in a restaurant, he would ask the pro¬
prietor if there were any of the live terrapins left.
If so, he would buy one or two of them on the spot,
deposit them in his pocket, and take them home,
where they were immediately added to the inhabitants
of the fish-pond. The quiet delight which he took in
throwing these new-comers into the pool and in
watching them make themselves at home, smiling to
himself the while, never failed to amuse those who
chanced to be looking.

The path through the conservatory consisted of a

260

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP

rustic walk made by cutting the rough branches of
trees to a uniform length and laying them together
crosswise upon two narrow planks. It ran all along
one side of the conservatory, descending a slight slope
from the end nearest Wendell Avenue and branching
off to enter the smaller room.

Hanging above it and on both sides, in the room of
the pool, were many baskets of orchids, a picture of
beauty during flowering time. Steinmetz’s love of
orchids made this one of his favorite haunts. He
gave much time and care to cultivating these plants,
expending some of his great reservoir of patience
upon them ; and in return they developed into a most
charming collection, giving him that refinement of
pleasure which every lover of flowers understands.

The cacti and giant ferns were gathered in one
large bed running from end to end of the main con¬
servatory. In a short time, with additions which he
procured after moving to Wendell Avenue, they pre¬
sented an imposing appearance, especially to one not
any too familiar with these desert growths.

There was a legend in Schenectady that the doc¬
tor’s fondness for cacti extended back to those early
days when he was enrolling himself under the
Marxian banner ; and that the cacti came to mean to
him a parallel in plant life of Darwin’s theory of the
survival of the fittest. Some thought, too, that he
felt an odd fraternity for this desert-reared plant,
which was obliged to grow to maturity amid unfavor¬
able surroundings, necessitating a physical battle,

261

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

just as Dr. Steinmetz had faced physical handicaps
in his own life.

TVhatever the secret source of his interest, he even¬
tually brought together a collection of cacti that was
said to rank second only to the collection in the Kew
Gardens in England. The specimens included scores
and even hundreds of the ungainly euphorbia, the
old-man cactus, the fish-hook and hedgehog species,
the aloe, the agave, and the columnar cactus.

Viewed from the top of the pathway, they made a
rather weird picture of tall, thick stalks, outreaching
limbs and odd-shaped foliage spreading to the eye at
various heights. Some of the giant columnar cacti
towered almost to the roof and exhibited queer curl¬
ing tendrils from their otherwise smooth stalks;
others showed clusters of typical thorn-studded,
petal-like foliage ; and one or two varieties of tropical
fruit * plants overarched the spectator with great
leaves, large and wide, like a green flag held aloft.
There was a really bewildering profusion of green
things, ferns in thick clusters, and bushes that held
out unfamiliar little rough branches, like arms with
prickly fingers. Yet they were all hardy and splen¬
did specimens of their kind and reflected the untiring
care that was bestowed upon them.

Surely, the visitor was wont to remark to himself,
he who gathered such representatives of nature’s
handiwork as these, typical of the beautiful and the
weird, was no ordinary scientist, with blue-steel mind,
hard and cold to the stirrings of the heart.

262

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP

He who was so passionately fond of plant life and
of blossoms was fully alive to the real spiritual values
in the world about him, and unceasingly developed
those elements, side by side with his brilliant scientific
advancement.

About the time that Steinmetz planned to build
his laboratory and conservatory, a new field of tech¬
nical endeavor was brought to his notice. The Gen¬
eral Electric works at West Lynn, Massachusetts,
had become the headquarters of the company’s engi¬
neering and shop work in the production of street¬
lighting apparatus. The equipment used in the
closed-arc systems, then in common use, was there
designed and manufactured under the supervision of
H. W. Hillman.

Mr. Hillman, seeking to bring out a more efficient
type of street-lamp, introduced the subject to Stein¬
metz; and he had little difficulty in securing the
latter’s interest, partly, it appears, because Steinmetz
was no longer quite so much taken up with the task
of acquainting the General Electric designing engi¬
neers with the mysteries of the symbolic method of
alternating current calculation.

Mr. Hillman and Steinmetz had several conversa¬
tions during which the closed-arc system was dis¬
cussed in all its aspects. Steinmetz, however, began
to intimate that he thought a better light-giving ma¬
terial than carbon, which was then employed in these
lamps, could be discovered.

263

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Forthwith he set about to find this better material ;
and after some preliminary experiments he came
upon a substance which he believed was just what
was needed. This element was magnetite, which is
a higher oxide of iron. Its use in an arc-lamp had
never before been attempted; and there were several
characteristics of the lamp as finally evolved that
stamped it as very much of a technical innovation.
The light given forth was found to he a brilliant
bluish illumination, which was produced at consider¬
ably higher efficiency than was possible with the
carbon arc-lamp.

The principal difference, from a strictly electrical
point of view, was that, whereas the carbon arc-lamp
operated on an alternating current circuit, the mag¬
netite arc-lamp could only be used on a direct current
circuit.

After making his own initial experiments and
working out his first lamp in fairly practical form,
Steinmetz secured the cooperation of the Research
Department of the General Electric Company. In
Building 19 of the Schenectady works (then located
toward the end of the factory yard), a great deal of
work was done on the new street-lamp. Through¬
out the year 1900 this work was continued, and Stein¬
metz spent a great deal of time in his own laboratory
in perfecting the new lamp.

But the magnetite arc did not come into general
popularity immediately, because it required direct
current. One of the means taken to make its merits

264

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP

known was the proposal of the engineers that a trial
installation be understaken ; and Steinmetz suggested
that this he done in the newly developed Wendell
Avenue district of Schenectady. He conferred with
General Electric officials about it and secured their
approval. Then he had a small power-house built on
his own property and installed there a Brush ma¬
chine, a machine which supplied current to arc-lamps
on direct current circuits. The Brush machine in the
Steinmetz power-house would supply four amperes
of current at three thousand volts on a direct current
arc-lighting circuit.

The new lamps were then put up on the Steinmetz
property, extending from that spot out through sev¬
eral adjacent streets. There were twenty-five lamps
in the installation, each mounted on a tall pole.
When they were turned on for the first time there
was a ceremonious gathering of townsfolk, engineers,
officials of the company, and city officials. Steinmetz
himself threw the switch that made the scattered
lights flash out luminously in the darkness and
brought forth a round of applause from the on¬
lookers.

' Steinmetz next conceived the idea of a mercury-
lamp to illuminate gardens and shrubbery, as the
magnetite arc-lamp illuminated the streets. The
mercury -lamp was accordingly brought forth; it was
also designed to operate on direct current circuits, in
series with the magnetite-lamps. Some of these
mercury-lamps were installed on the Steinmetz prop-

265

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

erty, where they were turned upon the foliage of
the trees. Others were placed in some of the city
parks.

After a year or two Steinmetz came forward with
still another suggestion, which he proceeded to work
out in his home laboratory. This proposed to do
away with the more or less troublesome Brush ma¬
chines and to run the magnetite are-lamps without
a rotating-machine. In the course of his experi¬
ments to this end, he observed that mercury would
rectify an electric current from alternating to direct.
The outcome of this discovery was the development
of a mercury rectifier, which eliminated the Brush
machines entirely.

This rectifier, which also proved of great use in the
charging of storage-batteries, was made for constant
potential low voltage and high current, which was
just What was needed for battery-charging. \

Soon after this, Steinmetz concluded his experi¬
ments in the field of street-lighting and took up other
matters; but the introduction of the magnetite arc-
lamp, and also of the mercury-lamp, continued,
through the organized activities of street-lighting
salesmen, until hundreds of thousands of these lamps
were installed in cities and towns all over the United
States.

A few years later, in 1908, Dr. Steinmetz and some
of his associates in the General Electric Company
were made recipients of the Franklin Institute’s cer¬
tificate of merit, in recognition of this work on

266

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP

the magnetic arc-lamp. The award was conferred
through the committee of sciences and arts of the
institute.

Before he discontinued his street-lighting re¬
searches, Steinmetz accumulated, by his own labora¬
tory work or that of the company, a complete set of
the different models made for both the magnetite
arc-lamp and the mercury-rectifier. These were
ranged in one of the rooms of his laboratory, occupy¬
ing all of one side of the room. They made a dis¬
play, in chronological sequence, from the first crude
model down through various modified developments
to the final successful lamp, and likewise with the
rectifier.

To the lay eye, there would not appear to be much
physical difference between these successive steps as
exemplified by the models ; but each of them involved
some technical variation over the one which preceded
it, these changes comprising the improvements that
were made, one after another, in the unceasing for¬
ward march toward a culmination that would prove
useful to the exacting needs of man.

When J. LeRoy Hayden first met Steinmetz, at
the Liberty Street house where the latter then lived,
the work on the magnetite arc was just under con¬
templation. Within the next year Hayden left
Schenectady and went to Lynn, where he acquired
experience in street-lighting engineering work, just
as the magnetite arc-lamp was coming into promi-

267

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

nence. A year later he went back to Schenectady
to enter the testing-room.

This was about the time that the public display of
magnetite arc-lamps was undergoing installation at
Steinmetz’s grounds on Wendell Avenue and in the
adjoining region of the city. From the beginning
it was something of a problem to find a man to oper¬
ate the Brush machine that supplied* the lights with
direct current. Hayden had become familiar with
these machines while in Lynn, which resulted even¬
tually in his selection to supervise the one at the
Steinmetz power-house.

It was largely night-work, and quitting-time did
not come until a pretty late hour. Steinmetz, notic¬
ing this, proposed, after a few nights, that Hayden
should sleep at the laboratory, instead of taking half
or three quarters of an hour to get back to his lodg¬
ings. v He offered Hayden the use of the other'room
on the second floor of the laboratory, and in addition
a place at his dinner-table, which meant a daily sam¬
ple of his own cooking.

Hayden promptly accepted; and thereupon began
the association of these two men, one of them so much
the elder of the other that the latter found it quite
natural, as time went on, to address his companion
as “dad.” With hardly a break from that day until
the end of Steinmetz’s brilliant life, he and Hayden
were intimates to a degree that transcended the ties
of mere friendship and led finally to the legal adop¬
tion of Hayden as the foster-son of Steinmetz.

268

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP

Their life together at the laboratory on Wendell
Avenue lasted from the latter part of 1901 until the
spring of 1903, when Hayden married and went off
to live for a few months in his own home, only to re¬
turn in the autumn, bringing his wife with him, to
establish the permanent Steinmetz-Hayden fireside
in the Steinmetz residence, where they all lived to¬
gether as one family — and a very happy family, into
the bargain.

In the words of Mr. Hayden, they “had a free-and-
easy life of it in the laboratory.” “Dr. Steinmetz,”
says Hayden, “was forever busy with his experi¬
ments. He spent only a few hours at his office at
the General Electric works; but he put in a great
many hours in that laboratory of his. Sometimes he
was out there at all hours of the night. As time went
on, and his definite laboratory undertakings became
somewhat fewer, the laboratory became a great ex¬
perimental shop for him. If he read about any new
theory in electrophysics, in electrical engineering, or
in chemistry, out he would go to the laboratory and
tinker around there, trying to work it out for himself.
He always wanted to try an idea himself, in the form
of an actual experiment; and no matter if some
one else had done it, he wanted to do the same thing
himself whenever he read about other people’s
experiments.”

The life of Steinmetz and Hayden there in the
laboratory was much less domestic in its aspects than
almost any other period of Steinmetz’s whole career.

269

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

It was more haphazard, so to speak, than when Stein-
metz roomed with Asmussen in New York, because
now everything was subordinated to laboratory en¬
terprises ; it was less systematic than the life at Lib¬
erty Hall, because there was no housekeeper to call
the men to meals at regular hours and to give them a
well-balanced diet.

Steinmetz cooked for them both. »And he did it
well, for, being a chemist, he understood cooking to
perfection. But the actual operation of preparing a
meal was, with him, simply a necessary part of the
conduct of the laboratory. He viewed it as one more
scientific process, incidental, of course, to the main
undertaking, but none the less part of the same gen¬
eral program.

His favorite meal was beefsteak and boiled pota¬
toes. Other vegetables were rarely to be seen on the
table. ' These they had day after day, with only an
occasional variation. And all other items on the
menu were governed by the reaction of Steinmetz,
the chemist. They were selected, not by any laws of
nutrition or the calculation of calories, but by a chem¬
ical color standard. And the chemical color to which
Steinmetz was peculiarly inclined was a deep yellow.
Foods that approached this tint, when cooked, were
his unfailing choice — whenever he cooked anything
besides the inevitable beefsteak and potatoes! Egg
dishes, consequently, came to occupy a high place on
the list; and, as time went on, Steinmetz developed
a pronounced taste for flapjacks and griddle-cakes,

270

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP
as well as rare skill in their preparation and cooking.

In the midst of this singular mode of living, in
which the usual domestic routine was strictly subor¬
dinated to intense mental activity and ceaseless
scientific work in the fascinating laboratory, where
mysterious blue lights burned every night, and men
came and went in a steady hum of activity centering
around the quick-moving, quick-speaking, yet cheery
little giant of electrical science — in the midst of all
this, there came to Steinmetz the first of several
honors which indicated the esteem in which he was
held by other scientific and learned men. It was his
election in 1901 as president of the American Insti¬
tute of Electrical Engineers, to serve for the year
that ended in June, 1902.

It was just about ten years since Steinmetz had
stirred the members of the American Institute of
Electrical Engineers by the first of his epochal pa¬
pers on hysteresis, delivered before that distinguished
body on January 19, 1892. Then he had been quite
unknown except to a very small group. He was
merely an obscure young engineer, hardly more than
a draftsman in actual status, who had only been in
the United States a year and a half, and whose Eng¬
lish was, as yet, far from fluent.

The swift span of one short decade had worked a
marvelous change in his professional position; a
change so extraordinary, so dramatic, that the Ameri¬
can Institute of Electrical Engineers did not hesitate

271

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

now, in 1901, to honor the man to whom it had lis¬
tened in surprise in 1892, by elevating him to its
highest office.

A year later, in June, 1902, Steinmetz was invited
to the commencement of Harvard University to re¬
ceive the degree of master of arts. In conferring
this degree, Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president of Har¬
vard, made this memorable statement*

“I confer this degree upon you as the foremost
electrical engineer in the United States, and therefore
the world.”

And here was another dramatic episode in the
career of this foremost electrical engineer. In his
native country he had just missed winning his scho¬
lastic degree at the University of Breslau, although
the reason for this lay in his own policy of espousal
of democratic socialism. Yet from the collegiate
point of view he had always been entitled to the
degree; his original thesis, published shortly after he
came to America, showed the thoroughness of the
work which he did to qualify for such a distinction.
And now, with the added brilliancy of his practical
work in mathematical research, engineering devel¬
opments, and invention, the universities of his
adopted country felt that the honor should not be
withheld.

In keeping with this attitude, the following year
brought him still another recognition of this sort.
Union College, in his home city of Schenectady, con¬
ferred upon him the degree of doctor of philosophy

272

STEINMETZ INVENTS ARC-LAMP

and invited him to become a member of its faculty
as professor of electrical engineering.

Steinmetz was now, therefore, a doctor, the title
thenceforth being everywhere coupled to his name.
He bore this recognition quietly but worthily, and
continued to embody, in achievements and personal¬
ity, the typical doctor of scientific learning.

*

273

CHAPTER XVI

COLLEGE PROFESSOR AND CONSULTING ENGINEER

FORTY years of engineering .progress were
sufficient for men to conquer the problem of
transmitting electric current across long
stretches of territory. In 1880 Edison sent current
for his newly invented electric incandescent lamp
about a mile at 220 volts. For a longer distance it
was found that heavy losses of energy occurred, even
if only a small amount of current was transmitted.

In 1922 there was put into operation a transmis¬
sion-line which flashed electrical energy at 220,000
volts for 250 miles. It is capable of sending this
enormous volume of energy even 270 miles.

Fifty thousand horse-power energy may be
“stepped up” or “stepped down” in the process of
transmission with a loss of only seventy-five one-
hundredths of one per cent for each operation.

The name of Steinmetz is inseparably linked with
this triumphant development. Others, of course, did
their share ; but it was Steinmetz who solved some of
the fundamental problems. And he was thus en¬
gaged during this epoch, embracing the years from
1900 to 1910. In his later contribution to the gen¬
eral problem his ability as an inventor came into

274

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

evidence, supplementing his earlier basic work in
engineering mathematics.

Rut his immediate personal concern in the years
now under consideration was in the building of his
residence on Wendell Avenue. Begun late in 1901,
this comfortable house was not completed until well
into the summer of 1903. It was built in a peculiar
fashion; it might almost be said to have been built
piecemeal.

As finally completed, the house presents an impos¬
ing example of architecture of the Elizabethan
period. It is built of ornamental red brick, with
high-peaked gables and a substantial dark wood
finish, and has commodious, attractive rooms. The
general plan is in keeping with the suggestions of Dr.
Steinmetz and embraces a large, hospitable entrance-
hall, broad stairs with heavy, wide banisters, and
certain touches particularly adapted to the conven¬
ience of the owner.

Chief of these is an office-room and museum, open¬
ing out of the entrance-hall at the extreme rear, and
reached through an anteroom. There Dr. Steinmetz
had his desk, on one side of which was a large swivel
arm-chair, for the special accommodation of visitors;
while on the other side stood a low bench, suggesting
a leg-rest, with a cushion, on which the doctor placed
himself, knees on the cushion, elbows on the desk —
his favorite attitude when in conversation with any
one who came to see him. At one elbow stood a
large bowl, the cover of which he would raise after a

275

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

few moments, to reach in and take a long, thin cigar,
which he would slowly light and contentedly smoke
throughout the discussion.

This room was large ; and more than half the space
was occupied by half a dozen glass-inclosed shelves,
which stood in rows with aisles between them, and
which reached clear to the ceiling. These contained
eventually a miscellaneous assortment of odd treas¬
ures, the hobbies of a scientific collector extending
over the better part of a lifetime.

In a corner of one case were incandescent lamps
of all sizes, even up to the largest. On another shelf
were to be seen tray upon tray of geological speci¬
mens, iron ores and minerals of all sorts. Another
contained a large display of Indian flint arrow-heads,
including some excellent specimens. There were
also collections of curious smooth stones and pebbles,
sea-shells, old note-books, hour-glasses, and many
other objects. There was a ladder, on wheels, which
the doctor used to get at the upper shelves of this
museum.

The office opened, at its far end, directly into the
laboratory ; and the house was also connected with the
conservatory by a door opening off the main
entrance-hall. This fulfilled Steinmetz’s original
plan of having the house fairly well toward the front
of the property, with the laboratory at the rear and
the conservatory on one side.

The building of the house began with the dining¬
room. This room was virtually finished as a unit

276

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

before any other building operations were under¬
taken; and it was so located that it overlooked the
pool in the conservatory.

When, little by little, the rest of the house finally
began to take shape, the dining-room constituted the
nucleus of the whole. Around it the house proper
was laid out. But the work was not a continuous
process. After the building of the dining-room there
was an interval when nothing was done. Appar¬
ently Dr. Steinmetz employed more than one
building contractor or was undecided in his own mind
about some details of the plans.

Hayden, who was then with him, and who watched
proceedings throughout 1902 and into 1903, particu¬
larly noticed that Dr. Steinmetz was not easy in his
mind about the house, even though he saw it finally
taking shape. For one thing, Steinmetz had no par¬
ticular plans for living in the residence after it was
finished.

He told Hayden several times that he did not
know what in the world he was going to do with the
house after it was built. It was entirely too large
for him to live in alone; moreover, he had no furni¬
ture and had no plans for acquiring any until he
knew how he was going to use the house.

Apparently he never gave a moment’s thought to
the various matters involved in maintaining the
house. And as he saw the time drawing nearer and
nearer when this problem would have to be worked
out, he began to feel dismayed.

277

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

The work continued, however, and in the autumn
of 1903 the house was finally turned over to its owner.
Around it there was — and still is — considerable
ground. The passer-by in these present times is
wont to notice the wide expanse of green lawn, with
its hedges and graveled walks. But it displayed
none of this when Steinmetz first took possession.
The lawn not only did not exist then but was not
even thought of. Steinmetz did not want a lawn;
did not, for some queer reason, like to see lawns.
Consequently, for the first year or two, the house was
surrounded by a field of tall, uncut clover, which
nodded in the summer breezes and grew up around
the home until the spacious residence seemed fairly
lost in it. After the Haydens took up their abode
with him, the doctor was persuaded to allow a lawn
to be laid out, and the odd-looking landscape round
about thereupon became more conventionalized.

Mr. Hayden married in the spring of 1903, thereby
relinquishing his quarters in the Steinmetz labora¬
tory. Steinmetz witnessed his departure with con¬
siderable regret, which he did not hesitate to express.

It is obvious that he had formed a genuine attach¬
ment for the younger man, and that the prospect of
reverting to a solitary life was not at all to his taste.
Above all, he appears to have shrunk from living
alone in his big new house. Withal, his big, friendly
heart yearned after Hayden as he watched the pro¬
spective bridegroom pack up and go his way.

The suggestion of pathos at this little crisis in Dr.

278

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

Steimnetz’s life is unmistakable. He has the ap¬
pearance of a lonely figure, an effect which is height¬
ened by the background of his comfortable material
environment and his fine new house, as pretentious
and attractive as any dwelling in town, yet unallur¬
ing to him without the prospect of human society.

Hayden was married on a Friday in May, 1903;
the couple went on a very short trip, returning to
Schenectady on Sunday, and setting up housekeep¬
ing in a flat on Park Avenue. On Monday night
they were agreeably surprised when the door-bell
rang and Dr. Steinmetz appeared.

“I wanted to see you again; I just came over for
a little visit,” he explained, smiling ingenuously.

He was immediately invited to supper; and the
three had a pleasant evening together, Dr. Steinmetz
finding evident enjoyment in discovering that his old
laboratory mate had not lost any of his congenial
traits through the acquirement of a wife. Mrs.
Hayden, incidentally, was no stranger to Dr. Stein¬
metz. On several occasions before her marriage she
was one of a party of visitors at Camp Mohawk, on
days when the camp and its genial proprietor were
entertaining the ladies.

Throughout the summer of 1903 Dr. Steinmetz
was a frequent visitor at the Hayden home. He
never failed to report on the progress on his house,
then in its last stages of construction. And when, in
the early autumn, it was all ready for occupancy, he
invited Mr. and Mrs. Hayden over to see it. As

279

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

they went through the empty rooms, remarking upon
the handsome interior finish and the snug, substan¬
tial aspect of the work, Dr. Steinmetz suddenly
exclaimed :

“Why don’t you both come here to live? We will
all have a home here together. It will be pleasant
for every one.”

And so it came about. Both Mr* and Mrs. Hay¬
den were attracted by the house, and both thought a
great deal of Dr. Steinmetz; while the doctor, on his
part, was as pleased as a boy when they accepted the
proposition. The next few weeks were busy but
happy, for him, as he saw his friends take possession,
and the empty rooms take on the appearance of a
real home.

Whenever he felt really jovial, as he did in these
autumn days of 1903, he was given to indulging in
various whimsical, boyish pranks ; and he and Hayden
treated Mrs. Hayden to an amusing surprise, out in
the laboratory, during the festivities incident to the
settling of the home. The surprise was a box of
candy that had been subjected to an electrical charge.
When Mrs. Hayden essayed to take it up she re¬
ceived a sharp sensation that made her fingers tingle
and caused her to drop the box with a startled ex¬
clamation, while Dr. Steinmetz, looking on with
Playden, chuckled in quiet amusement.

Jokes like this were a favorite of the doctor’s for
a while. It was the sequel to his acquirement of a
static machine, which some friend had given him.

280

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

The machine stood in one of the rooms of the labora¬
tory, where it was of no use whatever to Dr. Stein-
metz in his work. But, being a capital means of
charging a table or a chair or any other article with
electricity, it came to be valued by him simply for
its fun-provoking possibilities.

Thus it was sometimes used by Dr. Steinmetz,
with the connivance and assistance of Hayden; until
visitors to the laboratory would hardly venture over
the threshold, and could not by any means be induced
to sit down or to take anything in their hands if they
did enter.

Fortunately Dr. Steinmetz was careful to play
tricks with this machine only upon his very closest
friends, people who would enjoy the joke as much as
he did. When either Hayden or he saw such a
friend approaching the laboratory, they would hasten
to the static machine and turn on the current. Then,
when the visitor touched a table, or sat down in a
chair, he received a vigorous shock. Perhaps when
he even shook hands with Dr. Steinmetz, if the latter
brought his other hand into contact with an object
that was charged, the new arrival was instantly elec¬
trified, in a very literal sense, by the greeting he
received.

In the late winter of 1902-03 Dr. Steinmetz en¬
tered upon his duties as professor of electrical engi¬
neering at Union College. It was the beginning of
a ten-year period in his life devoted to a unique lead-

281

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ership among young men, a period which left its
impress upon the slowly shaping destinies of numer¬
ous fresh young lives and simultaneously stirred in
Dr. Steinmetz’s own life his ever-sensitive social
instincts, appealing directly to the fraternal side of
his nature.

The circumstances that led to his joining the col¬
lege faculty arose principally from the close working
interest existing between Union College and the
General Electric Company. The company was
always friendly toward the college ; if the need arose,
it stood ready to lend a helping hand.

In this instance, the helping hand was a boon in¬
deed. It was extended at the request of Dr. Andrew
Van Vranken Raymond, then president of the col¬
lege; and it brought to the institution the man of
whom it was said around the campus after his death
that .he was “the most unique as well as the most
widely known professor ever a member of the Union
College faculty.”

Previous to this time, Union College had offered
merely a nominal course in electrical engineering,
conducted by Assistant Professor Horace T. Eddy.
The acquisition of Dr. Steinmetz infused a tre¬
mendous stimulus into this course. It was no longer
a subordinate branch of the general curriculum but
became an established department of the School of
Engineering.

The catalogue of the college for 1903-04 describes
the new department in words that clearly reveal the

282

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

influence of the Steinmetz ideal of a well-balanced
training, combining both the classical and the tech¬
nical, for men who would become electrical engineers.
The department of electrical engineering, according
to the catalogue, “aims at a thorough and broad scien¬
tific education of the prospective engineer, rather
than the specific training of a specialist.” Then are
named the three classes of studies which constitute
“such training as is now considered essential for every
educated man”: first, a general culture course;
second, languages, literature, and history; and third,
“a broad and general technical education,” especially
striving for a thorough understanding of the funda¬
mental principles, “rather than a memorizing of
numerous facts — aims at quality, and not quantity.”

President Raymond made the first definite public
announcement of the arrangement whereby Dr.
Steinmetz joined the faculty of the college at the
fifteenth annual banquet and reunion of the Union
College Alumni Association of New York, in De¬
cember, 1902. In his remarks on this occasion he
credited the General Electric Company with a spirit
of friendly helpfulness through which “the special
electrical expert of the company, whose position at
the head of his profession is unchallenged, the man
to whom President Eliot referred last June, when
conferring upon him an honorary degree, as ‘the fore¬
most representative of electrical science in America,
and therefore in the world,’ Mr. Charles P. Stein¬
metz, is permitted to take charge of our course of in-

283

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

struction, and has already been appointed professor
of electrical engineering in Union College.”

Dr. Steinmetz was present at this gathering; and
on being called upon to respond to the toast “Light¬
ning Progress,” he gave an outline of the electrical
engineering course which he conceived as appropriate
for Union College. He seized the opportunity to
bring forward his belief in a “broad and general
scientific education, in all the knowledge required by
the educated man in this twentieth century,” to quote
from the college catalogue.

The “Concordiensis,” published by and for the
students of the college, contains several references to
Dr. Steinmetz and the new department during the
next few issues of the publication. In the number
for February 18, 1903, Dr. Steinmetz himself has an
article, discussing his plans and his theories as to what
constitutes a proper course of study for a man who
wants to become an electrical engineer. On March
11, the “Concordiensis” reprinted an article from
“Success,” in which Dr. Steinmetz told in his own
words the story of his boyhood and student days in
Breslau.

Dr. Steinmetz served the college without financial
compensation. Never a seeker of wealth for wealth’s
sake, in the case of his professorship he held the
quaint, perhaps old-fashioned, German conception of
the teacher. In his native country it was always
looked upon as a most honorable profession; the
“Herr Professor” was regarded as a personage set

284

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER .

apart. Dr. Steinmetz carried this point of view with
him when he accepted the Union College professor¬
ship. He clearly considered that he was honoring
himself in assuming the position.

His work at the college gave added importance to
the laboratory of electrical engineering which was
established on the campus during this period, and in
which E. E. F. Creighton was a prime mover. In¬
teresting work was done there, especially in the study
of corona, or electric current leakage during trans¬
mission. A miniature transmission-line, built with
great care to a scale of nearly two thousand miles,
was part of the laboratory equipment devised by Dr.
Steinmetz and Mr. Creighton.

As professor of electrical engineering, Dr. Stein¬
metz was the head of this entire department at the
college. He planned the curriculum of the depart¬
ment, engaged those who served under him, and di¬
rected their work. He was in every sense an active
professor, lectured regularly every day to seniors and
juniors, and attended all the faculty meetings he
could find time for, incidentally adhering compla¬
cently to his fondness for smoking there as at the
General Electric Company. He was the only pro¬
fessor who was ever known to smoke during a faculty
meeting at Union.

In this new realm of activity, Dr. Steinmetz found
a unique opportunity to exercise his talents as a
teacher; and to the extent of those talents a great

285

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

many men who came under his instruction in the
decade that followed will readily testify. He made
them feel at ease, bore with them in their perplexities,
and displayed such a personal interest in the indi¬
vidual as forever removed him from the proverbial
classification of “cold, calculating scientist.”

He could hardly be called a strict disciplinarian in
the class-room. Yet his lectures were usually so
well worth while, so original, and so lucid as to hold
the interest of his students through an entire course.
If any situation arose in which he was moved to com¬
ment on some laxity of procedure in his classes, he
invariably did so in characteristic quiet fashion. His
manner was mild; but it was always evident that he
was perfectly aware of what was going on, knew in¬
stantly when he was taken advantage of by the
thoughtless or the drone, and was too discerning to
be deceived, no matter what the occasion.

From the very first, he was popular with the stu¬
dents. Although maintaining a certain reserve,
which was caused by shyness much more than by as¬
sumed dignity of any sort, he was yet fraternal with
the students, joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity,
and aided the boys of that organization in securing
a fraternity house. He was occasionally a visitor at
the Phi Gamma Delta house himself, mingling
in a friendly, quiet way with the students, all of
whom looked up to him with admiration and
respect.

He later became a member of Sigma Xi and Tau

286

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

Beta Pi, honorary scientific fraternities; and of Eta
Kappa Nu, engineering fraternity.

Those were the days before the institution of a
compulsory athletic tax upon the student body. The
only method of supporting college athletics was to
canvas for funds. And when the canvassers went
their rounds they could always count on Dr. Stein-
metz for a substantial contribution. He was keenly
interested in their sports, as in all outdoor life; had
tried several times to learn to swim; and was always
ready to help along any athletic enterprise among the
boys of the college.

The college Y. M. C. A. frequently secured Dr.
Steinmetz as a speaker on popular subjects at Sun¬
day afternoon social gatherings. These were always
the most successful of the Y. M. C. A. events. The
college students thronged to hear their idolized pro¬
fessor of electrical engineering. Sometimes he spoke
of his engineering experiences, or recounted days in
Germany when he was himself a student. But his
personality and appreciation of humor, as well as his
faculty for explaining and describing, made these
talks of unfailing interest to the students.

The first time that Dr. Steinmetz attended a stu¬
dent play at the old Van Curler Opera-house, he
caused a thrill among the student body by appearing
in one of the boxes attired in a gray flannel shirt be¬
neath an ordinary sack-coat. The students were
greatly fascinated by this. It struck them as abso¬
lutely characteristic. Nobody but “Steiny” would

287

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

have done it; and nobody but he would have done it
as a perfectly natural, ordinary practice.

“In short,” as the “Union Alumni Monthly” puts
it, “the boys took him to their heart, and he entered
fully into the life of the college.”

In the lecture-room he was inclined to set a pretty
stiff pace for his classes. He was wonderfully stimu¬
lating as a lecturer, but he frequently talked far over
the heads of the students. The reason for this was
twofold. He never quite realized the limitations of
the student mind. With all his sympathy and kindly
interest in individual members of his classes, he al¬
ways imagined that young men could absorb more
than was to be expected. In addition to this, he was
apt to feel stirred to a high pitch of enthusiasm
within himself as he got up into the upper levels of
the grand field of electrical engineering, and so would
unconsciously leave his admiring, but bewildered,
classes far behind.

Nevertheless, he was a successful class-room lec¬
turer and exceedingly popular with his students. At
first the college boys found his high-pitched voice and
his marked accent a trifle difficult to follow, but this
reaction did not last. He possessed a remarkably
clear diction; and he invariably unfolded his subject
in a spirited and entertaining manner, so that even
a technical lecture, as he handled it, was decidedly
effective.

As a result, his classes gained a vivid impression of
the broad background of the subject, securing

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PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

a sound conception of the fundamentals. Even
though sometimes left floundering by the ultra-
technical exposition to which they had listened, the
students of Dr. Steinmetz carried away with them a
realization that electrical engineering was a vast and
tremendous field, a profession of unimaginable pos¬
sibilities, in which no man with ambition and oppor¬
tunity could feel restricted.

Soon this came to establish a reputation for the
department of electrical engineering at Union Col¬
lege. Other educational institutions realized that
under Dr. Steinmetz the students at Union were get¬
ting a conception of fundamentals which was bound
to fire them to unusual endeavors. Dr. Steinmetz’s
contagious faith in his subject, an overpowering per¬
sonal enthusiasm, and a manner of presentation that
was fascinating to all except the utterly indifferent
were responsible for this result, almost as much as
his utter mastery of the course.

Thus it came about that the boys who got the most
out of Dr. Steinmetz’s classes got it through the
medium of inspiration. There was awakened within
them a feeling of respect for electrical science, a per¬
ception of what a mighty thing it could become in
the shaping of the world — exactly the feeling that
Dr. Steinmetz himself had .about it. His soarings
into the glorified, cloud-enshrouded upper heights,
where he left all others behind him, had the effect,
at least, of revealing to the students the boundless
magnitude of the field, leaving them murmuring to

289

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

themselves, “What a tremendous thing is this of
electrical engineering !”

Yet that one failing of Steinmetz persisted: he
kept forgetting that other people, especially students
young in years and experience, could not grasp
mathematics and science as easily as he could. Al¬
though he had the ability to make things clear,
although he possessed excellent didaGtic powers, al¬
though he would start his lectures well within the
understanding of his classes, he was almost sure, as
he went on lecturing, to leap to limits which they
could not reach.

Dr. Steinmetz lost no opportunity, while he was a
college professor, of urging his theory of a broad gen¬
eral education for technical men. He always insisted
that no student could fully understand electrical en¬
gineering in just four years. That, he contended,
was merely long enough to enable him to lay a foun¬
dation, upon which he must perseveringly build as
time went on.

But a technical training, he likewise maintained,
is not a narrow thing, confined largely to one special¬
ized subject. It must be accompanied by a grand
study of the classics, of Greek, of psychology, his¬
tory, economics, and philosophy. Proceeding on this
theory, he guided his students toward gaining a wide,
sweeping view of the whole physical world and of all
that had ever entered into it in times past, pointing
out that thus only could a student perceive the sig¬
nificance in the relation of one thing to another.

290

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

As can easily be imagined, this generous educa¬
tional policy promoted the most harmonious relations
between the engineering and the classical faculties of
Union College during Dr. Steinmetz’s time. The
classical department found no friction or cross¬
pulling from the technical department, but instead a
loyal and sincere support of its own curriculum — an
outspoken missionary in what is all too frequently
looked upon as the competitive camp.

There are a few deliciously typical Steinmetz anec¬
dotes still told about the campus, one of which seems
likely to become enshrined as a permanent college
tradition. It harks back to 1904, when Dr. Stein¬
metz had just begun to “let himself out” as a college
professor of unmeasured ability. In that year he had
one lecture to juniors which lasted two solid hours
and usually left the class in a somewhat limp state
of mind. In the middle of it he allowed a fifteen-
minute recess, during which the boys could move
about or leave the room. After resuming, for the
second section of the period, the doctor would call
the roll again.

It happened one day that nearly half the class
lost heart at the end of the first section of the lecture
and did not appear when the second roll-call occurred.
The absent ones had arranged with those who stayed
through to answer for them when the names were
called ; hence, as the doctor went down the list, a voice
responded “Here” for every name, yet, upon glanc¬
ing up as he finished the roster, the doctor perceived

291

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

that out of perhaps fifty members only about twenty-
five were present.

“Twenty-five men are here,” he announced, with a
characteristic hitch of his trousers, “yet fifty an¬
swered to the roll-call. A remarkable mathematical
phenomenon!”

It is also related that a student one day asked Dr.
Steinmetz if there is any truth in the .old adage that
lightning never strikes twice in the same place.

“Yes,” he replied, “I may say it is true in a great
many instances.”

“Why is that?” persisted the student.

“Because,” said Dr. Steinmetz, with a twinkle,
“there is usually nothing there for the lightning to
strike a second time.”

In 1913, Dr. Steinmetz expressed a desire to re¬
linquish the duties of an active professor. He real¬
ized that his professorship was bound to become more
and more of a side issue, and he felt that the subject
was too big and too important to be a side issue.

He recommended as his successor his old chum of
Liberty Hall days, Dr. E. J. Berg; and, at an in¬
formal little dinner given that year to both Dr. Stein¬
metz and Dr. Berg, the former delivered a short
speech which was in the nature of a farewell to his
associates on the faculty and a presentation to them
of his successor.

In the following year Dr. Steinmetz’s name ap¬
peared in the Union College catalogue as professor
of electrophysics, a position which he retained until

292

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

his death. But it did not involve very much activity.
As a matter of fact, he lectured only once or twice a
year, and after 1915 his relations with the faculty
were merely nominal, although he remained a friend
of the college the rest of his life.

Dr. Steinmetz retained his connection with the
General Electric Company throughout his period of
service on the college faculty. He seldom spent
more than two or three hours at the General Electric
works; and his employers allowed him such latitude
of procedure that there was no possibility of conflict
between his activities at both places.

His work for the General Electric Company had
now come to concern itself with special investigations,
the problems of the moment, whatever new difficulties
arose requiring unusual technical ability to unravel.

Among these was the subject of transmission.
More and more, the demand of the time was for long¬
distance transmission of electrical energy. And, in
this field, electrical engineering still had a great deal
of research to perform. At the same time, the elec¬
trical engineers possessed such vision as enabled them
to keep well ahead of existing practice.

They all foresaw, Steinmetz with the rest, that the
voltages at which electrical energy was to be trans¬
mitted from place to place were bound to undergo a
vast increase. As these voltages went up, the prob¬
lem of finding transmission-cables which would carry
such high electrical pressures, and the whole ques-

293

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tion of practical high-voltage transmission, proved
perplexing.

Voltages higher than 75,000 or 80,000 — the pres¬
sures then in common use — caused corona to appear
around the transmission-cables, which indicated that
some of the current was leaking because the cable
was not of sufficient capacity to carry it. Extremely
high voltages also created interference with the op¬
eration of electrical apparatus in the power-stations.

Hence the investigation resolved itself into a study
of cables and of means of eliminating disturbances in
electrical machines. In this work Dr. Steinmetz
played a prominent part. He helped to establish an
extension training-course, which was intended to sup¬
plement the regular test-course at the General Elec¬
tric works. This extension course sought to train
groups of engineers for special lines of engineering
work,' one of which was the study of transmission
problems.

The investigations which Dr. Steinmetz carried on
in 1908 and succeeding years involved the building of
an experimental high-tension transmission-line in the
yard of the General Electric works at Schenectady.
A transformer designed to raise line voltages to
220,000 volts, the highest then known even in experi¬
mental work, had been built for use with this system
— twenty years before such voltages were demanded
by commercial usage.

The work had satisfactory results. Aided by
Steinmetz’s powerful mathematical ability and inven-

294

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

tive mind, new types of transmission-cables were
developed, new methods of operating transmission
systems were revealed, and transformer improve¬
ments were discovered. As an outcome of the whole
series of experiments, the engineers were ready when
a demand came for a transmission-line going higher
than 80,000 volts.

It is interesting to observe that while preparations
were being made, years later, to establish the first
220,000-volt commercial system, the engineers in
their laboratories were experimenting with transmis¬
sion at a million, and later at two million, volts. The
attribute of foresight, as in the case of Steinmetz,
makes torch-bearers of the men who are blessed with
it and with a knowledge of how to use it.

Steinmetz the inventor was at this time working
wonders similar to those previously achieved by
Steinmetz the mathematician. He invented a com¬
plete method of high-tension transmission which
made it possible to perfect the modern far-reaching
electrical systems, and to utilize to the full the trans¬
former invented by William Stanley.

This contribution of Steinmetz to transmission
practice solved difficulties which no one else seemed
able to dissipate. Much of the study which pre¬
ceded it was done in the power-houses of Chicago,
where an incessant demand for improvements, on
account of the ever-growing use of electricity by peo¬
ple of that metropolis, brought the situation to a
focus.

295

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Of all the two-hundred-odd patents which devel¬
oped from Steinmetz’s work, in the field of invention,
he himself regarded the series covering this subject
as the most valuable. In reply to a question, once
asked him, as to what he considered his most impor¬
tant invention, he immediately replied:

“I consider my method of electric current trans¬
mission as the most important of my inventions.”

He had said upon another occasion, also, that the
development of an economical method of transport¬
ing power — that is, electrical energy — was the prin¬
cipal accomplishment of modern times in the general
technical sphere of work.

Dr. Steinmetz was now so much occupied with in¬
vestigating special problems that he believed there
was a need for a consulting department. He had in
mind a group of engineers, each somewhat of a spe¬
cialist 'in a particular field, who would be available
when needed by any of the company’s engineering or
commercial departments.

The idea had the approval of the officials; and
forthwith Dr. Steinmetz organized such a group,
which was designated as the consulting engineering
department. From the outset, he was the head of
this department, which was established in 1909.

Several men who later distinguished themselves
individually quickly joined the department. Among
them was Frank W. Peek, Jr., who was interested in
corona investigation and the study of transmission
problems. After a period of association with Dr.

296

PROFESSOR AND ENGINEER

Steinmetz, he went to the high-voltage laboratory of
the company at Pittsfield, where in 1922 he was one
of the engineers engaged in a demonstration of ar¬
tificial lighting at two million volts, simulating and
even exceeding in some aspects the startling experi¬
ments conducted by Dr. Steinmetz the preceding
year or two at Schenectady.

As head of the consulting engineering department,
Dr. Steinmetz made special consulting work his par¬
ticular interest. It is not definitely on record, of
course, but there is no recollection, so far as can be
ascertained, of any serious difficulty encountered by
electrical engineers of those days which Steinmetz
was unable to solve.

About this time a problem arose in connection with
the first use of electricity in the New York subway.
It was found, to the dismay of officials of the electric
transit lines, that an electric current was able to pass
through a concrete structure, and that, because of
this, patrons of the subways might at times be placed
in danger. Dr. Steinmetz was hurriedly called into
consultation. He visited the subway, discovered the
reason for the phenomenon, and showed how it could
be obviated.

Repeatedly he gave evidence of his uncanny ability
in mathematics. His associate engineers always un¬
derstood that he carried the entire table of logarithms
up to 1000 in his mind and that he knew by heart the
seven-point extensions of the table. No one could
surpass him in rapid calculations in intricate equa-

297

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tions, decimals, and fractions; and to multiply one
huge number by another was to him but the matter
of a moment, something that he performed almost
between puffs on his cigar.

He could talk “over the heads” of the most astute
technicians of his day, yet could, and often did, ex¬
plain an engineering situation to a mystified layman
so that his listener could understand, the fine points.

He began to be called the wizard of Schenectady;
but it was a term that he disliked. He regretted to
hear any one call him a wizard— perhaps because it
implied some sort of grand isolation from his fellow-
men. And that, to Steinmetz, with his human
yearning for friends and associates, was an intoler¬
able thing.

298

CHAPTER XVII

STEIN METZ A SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

TO say that Charles P. Steinmetz was a Social¬
ist is to make only a half-statement. More
than that, it gives a misleading impression to
a great many people whose conception of a Socialist
embodies some sort of rabid social crank; Steinmetz
did not belong in any such category as that.

He was a genuine idealist — an agitator in his early
years, a dreamer of practical dreams in later life, and
something of a seer. Stated in mere matter-of-fact
words, he was an active member of the Socialist party
in America, and affiliated with its local organization
in Schenectady. Beyond this trite statement, an¬
other, almost equally trite, may be brought forward:
Dr. Steinmetz belonged to the conservative wing of
the Socialist party.

But nothing in this dry recital of universally
known facts reveals the inner motives of Steinmetz
which had their abode somewhere behind his formal
Socialistic designation. To , catch the real feeling
that was early stamped upon his very heart, and that
produced, in modified and somewhat polished form
as he matured, the grand sweep of doctrine which was
to him almost as much a religion as a political creed,

299

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

one needs at least a glimpse of the man’s soul in his
younger years; one needs to see him intimately dur¬
ing the formative age, the period when everything
concerning human life as lived in this complex world
of ours appeared to him in such burning reality as to
cause reactions in a peculiarly sensitive mind that
flamed clear down to the roots of his being.

Such a glimpse — although it is nothing more than
a glimpse — is fortunately afforded by the recollec¬
tions of a man who knew Steinmetz in his student
days in Germany, when they were both young to¬
gether; knew him in his moments of youthful politi¬
cal passion, saw and heard him in moods that discov¬
ered the unmasked broodings of his ardent mind.

For Steinmetz at the age of twenty-one, when he
was going through the University of Breslau and
tutoring in his spare time to meet his expenses, was
brooding. In his own circle and his own city, he had
observed what impressed him as economic injustice.
He felt convinced that there was something wrong
when some people had things easy in life because of
their wealth, while others, who he believed were
equally deserving, seemed doomed to a lifetime of
hardship through lack of wealth.

Steinmetz himself, as already remarked, found it
something of a struggle to get what he most wanted
at the moment, an education. Hence the tutoring of
gymnasium students, to help finance his university
course; hence, also, his prompt response to the invi¬
tation of Hiiiz Lux to join the university Socialist

300

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

group, where he worked with an aggressive hostility
of feeling that he completely lost in his later years in
America, after he had adopted the methods suggested
by mature reflection — and had found, incidentally,
that Socialists in America were not persecuted as
they were in Bismarck’s Germany.

Among his pupils, in those days when he was both
learning and teaching, was a young man named
George Moser, also a native of Breslau. It was in
1886, when Steinmetz was at the height of his student
Socialist activities. Moser was preparing to gradu¬
ate from the gymnasium of St. John’s, from which
Steinmetz himself had graduated only a year or two
previously; and Steinmetz entered the Moser home
to tutor George in mathematics.

“I shall never forget the moment when I saw
Steinmetz for the first time,” recalls Dr. Moser.
“Recommended by one of his professors to my fa¬
ther as the best man for the place of tutor, he
presented himself one afternoon in our house. There
appeared before our eyes a small, insignificant¬
looking figure . . . clad in the conventional long¬
tailed coat of black broadcloth.”

It was during the tutoring that Steinmetz revealed
his youthful convictions on economic and social ques¬
tions, convictions expressed in the vigorous argu- .
ments in which he and Moser engaged. One of
these, as described by Dr. Moser, reveals the general
trend :

“In speech and counter speech, we settled the prob-

301

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

lems of the world easily and grandly, and solved
questions puzzling the minds of the most astute
statesmen and economists. We were young, and
the world was bright. The fire and cocksureness of
youth inspired us to limitless flights of fancy, and we
were happy.

“Those were the moments when Steinmetz was at
his best. I can see him now, his chair swung side¬
ward from the table, right knee on the seat, bending
far over the table’s top, firmly anchored on his left
elbow, and with his right hand gesticulating and giv¬
ing emphasis to his phrases, his voice becoming shrill
and more shrill the more he immersed himself in his
subject.

“When failing breath forced him to cease, I took
up the verbal battle, and so it raged, heatedly,
fiercely, but always joyously, back and forth, for
hoursvat a time. We agreed almost never; hg took
his stand invariably with the proletariat, of which I
knew naught. He knew something already of prac¬
tical politics, which to me was a seven times sealed
book; in fact, he was so much my superior in most
lines, with the exception of music and art, that in
these debates I had to be satisfied generally with the
loser’s end.

“But there was not one instance of bitterness or
hurt feelings, not on my part, and I believe not on
his; for when the storm was over Steinmetz was
again his sedate, smiling self, and only a brighter
light in his fine eyes lingered for a while, provided

302

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

he had not damaged his glasses in the heat of discus¬
sion, which happened occasionally.

Later I came to realize that the conditions under
which he had to live were sure to cause violent reac¬
tions in a man of his intellectual force. But in those
days his impassioned answers to my more or less logi¬
cal remarks, his wild orations concerning the injustice
of the ‘ruling classes,’ the misery of the workman and
small employee, the money evil, the struggle between
capital and labor, pleased me, because I had ruffled
my friend’s feathers.

“This attitude of mind was not surprising, for I
did not know anything about these things, brought
up, as I had been, always in the midst of my family
and friends. But now I know that many things
which Steinmetz thundered out in his youth are ac¬
cepted facts to-day.

“Unfortunately, the young man had come into
contact with political elements and had become a
Social Democrat, the brand of German Socialist that
preached a change in government from the theoret¬
ical constitutional to the republican form. The So¬
cial Democrats were considered by the German
Government then in power as inciters and revolution¬
ists. To be sure, Steinmetz never advocated direct
action; he talked only, but used no caution in his
utterances, and in this respect he was oblivious to any
warning. The time came when he was compelled to
leave Breslau between night and morning in order
to avoid arrest, and so did he vanish from our home.”

303

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Those were the days in which the Socialism of
Charles Proteus Steinmetz sprang forth from the
hidden seed, planted — who can say when, or how ?

It may be asked, Why did Steinmetz hold such
views as those of which Moser obtained so dramatic
a glimpse? Principally because he had acquired
ideals, ideals which never quite lost their original lus¬
ter, despite the inevitable disillusionments of life.

First, these were the ideals of the impressionable
youth in Germany, with vigorous, unfolding mind
gazing about upon a world that seemed to have failed
to cultivate its possibilities. He beheld many lives
under repression, although others seemed not so un¬
fortunate; while a few sat in the highest places and
seemed able frequently to keep down those who were
unable to secure a firm foothold on the ladder.

Soon he became altruistic in the sense that he de¬
sired to see a fair chance for every one who had
apparently failed to get such a chance. It seems to
have been a desire to help the under dog, although he
realized at the moment that he was a good deal of an
under dog himself.

But this ideal, this feeling, became intense with
him. It became his creed, his religion. It burned
as a consuming flame in his soul, and it burned out
from his character whatever germ of self-interest had
secured a hold there from the unfortunate spoiling
he received when a child. When he first heard
the principles of Social Democracy explained in the

304

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

restaurants and student homes of Breslau, it seemed
to Steinmetz at once that here was a practical chan¬
nel to work through. The goal of Socialism seemed
to be his own goal ; its purpose, his purpose ; its ideals,
his ideals.

» And thus he became a Socialist, attracted by what
seemed the most logical outlet for his philosophy of
life. He joined the movement believing, as he al¬
ways believed, that men and women should give each
other the fullest opportunity to make the most of
their lives.

To hear this mild-mannered, calmly poised man
quietly enunciating his convictions as to the highest
welfare of mankind in the realm of social relations,
gazing at his hearer with pleasant benign eyes as he
talked, and occasionally uttering a deep-throated, ap¬
preciative laugh, gave one a feeling that here spoke
no prophet of an ill-designing, malignant octopus, to
be dreaded by the timid and hated by the dauntless.
Rather did it impress one as the voice of a brotherly
spirit, yearning to see human destiny ennobled, car¬
ing ultimately for nothing so much as the enrichment
of life through practical means.

There is a long gap in the career of Dr. Steinmetz
as a Socialist, during which he seems to an ordinary
observer to be hardly more than an onlooker. It is
the gap that stretches from the abrupt termination of
his student Socialist affiliation in Breslau, with its
over-fervent espousal of the cause, to the year of his

305

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

placid appearance in Schenectady as a member of the
city government, first by appointment of a Socialist
mayor and later by election at the polls with the rest
of the Socialist city ticket.

Throughout this span of twenty-three years, Stein-
metz never for a moment relinquished his principles.
These beliefs, to which he clung even though it meant
leaving his native land, had naturally not been given
up in the interval between Breslau, 1888, and Sche¬
nectady, 1911. He had, year after year, faithfully
carried his social theories, unchanged in fundamental
concept, although modified by the gradual process
of time as to their practical aspect. It cannot be said
that he brought them into undue prominence, and
certainly he did not exploit them in any ordinary
sense of the word.

From the general trend of his life during most of
this interval, there is every reason to believe that his
other pursuits kept his Socialism somewhat subor¬
dinated. The absorbing mathematical studies in
which he was engaged, with the tremendous volume
of intense mental application which they involved,
left him neither the time nor the strength for activity
in a political organization. Moreover, he was rather
keenly impressed, during the first few months of his
American residence, with the necessity of earning a
living without delay; and, finally, he was not favor¬
ably placed for playing any prominent part in the
social or economic arena, for he came to this country
a stranger, without a friend except the faithful

306

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

Asmussen, and quite lacking in an entree to Socialist
circles, had he been disposed to seek anything of the
sort.

He found, however, rather early opportunity to
acquaint himself with Socialist policies and practices
in the United States. As the young draftsman at
Eickemeyer’s factory, he became friendly with the
only other draftsman employed by the establishment,
Edward Mueller, at whose home he was later to
board for several years. After a few days, Mueller
showed more than a passing interest in the young
immigrant. He began asking Steinmetz various
questions, the purport of which was not particularly
apparent. For a few moments Steinmetz answered
him unsuspectingly; but, the questions continuing,
Steinmetz suddenly perceived that he was evidently
being given a cross-examination.

Then the real object of Mueller came out when he
began to advocate to Steinmetz, in so many words,
the adoption of the cause of Socialism. Steinmetz
turned to him, with a quick, whole-hearted smile, and
said quietly: “I am a Socialist. I was a Socialist
in the University of Breslau, Germany.”

Mueller expressed surprised satisfaction ; then they
shook hands and became fast friends. A few months
later, when Steinmetz said he' intended to change his
lodgings from New York to Yonkers, to be nearer
his work, Mueller immediately invited the young man
to board at his home. Steinmetz acceded and found
the Mueller domestic circle altogether congenial, pro-

307

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

viding him with a pleasant group of friends as well
as a harbor of familiar political principles.

Yet throughout Steinmetz’s stay in Yonkers, his
brief residence in Lynn, and many years of his life
in Schenectady, the world heard virtually nothing
of him as a Socialist. It heard considerable about
his scientific work but little of his politics.

As his residence in Schenectady lengthened, how¬
ever, he found ample time for reflection, not only
upon the “social issue,” as he called it, but upon his
personal procedure in relation to it. He emerged
as a conservative upholder of the best in Socialism,
with a very broad vein of altruism running through
his political attitude, thinking always of the greatest
good to the greatest number. He advocated the ad¬
vancement of Socialism, it is true; but by the legiti¬
mate, legal methods open to any party.

Moreover, certain characteristics of his political
status became more and more apparent from this
period until his death. He was an avowed Socialist,
affiliated with the Socialist organization. Yet he
was also a valued employee of a great capitalistic
corporation; and Socialism has always declared itself
at war with capitalism.

Unquestionably, Steinmetz was too useful to the
General Electric Company, as a master mathemati¬
cian and far-seeing electrical engineer, for the com¬
pany to part with his services unless Steinmetz
himself precipitated such a parting. And Steinmetz,
while he never forgot the inequalities presented in

308

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

the social strata of the world by the distribution of
wealth — which had so burned itself upon his mind as
a youth — was invariably consistent, in his own life,
in not valuing wealth merely for its own sake.
Hence he might not have been tempted by financial
considerations to stay in the General Electric organi¬
zation if he had conceived of his relations with the
corporation as a violation of his conscientious polit¬
ical principles.

These circumstances lend all the more significance
to his unvarying attitude. For he was a corporation
employee more than thirty years; nor did he at any
time make a move to free himself from a recognized
capitalistic concern.

The explanation is to be found, in part, at least,
in his book, “America and the New Epoch.” An
unbiased examination of that work will reveal at once
that Steinmetz believed in corporations. He be¬
lieved that in economics and sociology the world is
passing out of the so-called individualistic era and
into what he called the “collectivistic era.” He be¬
lieved that the corporation contains such possibilities
of efficiency, and thereby such capacities for useful¬
ness to whole nations — and to the world in general —
that it will become more and more indispensable.

Doubtless, he might have felt aggrieved, as a So¬
cialist, toward the individual policies or actions of
individual corporation officials. But the corporation
as an economic proposition he held to he entirely
justifiable. He classified it as the most desirable

309

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

form of business organization for the present and
future needs of the world’s history, especially with
the approach of an era (which he believed was bound
to come sooner or later) when waste must be banished
and conservation must be enthroned, if the human
race is to survive.

In all this, like the idealist he was, he had in mind
the good of the people at large, and«gave the corpo¬
ration — great as it may be, and wealthy as it usually
is — a place in the future scheme of things because
the corporation, he contended, if it is not misused,
cannot fail to accomplish good for the people at
large.

Realizing that this was part of his economic creed,
and as such was interwoven by Steinmetz into his
Socialist principles, it is easy to comprehend why he
maintained such a curious status for so many years.
He had solid convictions back of his evident content¬
ment in his odd position as a Socialist employee of a
capitalistic corporation.

Dr. Steinmetz first actually “went into politics,”
as the expression goes, in 1911, when Schenectady
elected George R. Lunn, the Socialist candidate for
mayor. Until that year, Steinmetz had only a nom¬
inal affiliation with the Schenectady branch of the
American Socialist party. He had kept in the back¬
ground, quite purposely, it seems; had said little and
done less to annomice his political principles to his
associates.

310

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

But when Lunn was elected mayor on a Socialist
ticket, Dr. Steinmetz promptly came forward to offer
his services to the new administration in any capacity
in which he could be of use. He had never done this
before, evidently feeling that he would not have been
acceptable to any administration with whose political
principles he was not in sympathy. But he was wel¬
comed by Mayor Lunn, who immediately gave Stein¬
metz a chance to apply some of his practical idealism
in a matter-of-fact way.

He enabled Steinmetz to undertake constructive
activity for something in which the doctor very much
believed, the American public school system, with its
“open door” for the children of every American
home.

Taking advantage of the action of Dr. Steinmetz
in making himself available for service, Mayor Lunn,
upon assuming office, immediately named Steinmetz
a member of the Board of Education which elected
him its president. It was the only situation through
which Steinmetz could have attained to this public
position, in all probability, for his Socialist party
label, it must be admitted, stood in his way. The
peculiar combination of circumstances which led
Schenectady to elect a Socialist municipal ticket in
1911 was so unusual among American cities that it
attracted country-wide attention; the American pub¬
lic at large shied away from Socialist candidates and,
in the case of Dr. Steinmetz, continued to shy, as
will appear in a subsequent chapter.

311

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

This suggests what must naturally occur to any
close student of the career of Steinmetz ; namely, that
his Socialism, however much sincerity of purpose it
may have had back of it, was a barrier to practical
accomplishment. Even though Steinmetz made his
Socialism the vehicle of idealistic altruism, it suffered
from what many persons considered its unfortunate
association with the Socialist organization. On the
other hand, Steinmetz did an immense amount of
good in the world entirely aside from his political
activity. He succeeded in accomplishing, as an elec¬
trical engineer, the sincere desire of his life to make
the world a better place for all mankind. He did
much more good as an electrical engineer than he did
as a Socialist.

The events which followed Mayor Lunn’s appoint¬
ment of Steinmetz to be a member of the Schenectady
Board of Education proved that the electrical genius
was an exceptionally fit man for the place. Certain
peculiar qualifications for this position soon made
their appearance. His analytical mind, his belief in
education, his appreciation of the classics as well as
the sciences, all enabled Steinmetz to give himself
with keen, yet intelligent, zeal toward the solution of
the city’s school problems.

It may be pointed out that the versatility of Dr.
Steinmetz, his Protean characteristic, so to speak,
is apparent from his attitude and record in this field
of education. It is undoubtedly true that he had
made a favorable impression in various educational

312

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

quarters by several times enunciating broad, sound
policies.

His interest in engineering training, typified by
his service on the faculty of Union College, was very
strong. Yet his views on education were never one¬
sided. He believed in the indispensable value of a
well-grounded elementary schooling and yielded to
none in his appreciation of the classics. Several
papers on educational topics had borne his signature ;
and in these, as well as one or two discussions before
educational societies, he had taken a firm stand for
the promotion of classical subjects in school curricula.
His statements had revealed a thoroughly American
attitude on the influence of education in national
life.

Hence it was by no means a case of inviting an
unknown or untried personage to take charge of a
city’s school system. And there was need for a man
with a broad outlook to direct the Schenectady
schools at that moment. The city had just concluded
a period of rapid expansion, resulting from the estab¬
lishment in Schenectady of the General Electric
Company’s main office and largest plant. The city’s
population had jumped ahead so rapidly that its edu¬
cational facilities had been outdistanced. Within
the twenty years just preceding, while the factories
steadily expanded, the population had quadrupled.
Yet the school system had not increased in the same
ratio.

The entire community needed rather urgently a

313

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

man who was something of an educational specialist,
a planner, a developer. And such a role Dr. Stein-
metz succeeded in playing, gaining thereby quite de¬
cidedly the confidence of his fellow-citizens.

He found, upon taking up this civic work, a woeful
lack of accommodations for the children who were
clamoring outside the gates of knowledge. Only one
school building had been erected since 1907, and that
was in one of the more remote districts, where it was
of little aid in relieving the general congestion.
There were no less than three thousand boys and girls
without seats in the schools of the city.

This condition was the first that Steinmetz under¬
took to correct as head of the Board of Education.
He endeavored to give every child a seat. During
his term, three new schools were either wholly built
or begun, and two others were enlarged. And when
Steinmetz went out of office two years later >plans
were under way for taking care of every school-child
in the city.

He also introduced other innovations, particularly
representative of the needs of the schools as he saw
them. He worked for and obtained an increase in the
number of school playgrounds and playground super¬
visors, although he was unable to get as much of an
appropriation for the latter as he desired. He estab¬
lished a system of medical supervision of the school-
children by physicians who served on part time and
nurses who served full time. And he worked out a
methodical plan for keeping track of epidemics

314

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

among school-children, in order to make it as easy
as possible to stamp them out.

But Steinmetz found the way of a practical ideal¬
ist in public office in an American municipality was
far from smooth. He had a difficult time of it in
trying to serve the best interests of the schools. His
ideas were not always accepted nor their wisdom con¬
ceded. He encountered opposition, political opposi¬
tion, which manifested itself by giving him trouble
in getting the appropriation of funds for school en¬
terprises. The opposition centered in the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment, which passed upon the
city’s expenditures.

This was the secret of the move Steinmetz made,
two years later, to win election as president of the
Schenectady Common Council. For the president
of the Common Council is also a member of the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment; hence, if he
were elected president of the Common Council,
Steinmetz saw that he could secure a vote in the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment and work
more effectively for the support of his school
program.

Steinmetz ran twice for president of the Common
Council, each time on a Socialist ticket headed by
Lunn. The first time, in 1913, he was defeated
when a Fusion ticket overthrew the Socialists under
the fervent appeal to the voters to “redeem the city
from Socialism.”

315

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

But two years after that, in 1915, the city hav¬
ing swung back again to a Socialist regime, Lunn
was elected a second time on a Socialist ticket, and
Steinmetz with him. In that campaign Dr. Stein-
metz presented the curious spectacle of a candidate
who received the support of the voters even though
he did not personally make an active effort. He did
virtually nothing positively to win votfcs. He did not
make a single speech. He did not attend a single
political mass-meeting. He spent no money. Yet
he was elected; although, of course, the Socialist
ticket really carried him into office.

In this manner Steinmetz realized his immediate
aspiration of becoming president of the Common
Council — which he did not care about to any extent,
even though it was the only political office to which
he was ever elected — and thereby automatically a
member of the Board of Estimate and Apportion¬
ment — which he did care about a great deal.

“I was not particularly eager to preside over the
Common Council,” Dr. Steinmetz told his friends,
sometime later. “That, to me, was a rather routine,
perfunctory position. It did not even carry the vot¬
ing privilege, except when there was a tie.

“No, what I wanted was to secure a place on the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment, to which, as
president of the Common Council, I was entitled.
Thus I would be able to cast a vote on the appropria¬
tion of funds for the schools, as well as for other city
departments.

316

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

“To be sure, I was only one. But Mayor Lunn
usually supported me in the things I wanted to do
for the schools. Moreover, he was able as a rule to
influence one or two other votes in the board ; so that
between us we were successful in voting funds for
several propositions and for the more essential en¬
largements of the school facilities of the city.”

And thus it was that he was able to go on with
his general program for bettering the school system,
after an interruption of two years during which the
Socialists were out of office.

That interval had little effect upon the undertak¬
ings which Dr. Steinmetz hoped to carry out. The
work of building new schools had so far progressed,
most of it having been already completed, that these
undertakings were not to be halted by a change of
administration. The development of medical super¬
vision, the employment of nurses, and the establish¬
ment and operation of playgrounds had met with
such strong public approval that it was not to be ex¬
pected the Fusion regime would undertake to re¬
verse these policies, even though Dr. Steinmetz per¬
ceived that the F usionists were not altogether in sym¬
pathy with his ideas.

Hence, when Steinmetz returned to office in the
city government, he merely went on with his general
school policy, with the advantage derived from his
double office. He directed the reorganization of the
school system, as president of the Board of Educa¬
tion (to which Mayor Lunn reappointed him), and

317

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

carried on a crusade in the Board of Estimate and
Apportionment, by virtue of his office as president
of the Common Council, fighting for the financing of
the school policies that he advocated.

Among these, the most conspicuous during this
period were the establishment of classes for subnor¬
mal children; classes for children with tubercular
tendencies, to be taught in glass-inclosed rooms on the
roofs of the school-houses; a system of ungraded
classes for children who could not keep up with their
regular classes because of mental slowness, un¬
familiarity with English, or recent residence in the
city; and classes for anemic children. For all of
these Dr. Steinmetz battled in the financial arena,
meeting with general success. Indeed, the soundness
of his policies is to be judged from the circumstance
that none of these innovations were dropped after
being adopted. \

At the same time, Dr. Steinmetz did not neglect
his “perfunctory” duties to the Common Council.
He was almost always on hand, to occupy the presi¬
dent’s chair when that body was in session. He gave
as much attention as was required to the general
city problems; but his real devotion was to the
schools. And to them went his real energies.

From that time until his death, Dr. Steinmetz was
a worker for the schools as president or as a member
of the Board of Education. It was his one definite
contribution to the civic life of his home city. His
service to the cause of elementary education for the

318

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

community in which he lived was easily recognized
as whole-hearted, broad-minded, and constructive.
Hence each succeeding administration retained him
on the school board; but throughout most of this pe¬
riod Lunn continued as mayor, being elected as a
Democrat after his two terms as a Socialist. And
Mayor Lunn never failed to reappoint Steinmetz.

Dr. Steinmetz, with his ideal of a society freed
from restricted individual opportunity and from
what he doubtless conceived to be the mistakes of the
old school, always watched with keen interest the de¬
velopment of the Russian Soviet Government. Ap¬
parently he had hopes that tangible benefit to the
human race in general would come out of the radical
experiment upon which the Russian people have em¬
barked, since the overthrow of imperial autocracy.

It was obviously in the glow of such a hope that
he wrote a letter to Lenin, in the spring of 1922, in
which he offered his technical assistance in the ad¬
justment of any problems of an engineering nature
that might arise. He even offered to make a visit to
Russia, if the necessity occurred, in order personally
to consult with the Soviet leaders. Lenin cordially
acknowledged this letter but did not call upon Dr.
Steinmetz for any definite advice.

The incident did not add to the prestige of Dr.
Steinmetz in the opinion of many persons who fail
to sympathize with the Soviet point of view. They
were quick to criticize his action, which led them to

319

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

consider Steinmetz as more of a visionary than a
practical idealist, and in any event a man whose
political and social views were far from safe.

Yet Dr. Steinmetz quietly continued his interest
in Russia and Russian events to the very last. He
realized that conditions in that country were abnor¬
mal and recognized the existence there of a great deal
of suffering among individuals. His reaction to this
is indicated in the use he made of a check for two
hundred and fifty dollars sent to him by a magazine
in payment for an article he had written at the re¬
quest of the publication. The article in question was
a discussion of electricity in American home life.
The check he promptly indorsed over to the Ameri¬
can Committee on Soviet Relief and sent it to the
headquarters of the committee in Yew York, with
the understanding that the money should be applied
toward the purchase of tractors for farm develop¬
ment in Russia.

When the Kuzbas Colony was established in Rus¬
sia, to operate, with American engineering talent, a
valuable coal-mining concession obtained from the
Soviet Government, Steinmetz, in 1922, was made
a member of the American advisory committee. In
accepting membership on the committee, he wrote:

“I am very much interested in Kuzbas, and hope
much from it. Everybody taking interest in the en¬
terprise knows, or should know, that it is the creation
of a better world in which he is taking part, hut that
he goes out into a field where he must expect hard-

320

SOCIALIST OFFICE-HOLDER

ships and disappointments, where he must organize
and create.”

That, in a phrase, was the Socialism of Steinmetz
— however much it lost standing in the eyes of many
by being called Socialism. He hoped for and
worked for “a better world.” Any idealist who has
ever sincerely dreamed of and tried to bring about
such a grand achievement, thinking of others, not of
himself, is a brother worker with Steinmetz, seeking
the thing which Steinmetz sought. And the mag¬
nificent consistency about Steinmetz was that, hold¬
ing these idealistic ambitions, while at the same time
having such ability as made him of immense value to
his employers in the field of electrical development,
he would not seek great pecuniary reward for him¬
self because he believed that “a better world” meant
a world in which nobody would demand more money
than he actually needed in order to live in comfort.

>

321

:hapter xviii

STEINMETZ MAKES FRIENDS WITH LIGHTNING

AS the man who tamed the lightning, Dr.

Steinmetz was endowed.by an extravagant
press and a mildly awed public with attri¬
butes akin to those supposed to have been possessed
by the gods of mythology. Indeed, some of his ad¬
mirers among the newspapers have habitually alluded
to him as the Jove of Schenectady. Enthusiastic
cartoonists have pictured him snatching the lightning-
bolt from the hand of Jupiter Fulgur and con¬
verting it to the use of science. Perhaps the idea
actually prevails, in some minds, that he amused him¬
self, when time hung heavy in his laboratory (which
it never did) , by hurling thunderbolts about the room
as easily as boys throw a baseball around the bases.

This wonder-struck attitude of astonishment, with
its inevitable exaggeration, grew out of a series of
prosaic electrical experiments conducted by Stein¬
metz and his co-workers, which culminated in the
early part of 1922.

It was all in the day’s work with Steinmetz. It
came up and was carried through in the course of his
every-day experimentation at the General Electric
Company. He believed it would prove to have a

322

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

practical side that would be of value to his employers.
And such turned out to be the case.

Dr. Steinmetz was a student of lightning for the
greater part of his life, chiefly because an investiga¬
tion of lightning logically followed upon his study of
hysteresis and of alternating current calculations.
His earlier work made it possible, first, for efficient
electrical machines to be designed, and, second, for
electric energy in its most general application — alter¬
nating current — to be developed into immense electric
power systems, whose far-stretching transmission-
cables and ramifying distribution-lines carried the
services of this tireless giant hither and thither, any¬
where and everywhere.

But coincident with such tremendous development
there appeared new problems, growing out of
this very expansion to which Steinmetz contri¬
buted so much. He sums up the chief of these
new problems in his own simple, pithy words when
he says:

“When alternating currents had finally been con¬
quered, and alternating current transmission-lines be¬
gan to spread all over the country, an old enemy be¬
came more and more formidable — lightning. And
for many years the great problem upon which de¬
pended the further successful development of elec¬
trical engineering was that of protection from light¬
ning.

“But before this could be undertaken with reason¬
able hope of success, we had to know a great deal

323

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

more about lightning, and the phenomena which are
centered in lightning.”

This is how Dr. Steinmetz came to study light¬
ning, in relation to its effect upon electric light and
power systems. Perceiving that permanent progress
was now contingent upon the mastery of this situa¬
tion, he did not deem it unduly presumptuous to ask
questions of the terror of the skies, 4which has over¬
awed all generations of men through the long sweep
of the ages.

Man and nature had already come into inevitable
collision when Steinmetz began his investigation of
“transient phenomena,” under which technical term
electrical engineers place all types of electrical dis¬
charges that occur only periodically and exhibit er¬
ratic behavior. The greater the electrical systems
became, the surer they were to encounter interfer¬
ence from the electrical manifestations of a thunder-

v

storm. Ambitious man found that he had assured
himself a battle royal with one of the most spectacu¬
lar elements in existence.

This colossal combat did not, for a while, assume
formidable proportions. But that was merely be¬
cause electric light and power systems had only just
begun to spread out their marvelous networks of
wires and to produce great machines for sending cur¬
rents at great voltages over those wires. The provo¬
cation, so to speak, was lacking.

As these systems grew larger, however, and the
menace from lightning increased accordingly, Stein-

324

Photo Courtesy General Electric Co.

Steinmetz and Einstein, photographed during the latter’s visit to
America in 1921

V.

«

\

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

metz, as well as other electrical engineers, gave seri¬
ous consideration to means of safeguarding electri¬
cal apparatus from its ravages. He first began mak¬
ing investigations of any extent during the closing
years of the nineteenth century and by 1898 was giv-
ing a great deal of attention to it.

Steinmetz very soon observed, in his investigation
of transient phenomena, that while lightning may
have been the criminal which started the trouble in
an electrical system, the actual damage and destruc¬
tion was not done by the lightning but by the nor¬
mal power of the electric circuit produced by the elec¬
tric generators. This normal power of the system
broke loose and got out of control as a result of the
disturbance originally created by the lightning.

With the increasing advance of the electrical trans¬
mission systems, from thousands of horse-power to
tens of thousands and from tens of thousands to hun¬
dreds of thousands, this danger increased also, in pro¬
portion.

The lightning-arrester is the particular guardian
of electric light and power lines which has been af¬
fected by the work of Steinmetz and others who have
studied the peculiarities of transient phenomena.
This is by no means the same sort of contrivance as
Franklin’s lightning-rod, designed for the protection
of buildings and houses, and still efficient to-day,
nearly two hundred years after its invention. The
lightning-arrester protects electrical apparatus and
electric transmission-lines.

325

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Probably the lightning-arrester has never, outside
the electrical engineering-profession, been given the
credit it deserves. If millions of busy people
throughout the land understood the way this quick¬
working device guards them from annoyance by
warding off interruptions to the electrical service that
is so much a part of their lives, they would look up
to it as not the least of the inanimate, ever-vigilant
friends of man.

For the lightning-arrester is the sentinel of the
transmission system. It is the watch-dog of the elec¬
tric generating station, the guardian of the power¬
house. It operates with a swiftness equaled only by
lightning itself, and its grand function is to ward off
lightning disturbances whenever these outbursts men¬
ace the line.

It does this by automatically opening a path by
which the vast voltage of a lightning-bolt can* jump
harmlessly to the ground, instead of coaxing the elec¬
tric current of the service lines out of all bounds and
thereby throwing the whole system into chaos. And
after it has shunted off the lightning’s energy, by
taking advantage of lightning’s one inherent weak¬
ness — a tendency to follow the line of least resistance
■ — the lightning-arrester prevents the normal voltage
of the transmission-line from following after the
lightning. It induces the transmission current to
stay where it belongs and proceed on its way to serve
the needs of man.

This whole little drama of the clash and counter-

326

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

clash of mysterious forces occurs so instantaneously
and is over so swiftly that the people in homes, stores,
offices, and factories who are using the electric cur¬
rent that very moment never know that anything out
of the ordinary has happened. The lightning-
arrester has done its work with silent, unerring effi¬
ciency; without being told what to do or when to do
it; more dependable than any man could be.

Steinmetz assisted materially in the evolution of
the lightning-arrester. He conducted for several
years important tests of lightning-arresters, for this
was the practical contribution which his lightning-
generator brought about. The way this unique ap¬
paratus helped in this work will be related further
on, but let it be emphasized here that Steinmetz was
a decided influence in this, as in other fundamental
aspects of electrical development.

In the early days he devoted himself with charac¬
teristic scientific fervor to the problems brought on
by electrical expansion. His studies of transient
phenomena covered, all told, most of the last two
decades of his life. Many specific investigations
were made, some of which were published as scien¬
tific papers.

At length he conducted a systematic study of the
general equation of the electric current, which
doubtless has little significance to the layman, but
was valuable to the profession. It was presented in
1907 before the American Institute of Electrical En¬
gineers. , Ten years later, an advanced investigation

327

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

of the general theory of transients was pursued, and
the results issued as a second paper, published in
1917. And in 1919 there was a third paper on the
same general subject.

All this work was then collected gradually, system¬
atically rounded out, and published as the book,
“Theory and Calculation of Transient Electrical
Phenomena and Oscillation.” This .work of Stein-
metz’s appeared in its original form in 1909, running
through three editions, each somewhat revised and
enlarged, the last one issuing in 1919.

But this did not mean that the investigation was
completed. In reality it was never completed. Dr.
Steinmetz was still busily at work with it when he
died; and a large new laboratory-room was in course
of construction at the General Electric works at
Schenectady, to enable him to prosecute it with vigor.

As his study of lightning progressed, Dr. Stein¬
metz was able to arrive at some interesting inciden¬
tal conclusions. Many people had harbored the be¬
lief that the enormous electricity of a thunder-cloud
could profitably be used for commercial purposes if
a method of harnessing it could be discovered. Dr.
Steinmetz said : “Not so ! The electricity in a cloud
that can hurl a thousand lightning-bolts is worth just
ten dollars!” Each bolt, he calculated, was equiv¬
alent to six hundred million horse-power, for two
millionths of a second, which, when divided and sub¬
divided, amounted to a third of a horse-power for an
hour; and 833 horse-power for an hour, if multiplied

328

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

by a thousand — the number of bolts in the thunder¬
cloud. The market-price for current sufficient to
produce 333 horse-power for an hour is ten dollars.

On the other hand. Dr. Steinmetz calculated that
there is enough energy in a single flash of lightning,
lasting perhaps one millionth of a second, to illumi¬
nate a five-room flat every night for over a month, if
it could be spread out over a normal period of time.
Which is simply another way of saying that a family
in the average five-room flat uses in one month, for
lighting, electric current equivalent to the electricity
in a flash of lightning.

Out of all this logical, orderly study of lightning
and its behavior, Dr. Steinmetz came to have a scien¬
tist’s admiration for the grand scale upon which na¬
ture operates in such an instance as one of these great
discharges from the sky. He was, in every sense, a
student of the thunderbolt. He frankly declared
the fascination he experienced in watching a great
electrical storm.

And, being as familiar with the habits of lightning
as he was, he never felt the superstitious dread of it
that troubles many folk. No one ever found him
sitting on a feather-bed or hiding in the cellar when
the artillery of the heavens was in full play. He
would watch a storm of thunder and lightning from
his front porch or from his window, if he felt so dis¬
posed. But if he had ever been caught in a thunder¬
storm, out in the country, it is certain he would have

329

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

walked a long distance and have suffered a severe
drenching before he ventured to seek shelter under a
lone tree, standing isolated by itself in a field or on
a hillside ; for that, he well knew, is a real danger-spot
in a thunder-storm.

Doubtless this familiarity with lightning-flashes
suggesting that he was what might be described as
on speaking terms with lightning, was quite enough
to set him apart, in the eyes of many, as a person of
uncanny temperament ; a man who could look a flash
of lightning in the face and smile ; a man who was on
a familiar footing with forces which affright the timid
and alarm the sophisticated.

But Dr. Steinmetz would hardly have enjoyed be¬
ing so regarded. He did not want to be set apart.
He disliked to have people think of him as over¬
whelmingly “different.”

This quiet man of science, who never raisfed his
voice when he talked, whose kindly smile had some¬
thing very winning about it ; this philosopher on the
welfare of mankind, this friend and playfellow of
children — it was not the easiest thing in the world to
think of him as a “thunderer,” or as a “lightning
tamer.” And this was one’s reaction toward him,
even after knowing that he really had produced arti¬
ficial lightning; even after seeing his laboratory
lightning-bolt smash the limb of a tree to fragments
and hurl them many feet away.

Certain it is that Steinmetz, of all people, did not
entertain the slightest contempt of Jove’s sky-born

330

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

artillery. “Lightning,” he said, “always has been the
most mysterious and most terrifying of all the
phenomena of nature.”

And then he went on to describe just how it origi¬
nates; how electrical force is stored up within a
thunder-cloud through the amalgamation of count¬
less electrically charged drops of moisture, until the
tension becomes greater than the rain-cloud can
carry; then the tremendous discharge of electricity
known as the lightning-flash, with its attendant deaf¬
ening clap of thunder.

One day, in the summer of 1920, an unusually ac¬
commodating bolt of lightning gave Dr. Steinmetz
the “chance of a lifetime” to learn something about
its family history, its temperament, and its methods
of work. This over-friendly bolt jumped down out
of a thunder-cloud and struck Dr. Steinmetz’s camp
on Viele Creek. The doctor was “not at home” when
this occurred ; and in his absence the visitor made him¬
self rather free with the property.

A tree overhanging the camp was hit first, the bark
being torn from the upper part of the trunk. The
lightning then leaped to the camp, where it divided
into two forks. One branch passed to the ground
through one of the eight-by-ten posts forming the
front of the camp. Large splinters were ripped
from this post during the passage.

The other fork smashed a window and then hit the
camp’s local lighting-circuit, which was fed by a
storage-battery. Apparently an oscillation was set

331

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

up in the lighting-circuit, as some of the lamps were
destroyed, while others, located between these, were
undamaged. The lightning then split into several
directions, shattering or tearing splinters from sev¬
eral of the two-by-four supporting posts of the camp,
damaging a screen door and a bed. In the bedroom,
the lightning jumped from a loose end of wire to a
looking-glass, and from there to the ground.

The looking-glass, which has since become some¬
what famous, was smashed into many pieces. Some
of these were thrown across the room for a distance
of more than twenty feet.

As soon as Dr. Steinmetz heard that his riverside
lodge had been honored by a discharge of sky-born
electricity, he hastened to the camp, where he arrived
about twenty-four hours after the visitation. He
found that a really remarkable opportunity had been
presented for a profitable study of the behavior of
lightning.

It was remarkable because it was so entirely iso¬
lated. This eliminated any possibility that the evi¬
dence might be disturbed before the doctor could
make his investigations. He was almost first on the
ground and observed everything exactly as the light¬
ning had left it. He could see precisely where the
fragments of the mirror had landed. He could ob¬
serve just how the post of the door was splintered.
It was a condition of things parallel to what Sher¬
lock Holmes enjojred — those rare occasions when he
was able to reach the scene of a crime before a flock

332

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

of detectives, police officials, and newspaper men had
mixed the trail.

So Dr. Steinmetz set to work, taking photographs
and making notes. He was impressed with the ex¬
plosive nature of the force that had damaged the
camp. An enormous outburst of energy, explod¬
ing instantaneously, had blown to pieces whatever
came in its way.

The most singular feat which Dr. Steinmetz per¬
formed, in studying the effects of the lightning, was
with the mirror already mentioned. He essayed to
collect the numerous shattered fragments and to piece
them together, as they had been in the beginning.

A huge task, most people would say! Huge, in¬
deed, but not too colossal to dismay the patience of a
scientist when any profitable result is in view.

For hours Dr. Steinmetz occupied himself with this
apparent child’s puzzle, showing a persistency no
child would show. As he proceeded he found that
the amalgam on the back of the glass had been partly
burned off in such a manner as to exhibit curious
markings. These aided him somewhat in fitting the
pieces together, a task which was finally completed,
allowing Dr. Steinmetz to carry his studies and his
deductions much further than would have been pos¬
sible otherwise.

The genius of the man in working out this remark¬
able problem, left, as it were, at his door-step, is pic¬
turesquely described in the “World Magazine” by
William James Smith.

333

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

“I offered to help,” he relates, “and my efforts
must have been laughable to the doctor, as he sat there
quizzically watching my ineffectual work in the piec¬
ing together of the partly restored glass. Finally,
after days of effort, he did piece it together. Then
the mirror was carefully placed between two pieces
of plate-glass, which were sealed along the edges.
In this way it was transported from* camp to the lab¬
oratory in Schenectady. And now, years after, 1 the
result of the solving of the jig-saw puzzle is flashed
around the world.”

The culmination of Dr. Steinmetz’s studies of
lightning came in the construction and use of his
famous lightning-generator, with which he produced
his artificial lightning, to the astonishment of the
laity.

If is pertinent to note at this point that Dr.
Steinmetz was not alone in his studies of tran¬
sient phenomena by means of synthetic light¬
ning. In the Pittsfield laboratories of the General
Electric Company, F. W. Peek, Jr., had engaged
in similar experiments, which were worked out in even
more spectacular fashion. There was a miniature
village, against which the miniature lightning-flash
was hurled, striking buildings which were unpro¬
tected by lightning-rods, while those which were for¬
tified with such rods were spared. The voltage dis¬
charge of these flashes was higher than Steinmetz’s,

i In reality it was not more than two years.

334

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

attaining two million volts. The purpose of the
experiments, however, was different from the purpose
of Steinmetz, who was endeavoring to discover ex¬
actly what occurs at the moment of a breakdown
in electrical apparatus under the strain of an ab¬
normal electrical discharge.

The Steinmetz lightning-generator was in success¬
ful operation by the autumn of 1921. Several tests
were conducted in the presence of engineering of¬
ficials of the General Electric Company. Later its
spectacular performances were demonstrated to a
more non-technical audience. From the beginning
it proved useful for the practical purpose which Dr.
Steinmetz had in mind, the more accurate testing of
lightning-arresters under conditions simulating ac¬
tual lightning-discharges. This had never before
been possible with such a refinement of realism.

Far from demanding entire credit for this unique
apparatus, Dr. Steinmetz insisted that his asso¬
ciates should be honored with himself in every ref¬
erence to it. When he was asked if he would allow
a popular description of the lightning-generator to
be written, he readily agreed with that stipula¬
tion.

“I shall be very glad to help you,” he said, “but I
am not the only one who has done this. I should like
to have the others who worked with me mentioned
in your article. It is their work, also.”

That was characteristic of Dr. Steinmetz. As a
matter of simple truth, he wanted the other engineers

835

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

brought forward; and they were. One of them was
Mr. Hayden, the doctor’s adopted son. The other
was N. A. Lougee.

As was to be expected, the name of Steinmetz over¬
shadowed those of his co-workers. The public be¬
came impressed with the thought that Steinmetz had
produced an indoor thunder-storm. One man, in¬
stead of three, received the appelat-ion of the “thun-
derer.”

The lightning-generator was not at all extraordi¬
nary in appearance. Set up in one wing of the lab¬
oratory, it would be quite lost to an outsider amid the
assemblage of unfamiliar apparatus standing about
the room. A non-technical person would have had
to have it pointed out to him.

He would discover that it was absolutely unlike
what he had probably imagined. It consisted of sev¬
eral' wooden uprights, with crosspieces between them,
on which were placed a number of large, oblong
pieces of coated glass in several rows, or banks. In
a sense, the generator looked like two large racks
holding glass slabs. In the original machine there
were two of these racks, side by side. Off to their
left were mounted several fat glass bulbs of peculiar
shape, known as kenotrons, or rectifiers. The rest
of the apparatus was merely a network of wires, run¬
ning this way and that.

There were actually just two hundred of the glass
plates in the first of the generators. These were ar¬
ranged in groups of fifty and in two banks. They

336

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

are the condensers of the lightning-generator. In
the reproduction of nature’s theatricals, these repre¬
sented the thunder-cloud. Like the thunder-cloud,
they stored up electric current, bit by bit, noiselessly
and unimpressively, just as does the thunder¬
cloud.

When they were loaded up to their capacity — full
to overflowing with electrical energy — they behaved
just as the thunder-cloud behaves, on a much smaller
scale. They got rid of their electrical cargo by shoot¬
ing it off, discharging it, through the line of least
resistance. And the result was a flash of lightning.
It was exactly like a real flash of lightning except in
one respect: it was not so powerful.

In the original lightning-generator, the energy of
the miniature lightning-discharge was a million
horse-power. The energy of a real flash of light¬
ning had been calculated by Dr. Steinmetz at five
hundred million horse-power. The voltage of the ar¬
tificial lightning-flash was one hundred and twenty
thousand volts. That of the actual lightning-stroke,
according to Dr. Steinmetz’s estimate, averages from
fifty to a hundred million volts.

Dr. Steinmetz lucidly explained the relation be¬
tween voltage and energy in a flash of lightning.

“Higher voltages than we use in this generator
have been produced,” he said, “and have been talked
about as ‘lightning.’ But mere high voltage is not
lightning and has no similarity to lightning in its ac¬
tion and effects.

337

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

“The characteristic of lightning is high voltage,
backed by very large power, lasting for a very short
time only, and so giving explosive effects.

“In certain of the high-frequency experiments of
Professor Thomson, Tesla, and others, the voltage
was very high but with little power back of it; and
even in the experiments with a million volts, 1 at
Pittsfield, the current was only a fraction of an am¬
pere. Thus the explosive effects characteristic of
lightning were entirely absent.

“In our lightning generator we get a discharge of
ten thousand amperes at over one hundred thousand
volts; that is, a power of over one million horse¬
power, lasting for a hundred-thousandth of a second.
This gives us the explosive, tearing, and shattering
effects of real lightning, so that, for instance, a piece
of a small tree, exposed to the discharge, is mechani¬
cally-torn to pieces by the flash. A piece df wire
struck by it vanishes in dust.

“The difference is similar to that existing between
a pound of dynamite and a pint of gasolene; the
pint of gasolene contains more energy and can do
more work than the pound of dynamite, but the pint
of gasolene gives off its energy only slowly, at a mod¬
erate rate of power, while the pound of dynamite
gives off its energy explosively, all at once, at an enor¬
mous rate of power, and thereby locally tears and
destroys.”

In all this there was a clear-cut purpose. The

i Conducted in September, 1921.

338

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

work made possible with the lightning-generator per¬
mitted tests of lightning-arresters that were much
more accurate than any previous tests. Lightning-
arresters constituting, as they do, the watch-dogs of
electrical systems, it is of prime importance to know
beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will work
properly when the time comes. Severe factory tests
are imposed upon them to make this certain, yet never
before have these tests accurately simulated actual
conditions, which occur when a discharge of lightning
affects an electrical transmission-line.

But with the Steinmetz lightning-generator actual
service tests have been found possible. Lightning-
arresters were placed in the path of the artificial
lightning and were connected up with the lighting
circuit of the building, which they were called upon
to protect from the “lightning.” In some cases
lightning-arresters which seemed satisfactory under
the usual tests were found to have unsuspected flaws
of operation, and some mysterious failures of
lightning-arresters to function properly in actual use
were cleared up.

Out of it all has come surer, more reliable pro¬
tection for electrical transmission-systems and gen-
erating-stations.

The lightning-generator had been working for
six or eight months before it was exhibited to any
one outside the laboratory. After the officials had
witnessed its performance, a group of laymen was

339

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

admitted, and on this occasion photographs were
made.

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning when
the little party of guests, with the photographers of
the company, rode up in the elevator to the top floor
of the building and walked down a long corridor,
past wire partitions which protected a mighty array
of electrical paraphernalia. Mr. IJayden halted the
visitors at length in front of the two rack-like frames.
They made preparations for the demonstration and
for the work of the photographers, answering mean¬
while the questions of the spectators.

It was planned first to show how brilliant a flash
the lightning-generator would produce; then to ex¬
hibit its destructive ability.

The engineers had carefully prepared an easy
path, or line of least resistance, for their manufac¬
tured lightning to pursue. This consisted of an ar¬
rangement of wires which would serve to conduct
the bolt. At one point there was a break in the
path, and here was placed whatever object was to be
the subject of the experiment. By connecting the
article with the wire on each side, it was exposed to
the full force of the lightning-discharge.

F or this first demonstration, a stout section of wire
was placed at the break in the conducting wires and
connected to the loose ends of the latter. The light¬
ning would pass through it, heating it to a spectac¬
ular degree, and showing to the observers — and the
camera lens — as a momentary, intense flash.

340

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

The preparations were at their height and the en¬
gineers and laymen were engaged in animated con¬
versation, when a short, quick-moving figure ap¬
peared, walking briskly among the laboratory ap¬
paratus toward the gathering. It was Dr. Stein-
metz, who approached with an alert manner and a
cordial glance that seemed to include everybody at
once.

“Good morning! Good morning!” he exclaimed;
then, without wasting a moment, he quickly drew up
a chair and leaned upon its back in the characteristic
Steinmetz attitude, his cigar wreathing thin blue
smoke in front of his face, while he scrutinized the
lightning-generator and the work of his assistants.
There he remained, a little apart from the rest of
the group, apparently oblivious of the others, but al¬
ways answering quickly and incisively when his as¬
sistants came over to consult him.

He replied to their questions with a quick “Yes,
yes,” and a vigorous little nod of his head. Only
once or twice did he raise an objection. Once it was
when the photographers explained what they pro¬
posed to do to catch the fleeting passage of his in¬
door lightning-flash on the photographic plate.

“But how will you get it that way?” he inquired.

The photographers explained more fully. They
would do it thus and so. They realized the difficul¬
ties; they saw the point that Dr. Steinmetz raised,
which, although Dr. Steinmetz was not a photog¬
rapher, was a very pertinent one. They would do

341

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

thus and thus to get over the difficulty. That was
obviously the only method. Dr. Steinmetz agreed.
He repeated his energetic “Yes, yes,” and nodded.
The preparations proceeded.

Incidentally the photographers who worked with
Dr. Steinmetz were impressed by his uncanny ability
to figure out their problems in his head. He could
always tell them, in a few moments of mental calcula¬
tion, what size lens to use to get a certain size of pic¬
ture at a certain distance and at how long an ex¬
posure. The photographers worked it out in a mat¬
ter of minutes, with paper and pencil. Steinmetz
could do it in a span of seconds, in his head.

When all was ready for photographing the light¬
ning-generator in operation, the engineers gave the
signal, and the current was turned on. The elec¬
tricity began to flow into the condenser, there to be
stored up at a steadily mounting tension. \

Almost without warning the “lightning” came.
There was a very vivid flash; the wire that had been
placed in the path of the lightning stood out for a
brief instant, white-hot from end to end; and simul¬
taneously was heard a report like that of a cannon.

Then the indoor thunder-storm was repeated to
show its destructive power. A large-sized block of
wood was placed in the path of the lightning-flash,
and after that a section of the limb of a tree.

The method of placing these objects so that the
lightning would strike them seemed prosaic enough.
Nails were driven into each end of the block and of

342

STEINMETZ AND LIGHTNING

the limb. Around the nails were wound the ends of
the wires which constituted the path laid out by the
engineers for the journey of the lightning-flash.
The lightning, they knew, would travel from the
lightning-generator along the wire, as the line of
least resistance, and upon reaching the gap between
the two ends of wire — occupied by the block of
wood and afterward by the tree limb — it would
leap across that break in its path, splitting the inter¬
vening non-conductor in doing so.

That was exactly what occurred. While the spec¬
tators stood well back from the range of the bolt’s
destructiveness, some of them holding their hands
over their ears, the synthetic, or manufactured
lightning, at the bidding of man, leaped forth with
instantaneous flash and bang, and fragments of the
block of wood came flying through the air, to fall
scarcely three feet away from the staring onlookers.
Afterward, as stated, the same thing was done to the
tree limb. When the demonstrations were all over,
the pieces of the splintered branch were picked up
and Dr. Steinmetz held them in his hands, leaning on
a high stool, while the camera pictured him thus ob¬
serving the effects of the miniature lightning that he
had succeeded so effectively in bringing into play.

Everybody had something to say about the remark¬
able imitation of nature they had witnessed. Dr.
Steinmetz listened with an appreciative smile and an
occasional nod while he puffed at his long cigar. A
moment later he disappeared into the laboratory of-

343

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

fice, where he was soon to be seen leaning upon a
desk and pointing out with his pencil various aspects
of the particular problem then undergoing examina¬
tion, a small circle of heads clustered around his own,
above the sheet of paper with its mathematical equa¬
tions and mystical diagrams.

344

CHAPTER XIX

H

A UNIQUE ADVENTURE IN POLITICS

AD Dr. Steinmetz not been a Socialist, he
might have been elected to a state office,
that of state engineer of the Commonwealth
of New York. At least, his nomination for the of¬
fice on a ticket that included Socialist adherents was
the one factor that virtually put him out of the run¬
ning, the public’s reaction toward Socialist candidates
being what it is. The nomination of Dr. Steinmetz
for this office was on the Socialist and Farmer-Labor
state ticket of 1922. It came wholly unsolicited but
was accepted by the doctor much in the same frame
of mind that he felt when he made himself available
for service in the Schenectady city government, with
the idea of being of use to the people in any field that
presented itself.

At the same time, there were one or two factors
in this political venture which would have been quite
lacking in the case of any other candidate. The
most striking of these, of course, was the engineering
and scientific standing of Dr. Steinmetz, who was
equipped from a technical point of view far better
than any other man whom any party might have
brought forward.

345

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

If Dr. Steinmetz had been a candidate for a higher
office than that of state engineer and surveyor, his
campaign methods would presumably have been dif¬
ferent. Yet while seeking election to office he con¬
trived to maintain a dignity which consorted well
with his profession and with his eminence in it.

From various motives, he made no active cam¬
paign for the office. He went no* further than to
address one or two meetings in New York, which
were arranged by his party managers, and to grant
several newspaper interviews in which he revealed
in a guarded manner the general trend of activity
which might be expected from him in the event of his
election. The interviews were printed quite fully in
some sections of the press, and in much condensed
form by a few of the conservative newspapers.

These views are noteworthy most of all for the em¬
phasis which they place upon the necessity of* water¬
power development within the State. It was in his
few campaign utterances of this year that Dr. Stein¬
metz urged most earnestly that the water-power re¬
sources of New York State should be made use of,
even down to the smallest streams, in the Adirondack
region and in the western section, around the region
of the Finger Lakes.

“It is quite conceivable,” he told Charles W.
Wood, shortly after his nomination, “that the water¬
power of New York might be made to serve the peo¬
ple.” And in another statement, about the same
time, he indulged in a bit of speculation as to the ulti-

346

AN ADVENTURE IN POLITICS

mate benefit to be obtained, in terms of water-power,
from Niagara.

Engineers had estimated before this that there
might be a maximum potential volume of energy in
Niagara of six million horse-power. Dr. Steinmetz,
discussing water-power possibilities after his nomina¬
tion for state engineer and surveyor, ventured the
more extreme opinion that there might be as much
as nine million horse-power in the big cataract.

Plainly, he had a mental picture at this juncture of
a Niagara given over to power production, with no
thought, or at least very little thought, of its preser¬
vation as a spectacle of great scenic beauty. He
realized that such a proposal brought down upon his
head the criticism and downright hostility of a great
army of beauty lovers and nature enthusiasts, who
differed completely from his own conception of
Niagara’s purpose, and who would subordinate all
else to the esthetic element.

Yet Dr. Steinmetz was himself a lover of nature
and all of nature’s beauties. And he endeavored to
make it plain that he did not yield one whit of his
esthetic enjoyment of Niagara’s beauty in proposing
to encroach upon that beauty for the purpose of sup¬
plying the practical needs of a living human race.
He attempted to reveal that his paramount thought
was for the physical welfare, the physical life and
well-being of mankind, so that men might live and
develop, as a race, with all the mighty possibilities
that an intensely cultivated life might unchain. And

347

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

to that end, looking into the far future, he was con¬
vinced that all water-power sources would eventually
be absolutely indispensable. Moreover, he believed
the beginning could not be made too soon, realizing
that the complete utilization of America’s water¬
power possibilities, or of those of the world at
large, will be a matter of many generations in its
development. »

Interjecting into his views, as crystallized by his
impending appeal to the voters of the State, a cer¬
tain suggestion of purely Socialistic attitude of mind,
with its allusion to what should be done for “the peo¬
ple,” he nevertheless indicated his long-standing
faith in the necessity of harnessing water-power re¬
sources, Niagara Falls along with the rest, when he
remarked that the complete development of the falls
would mean perhaps a revenue of two billion dollars
for the State, and, through the State, for the' people
of the State.

“But,” he added quickly, “there is a big difficulty
there. To utilize the falls fully would mean to har¬
ness the whole stream and to dry up the falls. In
the first place, that would mean the opposition of
hotel-keepers, because they live on the beauty of the
falls.

“But is it worth while to destroy Niagara Falls as
a place of scenic beauty in return for one to two
billion dollars that can be used for the benefit of the
people in a thousand ways ? That will be money that
can be used to develop parks and public playgrounds

348

AN ADVENTURE IN POLITICS

and camping sites in all parts of the State for the
benefit of the people.

“Is it worth while to dry up Niagara Falls, injure
tourist hotel business, and get sufficient money to
do things for the people all over the State, that we
are unable to do now? That is something to think
about.”

Before he left the subject, he advanced a sugges¬
tion which was in the nature of a compromise. He
pointed out that on Sundays and holidays, the falls
might be allowed to tumble over the precipice in all
their beauty, being diverted for generating electric
energy only on week-days.

“It would not necessarily dry up Niagara per¬
manently,” he meditated, smoking vigorously as he
talked. “We could divert the water for the hydro¬
electric machinery during the week, and at the close
of the week shut down the machinery and the water
would again begin to flow over the cliff.

“What a scene it would be, with the water begin¬
ning to trickle, slowly at first, then growing until it
became the Niagara that we know! Wouldn’t that
be a sight even more impressive than we have now?

“Maybe we could do that. Niagara Falls for
Sundays and holidays ; hydroelectric development the
rest of the time.” »

Truly a prospect to awaken a smile from those who
find it difficult to picture Niagara Falls wholly dried
up by the hand of man ; and then at periodic intervals
allowed gradually to resume its grand plunge until

349

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

finally its full volume was restored — for the time
being. The imagination could conceive of eager
parties of sight-seers, made up to take in the spec¬
tacle of the “return of Niagara,” at man’s behest.
Grand-stand sections would doubtless be erected for
the accommodation of thousands who would gather
Saturday afternoons to see “the turning on of the
falls.”

Yet if Steinmetz’s previous words are worthy of
meditation — and he was preeminently a logical
thinker, a prophet of science and economics — that ar¬
rangement would be infinitely better than having the
falls dried up and never “turned on” again at all, not
even for a week-end. That arrangement might well
be considered when the day comes, as Steinmetz said
it would come, for man to make use of every ounce of
energy which Niagara Falls and all the other falls
can supply.

So it would seem that Steinmetz really tried to
think of the welfare of all the people as far as pos¬
sible, showing consistency thereby, even when pro¬
posing to capitalize Niagara Falls for the production
of electric power, at the expense of its scenic
attractions.

What Dr. Steinmetz really planned to do, in a
practical way, had he been successful at the polls in
that election of 1922 in New York State, can be
gathered from one simple statement, which was the
only definite hint that he let fall; for on the whole he

350

AN ADVENTURE IN POLITICS

was careful not to commit himself in any published
discussion during the campaign. But he did on one
occasion announce his intention, if put into office, of
making a comprehensive survey of the water-power
resources in the State at large, working out a practi¬
cal policy and plan of procedure, and then “going
before the people for indorsement of his program.”

He quite frankly declared his hope of accomplish¬
ing things, in a general way, which would benefit the
people. He spoke with the quiet assumption that
folks would understand his sincerity, his honest aspi¬
ration to improve conditions affecting the inhabitants
of the State.

If many among the professional politicians, many
even among the people themselves, noticed an all too-
familiar sound to such utterances, Dr. Steinmetz
calmly expected that he would none the less, if
elected, win the confidence of the people by his deeds,
which would speak louder than his words. And he
never at any moment labored under an illusion as to
the possibility. He realized that he was at a dis¬
advantage in appearing on the ticket which bore his
name; but it was obviously a matter of conscience
with him — a conviction, which was never shaken.

“I would undertake to make a complete coordina¬
tion of the various parts of the state service,” he said,
in explaining more definitely what his program might
be, if he won the election. “And one of the big ques¬
tions would be the use we would make of the water¬
power we have in the State. I don’t know how much

351

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

water-power we have in the Adirondacks — not much
in a single place, but a lot of small water sites — and
the problem will be to tie them all up together.”

In the midst of his prosaic consideration of the
good he thought he could do if elected to a political
office which would allow his scientific abilities to
function, he unexpectedly drifted into a curious, dar¬
ing dream, born of idealism and scientific specula¬
tion. It was such a dream as he might have often
conjured up from a remarkable scientific imagina¬
tion — to keep to himself. Only in this instance
he did not keep it to himself; and so it got into
print.

“Naples,” he began, with a flickering smile, “has
the same latitude as Labrador — yet look at the dif¬
ference in temperature ! It ’s the warm Gulf Stream
that modifies the climate of all of Europe, and makes
it much milder than America’s.

“Now, there ’s the Japanese Current, that encircles
the Pacific. Bering Strait is narrow and compara¬
tively shallow. If that strait were blown up and
widened and deepened, we would be able to divert
the whole course of that current north of North
America. If that current ran north of our continent,
it would melt all the ice and snow of Canada and
Alaska, and there would be no more glaciers in
Greenland or icebergs in the Atlantic. It would
open up a whole half-continent for cultivation and
population. It would make all of North America
warmer in the winter and milder in the summer. It

352

AN ADVENTURE IN POLITICS

would double the available habitable globe. It would
remake the world.”

Then he paused, almost as abruptly as he had be¬
gun, and observed that this was merely a dream — as
indeed it was; and Charles P. Steinmetz was not
given to dreaming. He had once said that it was
foolish to dream vain dreams, a thing contrary to the
habits of scientists. However, it may possibly be
that he allowed himself a different point of view when
he was a candidate for office. At all events, this
dreamy lapse of an avowed non-dreamer discloses
rather vividly the slumbering idealism of the man,
which never remained entirely dormant, but was apt
to show itself in one form or another throughout the
greater part of his life.

It is apparent from the foregoing that Dr. Stein-
metz’s platform, if such it may be called, contained
just one plank — water-power. He stressed nothing
else as he did that. In the half-dozen — or less — of
public utterances that he made during the autumn of
that year water-power was foremost. Frequently it
was the sole topic he was willing to discuss.

“Fifty-four million tons of coal are burned yearly
in New York State,” he said, on one occasion. “Im¬
agine what this means. Filled in coal-cars, it would
make a train as long as our two continents, from the
northernmost point of Greenland down to Cape
Horn at the southernmost point of South America.

“There are fifty thousand industrial establishments
in New York State, large and small. Five million

353

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

horse-power supplies the power of these industries,
not counting the steam-locomotives. But of these
five million horse-power, three quarters are still pro¬
duced by steam, from coal, and a little over one
quarter comes from our state water-power resources,
by electric current. Thus we are only just ap¬
proaching the electric age, and are still largely in the
age of coal — and dirt. »

“Yet in California nine tenths of all the electric
power comes from water-power, while in our State
two thirds of the electric power is still produced by
steam, from coal. Yes, you will say, but California
has abundant water-power. But so has New York
State; far more and far larger water-power sites
than most people imagine. I was very much sur¬
prised at the large amount of water-power in the
State of New York which is still undeveloped and
running to waste when I made an investigation of
the matter.

One and one third million horse-power have been
developed and are being used, saving about thirteen
million tons of coal yearly. But over four million
are still undeveloped, waiting for the engineer to put
them to use in the service of man. There is over a
million horse-power in the internal streams, the Adi-
rondacks, the upper Hudson, the Mohawk; and over
three million in the boundary streams, the St. Law¬
rence, the Niagara, and the Delaware.”

Charles P. Steinmetz was not elected state engi-

354

AN ADVENTURE IN POLITICS

neer and surveyor when the election took place in
November. It was a Democratic year in New York
State, and his Democratic opponent went into office
with the victory of his party.

Yet the strength that Steinmetz displayed at the
polls was a matter of comment all over the State.
For he received a total vote of more than two hundred
and ninety thousand; and in one borough of New
York city, the Bronx, he led the Republican candi¬
date for the office for which he was running. He
was quite decidedly the leading candidate on his own
ticket, measured by the number of votes he received
over any other Socialist and Farmer-Labor nominee.

The election was a defeat for Steinmetz, it is true;
but only a political defeat. It was a peculiarly sig¬
nificant triumph for him as a scientific man, an en¬
gineer, a master of things technical, for it made plain
his personal popularity in the minds of a great many
people, revealed the personal prestige which he had
achieved, the knowledge that numerous voters pos¬
sessed of his career and status in the realm of things
electrical, their admiration for him as a big man in
his profession, and their willingness to intrust a pub¬
lic office to him, no matter what his political creed.

Of course, as has already been observed, he was
preeminently qualified as an engineer. If the voters
had needed only that standard of qualification, if they
had not felt it incumbent upon them to weigh the
political doctrines of the candidates, to ponder the
theories of political parties, they could not have done

355

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

more wisely than to elect Steinmetz. On the basis
of this purely technical standard of qualification, the
satirical comments of a western newspaper editor
were both pointed and pertinent. Under the title of
“Who Licked Steinmetz?” this editor published
the following observation, which is piquant if not
absolutely flippant:

“Does any one recall the name erf the gentleman
who whipped Charles P. Steinmetz for state engineer
in New York last month? Probably not many men
in that State could tell you right off the bat, not even
the fellows who voted the victor into office. Will
Rogers, the cowboy-sage confesses his ignorance, but
observes that undoubtedly ‘he does n’t know the dif¬
ference between a short circuit and a long shot.’

“Whoever he is, the man should step forward and
let the world look at him, for any one who has more
equipment than Mr. Steinmetz for any engineering
job is an important person. However, there is no
great possibility that he has or is, for if he had or
did his name would be more extensively known.
His election is a rather sad commentary on the state
of mind of voters who do their political shopping on
the strength of party labels. What possible party
stamp can be a better guarantee of capacity than the
name of Charles P. Steinmetz, what token of vast
engineering skill is implied in a party title that ex¬
ceeds the equipment of Steinmetz?

“There must be one, or the eminent engineer would
not have perished politically. Hereafter let it be

356

AN ADVENTURE IN POLITICS

known, then, that the name of a candidate in Mr.
Steinmetz’s State is the equivalent of a post-graduate
degree in engineering and all other sciences, implying
ability beyond that of any man ordinarily regarded
as the best engineer in the State.

“And, again, does any one recall the name of the
man of this description who licked Steinmetz?”

Before the election, another newspaper editorial
utterance, inspired by the candidacy of Dr. Stein¬
metz, had shown much the same attitude of mind;
namely, that here was a golden opportunity to gain
the services of a brilliant technical personage, whose
politics were really of secondary consideration, es¬
pecially in view of his own pronouncements on the
matter. This editor wrote in the “St. Louis Post-
Dispatch” as follows on the point:

“Obviously, an opportunity to enlist a man of Dr.
Steinmetz’s ability in the public service is a rare one.
One of the melancholy facts of American government
is that men who have gained great distinction in
science or industry refuse all offers of public office.
They won’t mix in politics. On the other hand, the
party leaders shy at the name ‘Socialist.’ Then, too,
they are just a trifle apprehensive about what Dr.
Steinmetz might do if elected. They don’t know how
deep his Socialism goes.

“Dr. Steinmetz’s own words may serve to quiet
their fears somewhat, if not entirely. He points out
very sensibly that he could n’t do very much in a rev¬
olutionary way. The State Engineer and Surveyor’s

357

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

powers are not the sort that would enable him to set
up a soviet government in the State and turn the
factories over to the workers. Indeed, his attitude is
mainly that of an engineer, as witness: ‘What can
be accomplished under the conditions that exist de¬
pends not at all upon the political belief of the en¬
gineer in charge but upon his capacity for engineer¬
ing. ... We are all interested in -pure water, safe
bridges, adequate communications and the elimina¬
tion of waste. ... I take it that I have been nomi¬
nated not as a Socialist, but as an honest engineer.
If elected, I should try to serve the people of New
York state at least as faithfully as I have served the
General Electric Co.’ ”

Dr. Steinmetz offered no comment on the outcome
of the election. He simply accepted the verdict with
characteristic tranquillity and went placidly about his
business of solving electrical problems and advanc¬
ing, in every way he could, the welfare of the world
in that branch of science in which he was supreme.

1358

CHAPTER XX

STEIN METZ THE PROPHET

HUMAN history, among its many clear-cut
revelations, silhouettes the prophet as a
man of mental solitude. He who utters
genuine predictions, springing from some inner in¬
stinct which enables the mind to foresee what will
happen in a far-off period by shrewdly gaging the
developments of the present, stands most generally
quite alone in his discerning vision. He sees what
few others see; and because the others do not per¬
ceive the picture he has glimpsed, they frequently
make light of his prophecy, harking to his words with
polite forbearance, but withal smiling tolerantly be¬
hind their hand.

Doubtless a good many folk may have had some
such attitude of mind when they heard Dr. Steinmetz
foretelling that some day we would draw power for
our industries from a giant radio- wave, which would
belt the globe; or that future years would witness the
growing of “energy crops,” through which the power
latent in the sun’s rays could be stored in unlimited
quantity, to be applied to the needs of man by being
converted into alcohol; or that generations to come
would gain their physical nourishment from the

359

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

scientific breeding of edible bacteria. Those were
prophecies, and simply because they were prophecies,
everybody felt that there was a chance they might
never be fulfilled; for who, they observed, can read
the future with absolute precision?

It is, as it happens, a curious circumstance that
Dr. Steinmetz himself was wont to decry prophets
and prophecies. He once remarked to an inter¬
viewer that predictions as a rule represent only so
many dreams, and that scientists do not dream, be¬
cause they see so much practical work just ahead,
waiting to be done.

“It seems,” he added, in gentle reprimand, “that
the only thing the world is interested in is the thing
that may be done in future years. The accomplish¬
ment of last year fades almost into insignificance.
The people are forever demanding predictions. Tell
us what you ’re going to do to-morrow ! And the
scientist does n’t know that himself !

“If I were to predict that, in five or ten years, we
should be able to do, by aid of science, something just
now inconceivable, the world would gasp and read
avidly my prediction. For me to make that predic¬
tion would be foolish, for it would only be a dream;
and I do not dream.

“Foolish dreams! What a waste of time and en¬
ergy to ponder them, when there is so much real
work to be done! Little by little, our developments
in science make the world a better place in which to

360

Photo Courtesy General Electric Co.

Steinmetz and Marconi chatting on the steps of the General
Electric Company’s main office building

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

live, and surely that is what we should do — not waste
our time dreaming improbable dreams!”

That does not sound as if Dr. Steinmetz wanted to
be looked upon as a prophet. Yet notice his use of
the word “dreams.” He would not dream, it is true;
that is, he would not idly let his imagination run
riot, merely to see what wondrous, fantastic picture
it would paint, which he could admire, and through
which he could attract attention to himself by throw¬
ing it before the startled gaze of others. But what
he would do would be seriously to ponder the trend
of natural development, logically springing from the
work of the moment, the probable outcome of which
was, to such a mind as his, merely a matter of
reasoning.

This style of prophecy has two characteristics.
First, it is more likely to be fulfilled and hence de¬
serves far more serious consideration than people are
often inclined to give to predictions about the future.
And, second, it is not usually quite as spectacular as
the' far-fetched, unrestrained speculations of those
who prophesy more from a sudden surge of enthu¬
siasm than from the precise contemplation of logical
probabilities, growing out of known accomplishments
already on record.

Furthermore, it not infrequently happens that
prophecies like those of Steinmetz are shared in, to a
certain extent, by others. Steinmetz was not the
only engineer who predicted that radio would be

361

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

used for power, as well as for communication; nor
was he altogether alone in his belief that sun-power
would some day be drawn upon in a direct way to
keep the wheels turning in man’s busy world of in¬
dustry and commerce.

Thus it would appear that a scientific prophet
moves more slowly and more surely than the more
sensational prophets, and therefore does not find him¬
self so solitary. Yet Steinmetz more than once
seemed so far ahead of his contemporaries as to ap¬
pear in very truth like the torch-bearer, proceeding
in advance of the caravan, throwing his light through
the surrounding darkness and waiting for the rest of
the world to find its way, by that guiding beam, to
the spot where he himself was standing.

It is evident that Steinmetz began peering into the
future of electricity from the very moment when he
first took up the study of electrical engineering at
Breslau University. He was attracted by its vast
potentiality even as a young man in his early twenties.
The remark he made to another young man of that
period, to whom he was acting in the capacity of tu¬
tor, seems extremely significant.

“You know,” he said to this friend, “electricity is
now only at the very dawn, the threshold, to be sure ;
but hark you, Jork, some day electricity will rule the
entire world.”

This remained his conviction all his life. The years
brought ample justification for his belief, uttered

362

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

thus so confidently at a period when electricity was
far less understood than it is to-day.

Until he began, however, to develop as an electrical
engineer, at Eickemeyer’s factory, Steinmetz gave
expression to no pronounced opinions as to what was
to come about in the realm of things electrical. But
from those days in Yonkers, he was induced to med¬
itate a great deal upon the future; for the events of
the passing moment began to challenge his imagina¬
tion as never before.

He saw before him — indeed, he himself was partly
its cause — the unlocking of many tightly closed doors
to electrical development. All men were then spec¬
ulating as to what would result from the opening of
those doors ; and Steinmetz foresaw more or less what
nearly every one foresaw with regard to the immedi¬
ate possibilities lying before the profession.

But Steinmetz kept looking still further ahead.
During the ten or fifteen years in which he was en¬
gaged in making familiar to electrical engineers and
electrical students his symbolic method, he was con¬
sidering what the logical advance of electrical engi¬
neering was going to mean for the masses of people.
He looked at the question in its economic and social
aspects fully as much as he considered its purely
scientific side. And he drew upon his training as a
physicist and a geologist to scan that mistiest of all
horizons, the limitless stretch of whole centuries still
unlived. In all this he was surveying the sort of
world which he believed would come to pass if elec-

363

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tricity developed as he expected it to, and if other
events followed in accordance with his gradually
formed anticipations.

The earliest results of this continual looking far
ahead were to be noticed in his first years in Schenec¬
tady. He began to enlarge upon the possibilities of
water-power — hydroelectric expansion — which was a
subject naturally suggested by the first power-plants
at Niagara Falls, then just beginning to operate.

Niagara Falls had already become a name of
magic to the electrical engineer who was daring
enough to go counter to the lovers of scenic beauty
and talk about the water-power possibilities of the
mighty cataract. With its latent maximum capabil¬
ity of energy production — amounting to about six
million horse-power — it constituted a perennial topic
of discussion at meetings of the electrical fraternity.
Y et it was so impressive, so startling in a sense, that
many engineers of the period were slow in getting
beyond it.

Not so, Steinmetz! He realized, like every one
else, the immense advantage of utilizing at least a
portion of Niagara’s hydroelectric capacity. But
then he began to scan, in his mind, the map of the
entire United States, especially lingering in the
mountainous areas, noting how here, there, and ev¬
erywhere there were miniature Niagaras, each capa¬
ble of being harnessed, if only the way to do it eco¬
nomically could be discovered.

He visualized the tremendous addition to the na-

364

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

tion’s power supply which such universal hydroelec¬
tric expansion would mean; and he did not fail to
consider that the age of steam would not last forever,
because all authorities recognized the inevitable ex¬
haustion, some time or other, of the coal deposits.

So he foresaw a day, certain to come, no matter if
it was slow in coming, when electricity would be the
salvation of a world desperately in need of a sub¬
stitute for coal. And he also foresaw that electricity
itself would be in need of such a substitute, and would
find it in the indispensable “white coal” symbolized
by every tumbling, foaming mountain stream, the
small ones as well as the large ones.

But now there entered into his mind another factor.
To place an electric generating-plant wherever a
waterfall offered power possibilities, even down to
the smallest, would mean an impossible array of
trained men to manage and operate the plants; and
in most cases these attendants would mean an ex¬
pense which would far outweigh any economic ad¬
vantage to be derived from the harnessing of the
smaller streams.

How, then, would this situation be met? It was,
indeed, a problem ! It might have seemed at the mo¬
ment to be incapable of satisfactory solution. Yet
electricity is a marvelous force, capable of the most
ingenious applications. And to Steinmetz, who was
looking at this whole broad subject as a national ne¬
cessity, a practical way out at length suggested itself,
causing him to become one of the earliest believers

365

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

in the automatic hydroelectric generating-station.

Years before such automatic power-stations were
even designed, much less built, Steinmetz foresaw
that they were practicable ; moreover, that they
would gradually become an essential link in the great
electrical systems of the future.

The automatic hydroelectric station is, indeed, a
remarkable triumph of electrical engineering, which
even at the present time is but just coming into use.
Merely a beginning has thus far been made; but the
automatic station has ceased to he an experiment.
It has finally become a perfected type of small-
capacity power-plant.

Its essential characteristic is that it works without
attendants. No force of men oversees and manipu¬
lates its generators. Whole days at a time there is
not a human being present within its walls. In some
cases*, where the installation is in a wild, mountainous
district, the automatic station performs its marvelous
functions literally beyond the limits of civilization.
It is not, however, left to itself indefinitely; it re¬
ceives an inspection at periodic intervals, although
seldom is anything found to be wrong.

The great economy of such a system is apparent.
It permits the small waterfall to be made use of, as
well as the large cataract; for the principal cost is in
the installing of the equipment. And, as Dr. Stein¬
metz pointed out, such stations, because of their in¬
dependence from the indifferent type of attendants
which would be available, can function in accordance

366

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

with the plan of the highly skilled designing engi¬
neers who have developed them.

In the operation of these automatic stations, and
the application of the electrical energy produced by
them, it is necessary, of course, to construct trans¬
mission-lines which connect the automatic station
with the nearest large station of the system, where
the current is distributed according to the demand.
Steinmetz understood from the first what this would
mean. He perceived the trend that would set in to¬
ward what is actually happening to-day, the inter¬
connecting of a number of stations, not only those of
the same power company but also those of different
power companies. This practice is now summed up
in one word, which is potent of the development sure
to come within the next few decades. And that
word is “super-power.”

Super-power had in Steinmetz a definite prophet;
for in 1912 he predicted the first step, the concen¬
tration of all power supply for a given section of
territory into one great system. Fulfilment of this
program had begun ten years later, within the life¬
time of Steinmetz himself.

About the year 1905, Steinmetz predicted several
things that would occur in the slow unfolding of the
years in economic conditions in the United States.
Among them were the possibility of a scarcity of coal,
on account of enormous coal consumption; the ex¬
haustion of the soils of the earth through lack of fer-

367

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tilizers unless nitrate fixation by electricity became
commercially universal; the day when electricity will
be cheaper than it has ever been before, because of its
continual day and night use and its economy of pro¬
duction ; and last, but far from least, the indispensa¬
ble character of the electrical specialist.

It was in an address before the students of the
New York Electrical Trade School’ that he uttered
these prophecies. Summarized in his own words, this
is what he said :

“When we can use electric power twTenty-four
hours a day, then we can get it very cheaply. When
we can sell the power during off periods, when it is
not needed for lighting — /during the daytime — doing
this without the need of additional machinery, then
we can reduce the cost of electric lighting.

“Electric power used during the peak of the load,
when the load is highest — during lighting hours — is
needed for lighting, and cannot be spared for other
purposes. But. at other times, when the load is not
at the peak, it can be spared, and here is where the
electrical engineer and the station operator can do
something. He can try to get an even distribution,
an even consumption of power, by getting the power
used during those hours when there is no need of elec¬
tric lights.

“If we could find a way to get an even use of power
throughout the twenty-four hours, we might be able
to supply power at one or two cents a kilowatt-hour.
When we have accomplished that, electric power will

368

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

be much cheaper than anything else, and then the
end will come for gas and kerosene. And that time
will come.

“But there will also come a time when it will not
only be a question of economy, but a question of
necessity. At present we still have coal. We use
coal whenever we produce electric power by steam-
engine, but there will be a time when we will not
have any more coal to use, and that is in the not
very far future. The anthracite coal will not last
very long; and before many generations have passed,
even the soft coal will be exhausted. And when the
coal has gone, what are you going to do then in the
winter-time to keep from freezing? It is a rather
serious problem which the next few generations will
have to meet.

“When we reach the end of our resources in coal,
in the not very distant future, then the only remain¬
ing source of power, the only thing which will keep
us from freezing, will be water-power, which we will
have to utilize electrically. We are gradually ex¬
tending the use of water-power, but what we have
done so far is very little. Consider the case of the
Hudson River. We probably use up altogether
from its falls a modest volume of water; but we
make no attempt to get the enormous power which
runs to waste through the spring floods, or in all the
creeks and the rivers that feed into the big stream.

“Methods will have to be developed, new ways of
collecting the joined powers of all these little streams,

369

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

creeks and rivers, so as to gather the power together.
We will have to do all this when we are at the end
of our resources, when our escape from freezing and
starvation depends upon our getting the power.

“This is an enormous field for the electrical en¬
gineer, and without him there would he hard times
coming for the future generations, much harder than
we dream of now. %

“And there is an enormous, far vaster problem
confronting the nations of the earth, which at the
present time only electricity seems to be able to solve.
In bygone ages all civilization started in the Far
East, in the big river valleys of Asia, in countries
which are deserts now. These large, dense popula¬
tions earned their living by tilling the soil.

“That soil does not bring forth any crops now. It
is exhausted, has been exhausted for a long time.
You cannot get any crops without putting back into
the soil in some way whatever you take out in the
form of crops. There is no capital any longer in
the soil in those regions. And it is getting to be
that way in some sections of Europe.

“In America we have been more fortunate. We
have had an enormous capital in the soil here. First
it was in the Eastern States. But New England
is not the farming country that it once was. Its
farms are becoming exhausted. There is still the
West, with its vast resources, hut it is only a question
of time when those farms of the West will also come
to that pass; and when that time comes, we will not

370

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

be able to do as we have done in former ages — go
west. For when we go west then we shall meet the
Pacific Ocean, beyond which are the countless mil¬
lions of China, whose lands have all reached that
state long ago.

“So the last capital is just being used up now,
but when that is gone whatever we take out as crops
will have to be put back into the soil as fertilizer. For
ages, stores of fertilizer were accumulating upon the
earth, but we have used them up, until now the last
of these, the saltpeter of Chile, will be exhausted in
a few decades.

“If all the refuse of our cities could be collected
and returned to the farms as fertilizer (although
we are not doing this in any manner), it would not
replace what we would take out in crops, because
there would still be a very large unavoidable loss in
the spontaneous self-destruction of nitrogen com¬
pounds. Electric power is the only efficient means
which at present seems to be able to combine these
elements of the air, nitrogen and oxygen, which are
necessary as a fertilizer, and which cannot be com-'
pletely recovered.

“At present we do not use electric power for this
purpose to any extent, because we still have our
capital of virgin soil, and the cost of electric power
is too high. But every year we can see the necessity
of producing by electric power a method of restoring
the capital to our farms.

“Now that we have so many uses for electric

371

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

power, and the supply of the far future will be from
water-power, what we will need is a method of com¬
pletely and successfully collecting all the power
which there is in the watercourses of this country.
When that is done, there will be no more rapid creeks
and rivers, but the streams which furnish electric
power will be slow-moving pools, connected with one
another by power-stations. *

“There will then be no question of saving the beauty
of nature when it becomes a question of saving our
lives, for that takes precedence over the beauty of
nature. We will need electric power then for
heating, cooking, and restoring the fertility of our
farms.

“Now, all this means that the world needs men who
know something of electricity, of the operation and
control of electric power. It needs all of us and
will" need us more every year. The human race will
always need electricians. Its very existence will
depend upon them.”

After great electric power-stations became nu¬
merous throughout the length and breadth of the
land, after electric power transmission was mastered
in almost every phase, and after separate independ¬
ent power systems began to be interconnected in
local, or sectional, super-power systems — all of which
were developments foreseen by Steinmetz, although
often foreseen in common with other discerning elec¬
trical engineers — then the question of increased effi-

372

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

ciency arose. And it was during this period that Dr.
Steinmetz preached two very definite gospels of elec¬
trical efficiency, which embodied distinct elements of
prophecy.

One of these was the importance of making elec¬
tric power generation and transmission an industry
by itself; the other was the immense advantage of
cobwebbing the entire country with transmission-lines
which should be interconnected from coast to coast
and from lakes to gulf. This last is the real super¬
power idea, which several individuals and interests in
the electrical profession are now pressing, and to
which Steinmetz was lending his utmost support at
the time of his death.

Dr. Steinmetz saw very early in the modern period
of electrical expansion that the production of a mar¬
ketable product, such as shoes, machinery, or build¬
ing materials, ought, in the interests of efficiency, to
be kept separate from the production of the power
needed to manufacture the product.

“The production of power,” said Steinmetz, “is in
itself an industrial operation, and in the days of the
steam-engine, which operated mills and factories,
two industries were really carried on under the same
roof — the production of power and the production
of shoes, or of breakfast-food, or of furniture.

“This is inefficient and wasteful; the source of our
modern high industrial efficiency is subdivision and
specialization. A single industrial operation requires
all the ability and attention of the administrative,

373

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

technical, and manufacturing staff, in order to give
maximum economy.

“An attempt to operate simultaneously two such
different industries as, for instance, the making of
breakfast-food and the making of power inevitably
leads to lesser efficiency in one of them, and this is
the production of power. Thus efficiency requires
the separation of power production, just as that of
any other raw material, from the industry using the
power.

“This is what electrical engineering has done, and
herein consists its very great economic value. It has
given the world a new industry, the industry of power
generation and distribution. Our modern huge elec¬
tric power-stations, some of them generating more
than half a million horse-power, are not lighting-
stations any more, but power-generating stations,
distributing power for all uses in the territory served
by them.”

In this, as is clearly apparent, Steinmetz saw that
it was a misnomer to call electric generating-stations
merely “electric lighting plants,” although for a long
time most of the output of such stations was used for
fighting. To-day the term is passing into oblivion,
as Steinmetz foresaw it would.

This trend of thought led into another field, in
which Steinmetz predicted some very practical meth¬
ods. One of these was the utilization of by-product
power; another was the location of steam-operated

374

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

power-plants, wherever a sufficient water-supply for
condensation existed, near the coal-mines, thus re¬
ducing the haulage of coal.

Particularly earnest was he in advocating the use
of by-product power, for this meant waste elimina¬
tion, and Steinmetz hated waste.

“Energy,” he pointed out, “is the raw material of
the electrical industry. But energy is also the by¬
product of many industries. For instance, in the
steel plant, great amounts of energy are available in
the blast-furnace gases, and to waste this energy and
buy power might be uneconomical. Every heating-
plant is potentially able to convert from five to ten
per cent of the energy of its coal into electric power.
Wherever energy is available as a by-product, an
electric generator should be installed, converting this
energy into electric power, and as such feeding it into
the power-lines. Thus, where power is required by
an industrial plant, and at the same time energy is
produced by it as a by-product, simultaneously power
would be taken from the electric lines and fed back
into the lines.”

Whenever he discussed the theory of overcoming
the eventual exhaustion of the great coal deposits
by completely developing the nation’s water-power
resources, Dr. Steinmetz was careful to point out one
thing. He declared, with an emphasis which rather
amounted to a warning, that even if every last water¬
fall and every smallest mountain stream were put

375

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

to work turning generators to produce electricity, all
of them together would not create sufficient energy
to supply the total demand for power.

This was simply a clear-cut prediction that the
nation’s water-power resources can never, of them¬
selves, meet the nation’s complete power needs, tak¬
ing into account the normal expansion of future
years. Other hitherto unknown sources of energy
will have to supplement the hydroelectric energy.

Hinting at the nature of these, in the few years im¬
mediately before his death, he went one step further
■ — always marching forward from the known into the
unknown — and predicted that biological engineers of
the future would develop some new form of plant
growth, perhaps a species of bamboo, through which
sun-power energy could be stored up to supplement
the inadequate power supply available from white
coal alone. This, of course, would be the world sit¬
uation in that spectral period, ever creeping nearer,
when the black coal of the earth actually gives out.

The possibility of reinforcing the world’s food sup¬
ply by new and surprising methods also received his
attention. On this subject he wrote in 1923, the

year of his death:

*

“The question of feeding future populations opens
up a new field for the biological engineer. In the
past there has never been any systematic method of
producing proteins. The natural protein-producers
are the micro-organisms which reproduce at an eco¬
nomically, rapid rate.

376

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

‘‘The leaves, year after year, collect the energy of
the sunlight, absorb it through the chlorophyl, and
produce chemical compounds. We have all around
us the collections of solar energy by plant life, but
it takes a lifetime for a forest to grow and collect
energy.

“Why could not the biological engineers of the
future develop new forms of vegetation which would
collect the sunlight at a rate hundreds of times more
rapid than our present vegetation collection scheme?
We have done much in producing new plants, but
where each generation takes about a year, in micro¬
organisms we may produce a generation a day, or
several generations a day.”

Probably the most discussed utterance of Dr.
Steinmetz, in relation to the future, was his declara¬
tion that in another hundred years the working day
of industry would be only four hours long. Here
his practical idealism was coming to the front with
confidence; for to achieve any such goal, certain ideal
conditions would have to be evolved. There would
have to be much greater efficiency in all industrial
operations; duplication of effort, wherever found
(even the duplication that exists in trade competi¬
tion) would have to go; and in its place intelligent
cooperation would have to prevail.

And Steinmetz never had in mind a day made up
of four hours of productive work and twelve hours
of lazy idleness. He pictured something far more
stimulating than that. He looked forward to an era

377

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

of such quickened mental development, such ad¬
vanced and universal education, that people would
spend much of their twelve hours of leisure in
cultivating their higher natures, in acquiring
uplifting knowledge, in seeking soul-awakening
recreation, as well as the upbuilding of physical
health.

Few people took this prediction df Steinmetz seri¬
ously. Yet there are those who dare to believe that
Steinmetz was simply ahead of his day, and that it
will he interesting to know, four or five generations
hence, to what extent the business and industrial lead¬
ers of that period have come around to his way of
thinking.

“Work,” remarked Steinmetz, incidentally, “is a
curse. The chief aim of society should be to abolish
work.”

“And what he meant by ‘work,’ ” writes C. W.
Wood, “was drudgery, of course; but the ‘drudgery’
he had in mind is the ‘work’ of thousands. He hopes
for a day when every man will be able to work crea¬
tively.”

Finally Dr. Steinmetz turned his attention to the
new and magical field of radio. Although not a con¬
tributor to radio development, he saw in it possibili¬
ties as fascinating as any that existed in the applica¬
tion of electrical energy transmitted by wires. He
saw in it a possible new method of transmitting
power, a method that might have extraordinary ad¬
vantages over the old ways. This, it is true, was

378

STEINMETZ THE PROPHET

not a question of power creation but one of power
transportation.

One of his last utterances relating to future years
was on this subject. Several times in the last year
or two of his life he hinted at his belief that in some
not far distant period power for the world’s needs
will be obtained from a giant form of radio-wave.
In this realm of speculation he had ceased to engage
in mere questioning and had asserted an opinion that
clearly inclined toward positive prophecy.

He suggested that the world will get its future
driving-power from great power-sheets, belting the
globe on radio-waves that will be measured in mil¬
lions of kilowatts and that will be sent forth from
one tremendous central power-station. He pointed
out, however, that before such a colossal situation
could ever be attained, science must first discover the
super-electromagnetic wave that will make such gi¬
gantic power transmission possible.

379

CHAPTER XXI

STEINMETZ AND TRANSPORTATION

RAILROAD electrification *was one of the
transformations of the rapidly developing
electrical age in which Dr. Steinmetz dis¬
played a tremendous interest. Repeatedly he had
predicted the inevitable approach of the electrified
railway system, which would supersede steam rail¬
roads. He looked upon it as one of the next great
forward steps toward utilizing the full possibilities
of electrical energy.

In 1920 he mentioned electrification as the step
which would do more than any other one thing to
overcome the vast operating problems of American
railroads. In 1922 he said: “I believe the railroads
of the United States will soon be operated by elec¬
tricity. The change from steam may come any day.
One of the big systems will start, and the rest will
be compelled to follow.”

Then he added a truism that is known to all elec¬
trical engineers and accepted in theory by nearly
every one who has closely studied the subject:
“Steam cannot compete with electricity. It costs
more and does less. A steam-engine must slacken
speed on up-grades. Electric locomotives, with un-

880

TRANSPORTATION

limited power behind them, can go at top speed all
the while.”

Steinmetz never played a prominent part in rail¬
road electrification work. He was called in consulta¬
tion on problems connected with such developments,
as he was whenever a difficult problem presented it¬
self. But it was not a field to which he 'made any
direct contributions, as he did to the field of street¬
lighting, or to the basic question of economical cur¬
rent distribution.

Being a student of every phase of electrical en¬
gineering, however, he studied the application of elec¬
tricity to railroading in a thorough manner; and the
inherent wastefulness of the steam-engine centered
his attention immediately. For Steinmetz was a foe
of economic waste, wherever it showed its head.
And he considered railroad electrification as merely
one aspect of an era soon to come when wasteful
methods will vanish before the advance of electricity,
the economizer and efficiency builder.

He pointed out, also, that so far as electrical
science was concerned, America’s railroads might all
be electrified to-day. “Electricity,” he said, “has
been ready. The railway managers were the ones
who were not prepared to move. Their finances
were not in a favorable condition. They could not
borrow the money to make the change. Moreover,
they were not sure that they wanted to adopt elec¬
tricity as their motive-power.”

This attitude appeared to a mind like that of Stein-

381

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

metz as rather over-conservative. To his view, judg¬
ing the matter simply as a question of ultimate ef¬
ficiency, and convinced that electric energy would
provide such ultimate efficiency, this attitude seemed
like living in a rut.

Steinmetz had gathered a few towering statistics
on this question of railroad electrification and what
it would mean. He presented them’, as part of the
case in favor of railroad electrification, in “Hearst’s
International Magazine” for May, 1923.

“Railroads,” he said, “burn in their locomotives
about 160 million tons of the coal they carry. If the
railroads were electrified and coal for manufactur¬
ing purposes were burned at the mines, it would be
approximately equivalent to doubling the freight¬
carrying capacity of our railroads for other kinds of
freight. About half of the freight now carried is
coal.

“It should mean a good deal to this country to get
rid of the steam locomotive and the coal train. They
are both wasters. Whatever is wasted anywhere is
a burden upon the country. It is lost motion to de¬
vote approximately half of the freight-carrying ca¬
pacity of our railroads to the transportation of coal
that should be burned where it is mined whenever
conditions make this possible, and converted into
electricity.”

These views were only a part of the story, as fre¬
quently related by Dr. Steinmetz in vigorous, vivid
phrases. In this instance he was picturing electric-

382

TRANSPORTATION

ity as the giant of the ages, capable and ready to do
anything under the sun that might be required of it.

“What will electricity do for us yet?” he asked.
And then, answering this pertinent question: “It
will do whatever energy can do for us. Nobody, to¬
day or ever, can fix the limits to which the use
of electricity may go. We can say only that it
will go as far as human need for energy goes.
Electricity is energy, and energy is the basis of
civilization.

“We call this the age of electricity, but it isn’t.
The age of electricity has n’t begun. All that we
have yet done is but preparatory to the ushering in
of the electrical age. When the age of electricity
comes — as it will — electricity will do for everybody
all that it can do for everybody. It will do all this
in addition to doing a multitude of things of which
we have not yet dreamed.

“I came to America in 1889. It seems a long way
back to think where the development of electricity
was at that time. It seems a long way ahead to
think where it will yet be. For the age of electricity
is yet to come. And it will be a great age.”

A day when the familiar steam-locomotive will no
longer puff and chug its way from town to town, and
thunder over the great highways of steel, half hidden
in wind-blown streamers of white vapor, is not easy
to imagine. Steinmetz could imagine it because he
was accustomed to “viewing the whole physical world

383

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

as a unit” — exactly what he once declared every
student of electrical engineering must learn how to
do.

As previously observed, he realized that railway
electrification was but one side of a future all¬
electrical world. Rut to the people of this genera¬
tion, who listened to his predictions with sometimes
more indifference than the situation justified, this
seemed to be the most astounding statement that he
uttered, the most astonishing single metamorphosis
which he affirmed electricity might be expected to
achieve.

It was a prediction that Steinmetz not only never
hesitated to pronounce, but one which he even ap¬
plied, upon occasion, to localized districts, as if wel¬
coming an opportunity to impress people by describ¬
ing how it would affect their home environment.
Thus, he told an interviewer who hailed from New
England that in the New England of the future
“every steam-engine will be scrapped.”

“The time will come, and in a very few years,”
he reiterated, “when electricity will completely take
the place of coal. Power will flow through a net¬
work of wires to every engine and factory in New
England, and that power will be generated from the
flowing water of the territory.”

Steinmetz had already announced that he believed
New York State possessed 4,200,000 horse-power of
potential water-power energy. He tentatively de¬
clared that New England probably had 5,000,000

384

TRANSPORTATION

horse-power in its waterfalls and streams. What
5,000,000 horse-power signified was disclosed in his
explanation :

“Every horse-power means ten tons of coal, more
or less. On railroads where steam-locomotives are
used, more than ten tons of coal are used to generate
one horse-power. This is due to the inefficient sys¬
tem of our steam railroads, where heavy locomotives
have to haul their own fuel.

“You will see that with an estimate of five million
horse-power available in New England, this would
mean a saving of fifty million tons of coal a year —
and that would mean shutting down every steam-
locomotive in the territory. This is not a dream, but
it is a fact that must be faced. This development
will come.

“A saving of fifty million tons of coal in New Eng¬
land is hard to realize. Do you know how much
coal that is? If it was loaded on coal-cars, placed
end to end as they are in a train, it would reach from
Boston to Cape Horn, in South America, and there
would still be several million tons left over.”

To enable his visitor to visualize a future country
with electricity as the universal servant of man — not¬
ing that thus far it is by no means universal in its
service — Dr. Steinmetz then said:

“If you will picture to yourself a map of the United
States showing all of the railway systems, you
will get a picture of what must happen to New Eng¬
land. The network of railroads shown on the map

385

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

can be likened to transmission-lines between the
hydroelectric plants which will dot New England.

“These lines will be double and treble lines, pass¬
ing from city to factory to railroad to hydroelectric
plant. It will all be one vast network, some points
taking out power and some points putting in power.
That would mean the scrapping of every steam-
engine in New England.”

Turning again to the railroads, he pointed out, as
he usually did when discussing all these possibilities,
that the operation of an electric railroad, which used
hydroelectric power, would inevitably be cheaper
than the operation of a steam railroad, because the
primary source of the power — white coal— is fur¬
nished by nature and costs nothing after once put to
work. The initial cost of the electrification would
be high, but after that the expense would be insignif¬
icant by comparison. It would mean not only sav¬
ing half the coal now required, but also an increase
of as much as twenty-five per cent in efficiency,
through the higher speed and better control of the
electric trains.

These observations and recorded comments of Dr.
Steinmetz upon electricity as applied to railroad
transportation are perfectly typical of the way he
talked upon this absorbing subject. Perhaps it may
seem as if he had more to say about railroad electri¬
fication than about the electrification of almost any
other one industry. But this may be accounted for
by the probability that the steam-locomotive im-

386

TRANSPORTATION

pressed him as the most common and most unmis¬
takable example of economic waste in modern so¬
ciety. He would not have discounted the value of
the steam-engine to the world of James Watt, which
previously had never known this tremendously sig¬
nificant piece of machinery. His only indictment of
the steam-engine was this, that in the presence of the
electric generator and the electric motor the steam-
engine represented by comparison an inexcusable in¬
efficiency. In its day he recognized it as a great de¬
veloper of civilization; but its day, said Steinmetz,
has begun to pass.

“Steinmetz,” said a writer who summarized his
career shortly after his death, “foresaw an era of
electricity. To him a ton of coal was not merely a
costly and scarce commodity for heating the house or
cooking dinner. It was so much potential energy,
imprisoned by nature, waiting for man, its master,
to release and put it economically to its proper work.

“In a ton of coal, as it is taken from the mines,
loaded on the cars, brought to our doors, and burned
in our furnaces, he saw appalling inefficiency and
waste. He saw in all the processes embraced in min¬
ing, marketing, and burning that coal a consumption
of time and energy which could be put to a myriad
better uses. His dream was of a time when the coal
will be taken from the ground expertly, cheaply, me¬
chanically, and burned, as far as possible, with far
greater kinetic energy than at present, at the place
where it is mined.

387

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

“Steinmetz’s bold imagination went beyond the
era of coal. . . . He looked to ‘white coal’ to supply
the future’s needs. Water-power is inexhaustible.
It is the refuge of a future generation, which would
revert to savagery without means of heat, light, and
motion. He wanted to bring the device of that dis¬
tant to-morrow up to the period of to-day.”

*

In another realm of modern transportation Dr.
Steinmetz came forward during the last decade of his
useful life with an equally positive view as to the
ability of applied electricity to replace inefficiency
with efficiency. He began making a study, some¬
time between 1912 and 1918, of the automobile truck.

Few people had, at that time, much notion of
electric trucks. Gasolene trucks were accepted as
the natural development, because everybody knew
how universal the gasolene motor-car had become.
But Steinmetz realized that with the passenger auto¬
mobile very little account is taken of the cost of
operation. There is no element of profit and loss ; it
is a pleasure-vehicle in most cases, and the cost of its
upkeep does not go down on an office ledger, to be
tabulated at the end of each year either as an asset
or a liability, as a promoter of a gainful business or
a drawback to that business.

Believing in electricity for every walk of life and
every department of human activity, he proposed to
apply electricity to trucks, partly as a matter of
course, as an experiment to see if it compared favor-

888

TRANSPORTATION

ably as to operating costs. He finally came to the
conclusion that for short hauls the electric truck
would prove superior to the gasolene truck, and he
began to express this view.

Eventually he went further, much further. He
finally was induced to enter upon the designing of a
new electric truck of his own invention. He believed
that a remarkably efficient electric truck could be
produced, and the possibility fired his inventive imag¬
ination, so that he finally set to work in his laboratory
upon this idea.

From this activity there came forth — on paper —
the Steinmetz electric truck. It made more intensive
use of electricity than any other truck that has pre¬
viously appeared, and hence carried a larger number
of storage-batteries.

Steinmetz was eager to see his truck put to actual
use, or at least given a practical trial. It was soon
given such a trial, proving to be a vehicle of unques¬
tionable power. It seemed especially to be a good
hill-climber. The performance was on the whole
very satisfactory to Dr. Steinmetz.

A few years before his death, in 1921 or 1922, a
group of business promoters undertook to manufac¬
ture and market the Steinmetz truck. Dr. Steinmetz
was given an office in a corporation organized for this
purpose, although his post was honorary only. But
the business organization was by no means as efficient
as the trucks themselves. There was an evident lack
of good management. The venture, to the misfor-

389

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tune but not the discredit of Dr. Steinmetz, did not
prove an enduring success. And he was wholly
without business ability himself; his genius lay in
quite a different direction. Consequently the Stein¬
metz electric truck was not produced in any quantity
nor did it become popular among business concerns
up to the time of its inventor’s death.

Dr. Steinmetz remained as muck convinced of the
superiority of the electric truck over the gasolene
truck, however, as he was of the superiority of elec¬
tricity over steam for railroading. His views on
short hauls by electric trucks as compared with
short hauls by gasolene trucks were summarized by
him, at the time he brought out his own electric truck,
in these words:

“Reductions in the cost of delivering merchandise
would be distinctly a service to the public, for the
merchant who effects such savings is usually aLble and
eager to pass them on to his customers. One of the
greatest evils of our economic system to-day is the
high cost of distribution, and I am convinced that a
greater use of the electric truck will mean a consider¬
able decrease in the cost of distribution, especially of
food commodities.

“It has always seemed a surprising thing to me
that electricity — the greatest driving-power known
—has not yet been given its full position in the trans¬
portation world. I do not think I exaggerate when
I say that the use of electric motor-trucks for short

390

TRANSPORTATION

hauls will mean a saving of millions of dollars to the
people of the country.”

How the views of Dr. Steinmetz impressed others,
as reflected in newspaper comment, is interesting as
showing the reaction of the lay mind to his economic
and electrical predictions. A commentator, who was
plainly impressed by the Steinmetz version of an
electric world to come, thus sketched this world of the
far to-morrow as he conceived of it, writing about a
year before the death of Dr. Steinmetz, and confining
himself for the most part to statements that Stein¬
metz himself had made :

“He [Steinmetz] says that our present use of coal
is absurd, and that it is an economic crime to burn
coal for mere heating without first taking out of it
its mechanical and electrical energy. The time is not
far distant when much of the coal will be burned at
the mouth of the mine, and instead of transporting the
heavy coal we will simply transport the energy in the
shape of electricity.

“Very probably our children’s children will see the
last of railway locomotives carrying their own coal.
All that power will be brought to them by electric
wiring.

“He reminds us that we have also hardly begun
yet to use our hydroelectric power. Indeed, an en¬
tire transformation of our material life is very close
at hand.

391

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

“ ‘When everything is electrified,’ he says, ‘and
central stations are automatically coaled, smoke can
be eliminated. No dirt, dust, or smoke will be per¬
mitted by the Government. There will be no fires of
any kind within the city limits. Hence there will be
no conflagrations, and the air will not be full of
gases.’

“The streets will be clean. There will be no ani¬
mals used for traction, and hence no street dirt.

“The atmosphere will be clear, and you can always
see the sky. With pure air, the yards in the city can
be improved and parks beautified.

“In a word, all of the power which we now get by
dirty and wasteful processes will be manufactured at
waterfalls, coal-mines and oil- and gas-wells; and the
three great essentials, heat, light, and power, for
human activity, will be attended to by the genie which
Ben Franklin invited from the skies.”

392

CHAPTER XXII

HIS LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

FOR the last fourteen years of his life. Dr.
Steinmetz stood first on the list of consulting
engineers connected with the General Elec¬
tric Company. They were years of conspicuous
study in all the paramount electrical investigations
of the period; years during which his advice was
sought repeatedly by engineers who were in the van¬
guard of the advance which electrical science
steadily carried on. Steinmetz himself did not
carry the torch of progress in his own hands quite
as much as he did in earlier days. He was now
preeminently just what he was called, a consulting
engineer.

He was still engaged in electrical research work,
however. This was a lifetime interest, something he
never could have relinquished. All that he did in his
later years to investigate the behavior of lightning, as
it affects large electrical systems, was simply an item
in the program of scientific investigations which he
followed in the last decade of his career. He was
striving, at the time of his death, to discover more
than had ever yet been learned as to the operation of
lightning-arresters, concerning which he had already

393

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

revealed enough fully to justify his famous lightning-
generator and its spectacular performances.

The definite object of his last line of research was

to find out just what happens at the moment of an

electrical breakdown, when a transient discharge —

lightning or an induced surge of electric energy in a

circuit — occurs. He had intimated to some of his

*

associates that he hoped for bigger results from this
study than he had obtained from any of his earlier
investigations.

It seems difficult to imagine anything he could
have done which would have been more valuable than
his law of hysteresis and his theory of alternating
current calculation, or his invention of a system of
alternating current distribution ; yet he seems to have
discerned with his far-seeing scientific eye even
greater accomplishments, which, unfortunately, he
was not to be allowed to consummate.

He was placidly happy in his work throughout
these years of mellow maturity. He had every pos¬
sible facility; and he followed his own peculiar bent
in conducting the work of his office as much as the
work of his laboratory.

His office was in the headquarters building of the
General Electric Company at Schenectady. There
he had a large desk, with a huge, leather-seated chair,
which, incidentally, no one ever remembered having
seen him occupy. His favorite posture while at
work here was to stand with feet slightly spread
apart and lean with both elbows on one corner of

394

LIFE IX OFFICE AND CAMP

the desk, calmly reading over his correspondence (his
conception of real work) or conversing with who¬
ever had come in to confer with him — and invariably
smoking a cigar. He had his own private secretary,
who did all his typewriting and manuscript work.

Dr. Steinmetz orally dictated hardly a dozen
letters a year. He used instead his own original
shorthand system, by means of which he wrote out
in the form of notes what he wanted to say, and then
handed the notes to his secretary for transcribing.

This was one of his several minor hobbies, the in¬
vention of his own shorthand alphabet. Few men
less versatile would have even conceived of such an
innovation; and the young women who served as his
secretaries at one time or another were likely to stand
in awe of the doctor’s peculiar office methods as much
as of the man himself. His secretary was obliged to
study and become an adept at reading the doctor’s
shorthand, in addition to the commercial system she
had already learned in business school.

Dr. Steinmetz developed his shorthand gradually
over a period of years, beginning with the days when
he took notes at his lectures at the University of
Breslau. Its foundation is the Swedish Arends sys¬
tem, combined with the best of several others and
with modifications of his own devising. The under¬
lying principle is entirely phonetic. He wrote the
word “height” in three letters, “h-i-t,” with a
long “i.”

“Once you learn this system you will never forget

395

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

it,” Dr. Steinmetz used to say. “It is like swimming
in that respect. With other systems a person who
does not use it for a year or more is likely to forget
the greater part of it. But my shorthand is simple,
and as readable as longhand. I can read to-day
notes that I took forty years ago, and read them as
easily as those I took forty minutes previously.

“I took all my notes in college by this system, or
by its underlying principle. It was so much faster
than longhand. And I can still read those same
notes, all of which I have in bound volumes. I don’t
know of any other way I could have done this.

“My experience has taught me that shorthand is
of great advantage, especially to students. The
work becomes simple with shorthand, since the stu¬
dent’s attention is not detracted from the speaker by
his writing, as is often the case when one attempts to
make notations in longhand.”

Dr. Steinmetz used to contend that his system of
shorthand enabled him to write as fast as he could
think. It was undoubtedly a great time-saver for
him; one page of his shorthand notes was equivalent
to three pages of double-spaced typewritten manu¬
script.

His invariable method of answering his mail was
to make shorthand notes at the head of the letter, or
on the margin, indicating exactly what he wanted to
say, and then handing the letter to his secretary, who
wrote the letter and returned it to him for signature.
Sometimes he would give her whole manuscripts in

396

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

shorthand and allow her three or four days or a week
to do the transcribing.

Once in a while these manuscripts would consist of
page after page of mathematical equations, fre¬
quently of the most intricate nature. Most stenog¬
raphers would have found it sufficiently arduous to
master the Steinmetz shorthand without the added
nightmare of the Steinmetz mathematics. In fact,
one of his later secretaries describes the experience
of “breaking in” under Dr. Steinmetz, and the mental
sensations upon first sight of one of his manuscripts
dealing with a mathematical subject.

“When I was assigned to take up work in the
consulting engineering department,” she says, “it was
without the most remote idea that I was to work for
Dr. Steinmetz directly. My confusion at seeing his
name-plate on the office can hardly be imagined.

“A long manuscript, the revision of ‘Transient
Phenomena,’ was the first piece of work I did in Dr.
Steinmetz’s office. This book comprises numerous
mathematical equations, which in the manuscript
were filled in with pencil. I had never had occasion
before this to write equations, and had not the slight¬
est idea how it was to be done. But by ‘juggling’
the carriage of the typewriter and using a great deal
of care and also time, I was able to hand in sheets
satisfactory to the doctor.

“My time in Dr. Steinmetz’s office was extended,
because of the continued absence of his secretary, but
I did not see the doctor for several weeks. I had

397

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

never seen him before this, and what was told me of
his greatness filled me with consternation.

“This feeling, however, turned out to be quite un¬
warranted, for when he did come the atmosphere
instantly cleared ; and ever after that it was with very
different anticipations that I awaited his arrival at
the office. He was always ready with the utmost
consideration and willingness to assist me whenever
I met with difficulties in my work.

“From the first morning that Dr. Steinmetz en¬
tered the office his greeting was always the same, and
he never missed it. He would say: ‘Good morn¬
ing! What’s new?’ with a cheerfulness that made
everything seem bright the rest of the day, no matter
how gloomy it was outside nor how disconcerting
the work inside.”

The inventions of Dr. Steinmetz, all of them in the
technical field of electrical methods, were scattered
through the greater part of his career. He worked
on some of his electrical inventions as early as his days
with Eickemeyer in Yonkers; and he had some unde¬
veloped ideas sketched out almost up to the day of
his death.

A total of 195 patents stood in his name. Of
these, more than forty were related in one way or
another to the broad subject of systems of alternating
current distribution, the notably useful invention
which he himself always declared was the most sig¬
nificant of all his patents.

398

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMF

The particularly valuable inventions on the list
were those relating to the monocylic system, as it is
technically termed, these constituting the nucleus of
his inventions relating to distribution systems; the
tandem connection of alternating current motors ; the
application of the tandem or cascade connection to
frequency conversion; the induction regulator; phase
transformation; compensated alternating current
motors ; the flaming arc electrode containing titanium
carbide; a seal for fused quartz lamps; and several
others of less importance, in addition to the patents
on the magnetite arc-lamps.

These inventions did not contribute immediately
to his fame, either in or out of the profession, so much
as did his mathematical achievements, yet with him
they were all placed under the broad classification of
electrical engineering. And often the seemingly
divergent activities which he carried on in his labora¬
tory at the General Electric works or at his residence
laboratory were the forerunner of one of his purely
inventive contributions to electrical science.

More than once he was found by his visitors im¬
mersed in laboratory undertakings. Charles W.
Wood presents a typical picture of Dr. Steinmetz
at such a moment, in an article entitled “The Ro¬
mance of an Engineering Genius.” 1 He writes:

“Dr. Steinmetz had worked himself to the very top
of the electrical engineering profession when I first
came in contact with him. It was not as a newspaper

1 “National Pictorial Monthly.”

399

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

man that I first met him. I' was brought to his
laboratory by a machinist who wanted to ask
him a question about mechanical principles which
was too deep for a mere newspaper man to under¬
stand.

“I ventured a few questions about the schools in
Schenectady (he was then president of the Board of
Education under the first Lunn administration) and
was surprised at the simple way he answered me. I
discovered that I had been afraid of him; I was
afraid of his knowledge, afraid of the big head which
had solved a thousand mysteries and which must look
with contempt, I thought, at the rank and file of
cheerful idiots about him. I said something, in fact,
concerning a hope that he would not consider my
questions foolish.

“ ‘There are no foolish questions,’ he said, with an
engaging grin. ‘No man really becomes a fool until
he stops asking questions. The science of education
is the science of helping people find out what they
want to know.’

“Which is one of the reasons why I call Charles
P. Steinmetz the greatest man I ever met. He was
so much more than a specialist, although he was so
much of a specialist that he wrote text-books which
only the most highly trained specialists in his par¬
ticular line could read. Yet he denied that he was
a ‘wizard,’ and had no desire to play the role. What
he had learned about electricity, he pointed out, was
due to his being curious about it. He simply asked

400

I

Photo Courtesy General Electric Co.

Steinmetz and Thomas A. Edison, standing in front of Stein-
metz’s famous lightning generator during visit of Mr. Edison
to the General Electric works at Schenectady in 1922

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

questions, and one question led to another, and there
he was.”

Those who were associated with Dr. Steinmetz in
engineering work at the General Electric Company
always knew they could count on securing his assist¬
ance when it was needed, for he was never too busy to
engage in an engineering consultation. Nor did he
ever scorn to aid another engineer in solving a mathe¬
matical difficulty. Once or twice he could not resist
the temptation of showing another engineer, unin¬
vited, how to overcome a baffling problem, even
though he might give the appearance of exhibiting
superior knowledge unasked. There is one some¬
what famous incident of this sort, which, although it
has been recounted a number of times, yet shows the
sincere desire of Steinmetz to be of use, in small
matters and in large, and does not indicate any motive
of overweening superiority. The doctor was by
chance passing the desk of a designing engineer who
was puzzled by a mathematical problem which he had
laid out before him. Glancing almost casually at the
equation, Dr. Steinmetz, exhibiting his characteristic
marvelous mental quickness, grasped the whole situa¬
tion in an instant. Then he said to the engineer:
“If you will now put your oc in place of your y, and
your y in place of your oc, you will have the answer.”
Then he went on to explain the process in detail.

On another occasion he was making an investiga¬
tion of some new engineering applications, and was
not only away from his office but out of reach, at the

401

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

moment, of any engineering or mathematical records
which would give him the data employed by engineers
in their calculations. He found himself in need of
the table of logarithms, but without any possible way
of securing access to a book that would give it.
Whereupon this super-mathematician proceeded to
compute the table of logarithms from memory, and
to apply it to the problem in hand, all without aid of
paper and pencil but simply by visualizing it all in
his mind. Little wonder that those who witnessed
such a performance were inclined to bestow upon
Steinmetz the awe-inspired title of “wizard,” a title
which he always disliked and never encouraged.

He frequentty appeared at various conventions of
electrical engineers, illuminating engineers, or scien¬
tific bodies. At these assemblages he encountered
some of the other great minds of which he was a con¬
temporary. He had met Edison a number of times
before the latter’s noteworthy visit to the General
Electric works at Schenectady in the autumn of 1922.
He had met Marconi, Tesla, and others, and was a
delighted chum for several days of Elbert Hubbard,
whom he also met on another occasion, at Association
Island, on Lake Ontario. This was in September,
1913, during a council of electrical leaders to discuss
the question of codperation in the electrical profes¬
sion. The impression Elbert Hubbard gained of
Steinmetz on this and other occasions is vividly por¬
trayed in the following appreciation of some of these
electrical pioneers, published in Elbert Hubbard’s

402

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

“Fra” for December, 1913, and including not only
Dr. Steinmetz, but also Samuel Insull and Henry L.
Doherty :

“Steinmetz, next to Edison, is our great modern
mechanical prophet. Steinmetz seems possessed of
faculties beyond the average man. He has an intui¬
tional sense that is almost uncanny.

“His ‘boys’ may work on an electrical problem for
a year or more and fail to make it tangible. Stein¬
metz will then sit down and look at the machine for
about five minutes, light a cigar, blow a cloud of
smoke through it, and behold, the thing starts and
chaos becomes cosmos!

“The subtlety and keenness of the man’s power,
with his ability to talk lucidly, logically, simply and
sanely, mark him as one of the world-makers.

“When Dr. Eliot, then president of Harvard Uni¬
versity, conferred the degree of Master of Arts upon
Steinmetz, he did it with the words: ‘I confer this
degree upon you as the foremost electrical engineer
of the United States, and, therefore, of the world.’

“If in some respects he has gone beyond Edison,
the fact must not be forgotten that he has built on the
master. Edison had not only to discover the princi¬
ples of electricity, but he had to manufacture the
machines to control the current.

“Well did Steinmetz say that in untamed Nature
electricity is the most useless thing you can mention.
Without the genius of man it is purely destructive in
its nature.

403

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

“Steinmetz resents being called an inventor. He
says: T am only an engineer. My business is to

construct engines that will transport an elemental
form of energy into a million factories and homes,
dividing this energy up into infinitesimal parts so it
can be practically used to run sewing machines, to
churn, to wash dishes and to do the dead lift and
drudgery that otherwise would have to be done by
human hands.’

“So let Steinmetz stand as a type of the modern
engineer, who not only is an engineer but is an artist,
an economist, a teacher, a humanist.”

To have seen Dr. Steinmetz in his office and labora¬
tory in these years of his unceasing usefulness to the
world in general would never have given one a pic¬
ture of spiritless drudgery. Nor would it have
presented a spectacle of a man working at feverish
tension, nor yet of one who allowed any “unforgiving
minute” to slip by without its full “sixty seconds’
worth of distance run.”

Upon his arrival at the office, he would give his
attention at once to whatever was awaiting his advice
or assistance. If there was to be a conference, he
would go direct to the conference-room, gaging his
time so that he would arrive a few minutes or even
seconds before the time of the meeting, never allow¬
ing himself to be late, unless something unforseen
occurred to delay him.

On days when there was no conference, a list of his
appointments would be handed him. These he

404

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

would examine, and then, remarking, “Let me look
over the correspondence first,” would turn to his
mail, answering by making notes in his own short¬
hand at the headings or in the margins of those letters
requiring immediate attention, and handing them to
his secretary. The longer papers and more com¬
plicated matters he took home to study and then to
. write out the answers, or his comments, to be tran¬
scribed the following day.

His correspondence disposed of, he would go back
to the list of appointments, being prompt and careful
in filling all engagements whenever and wherever
possible. And he never spared himself if he could
be of service to others.

Conferences were usually the occasion for mixing
a little pleasure with his work. Often he would throw
out a witticism or two, which brought forth hearty
laughter. He was fond of fresh air in his office, so
that the windows were open to some extent both sum¬
mer and winter. On one bitterly cold day, when all
other offices had their windows tightly closed, the
window in Dr. Steinmetz’s office was open just far
enough to keep the air fresh. A conference was in
progress, and the atmosphere eventually became
heavy with smoke. One of the men sat directly in
line with the window and felt the cold air rather un¬
comfortably.

“Doctor,” he began deferentially, “I think that
window - ”

“Yes, yes!” exclaimed Dr. Steinmetz, in his quick

405

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

way, “I was just thinking that it might be opened a
little wider!”

And “a little wider” it was opened forthwith;
although when he discovered that his companions
were uncomfortably cold, he was prompt to close it
down.

If he had no important conference, then, after at¬
tending to his correspondence, he 'would leave the
office to follow up tests in the laboratory, saying, “I
shall be in the laboratory”; or, if nothing more de¬
manded his attention, he would say: “Well, I guess
I ’ll go home. So-long!”

This was almost always his farewell greeting on
every occasion, no matter to whom he was speaking,
and no matter whether it was at the office or at his
home. Seldom, if ever, was he known to say
“Good-by.” It was always the more familiar, fra¬
ternal “So-long!” spoken with a peculiar inflection of
the voice, the first word on a rather high key, and
the second lower, with a long intonation, amounting
almost to a hum.

No one ever requested an interview or asked him to
deliver a lecture and was refused, if it was considered
of any importance to the common good. He co¬
operated with the publicity men who sometimes
approached him, whenever it was shown to him that it
would materially assist them in their work. And yet
Dr. Steinmetz was not in any sense a seeker of pub¬
licity. He always had to be convinced that it would
really be of constructive value to the electrical cause ;

406

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

and on many occasions he expressed strong personal
reluctance toward engaging in a proposed publicity
program, consenting only upon learning that it would
advance the work of enlightenment for all who might
be benefited by the wonders of electricity.

“Somewhere,” one of his associates once remarked,
“I have read the words ‘everlastingly patient’ used to
describe the doctor. To my mind no words more
fittingly portray him.”

Through all the years of his residence in Schenec¬
tady, Dr. Steinmetz had gradually made his camp
on Viele’s Creek his chief delight during the pleasant
part of the season. He enlarged it a little at a time,
until during the last few years of his life it was a
roomy, long, rambling structure consisting of four
or five rooms, all joined together, and each giving the
appearance of a separate wing.

There he was to be found, with unvarying regular¬
ity, from Friday afternoon until Monday morning,
throughout the spring, summer, and early autumn,
whenever he was in town. As early as the middle of
March he would begin his pilgrimages to this en¬
chanted spot, hastening out from his office when the
season arrived to make the first trip with as much
eagerness as a boy let out for a holiday.

He would find the camp in need of more or less
setting in order, cleaning up, and renovating. The
canoes would have to be brought out from winter
quarters and other duties performed. He would get

407

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

into his bathing-suit the moment he reached the camp,
no matter if it was still the chill of early spring, with
huge cakes of ice yet to be seen on the creek and the
river from the wide windows of the camp, choking the
stream from shore to shore.

Up to the time that the New York State Barge
Canal was laid out, making use of the Mohawk River
for its route over a considerable distance, the entire
Hayden family lived at the camp throughout the
summer. It was an ideal spot for the children while
they were growing up, with ample room to play on
the grassy banks of the creek, plenty of variety in
occupation, and not enough water to be dangerous.
The men would come out every night from the works
and go hack in the morning. In those days Dr.
Steinmetz made the trip regularly on a bicycle, but
for a number of years before his death he had de¬
pended largely upon a motor-car that he owned.

After the canal went through, increasing the water
in Viele’s Creek so that the erstwhile lazy little
stream became a wide estuary that compared well in
size with the river itself, the camp was considered a
bit too dangerous for the Hayden youngsters to stay
there continually. Accordingly, they were only
taken out now and then on a visit, leaving the doctor
and Hayden to enjoy camp life by themselves; and
frequently the doctor was there alone. Whatever
plans the others made, however, he himself could not
be induced to go elsewhere as long as the season
lasted.

408

Steinmetz seated on the famous dam at the camp. With him is Joe Hayden, his oldest adopted
grandchild

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

The water was both broad and deep after the canal
project was completed. It came close to the bank
on which the camp stood, and completely flooded
some of the low land and islands that had formerly
been scattered up and down the creek. The site of
the famous dam was quite submerged; there was no
longer any need of a dam, for the doctor could float
off from his little wharf in his one-man canoe and
paddle wherever he would without the need of watch¬
ing for mud-bars.

Those early days were always recalled by Dr.
Steinmetz with a vein of whimsical comment. He
liked to look back upon the summers when he first
knew Hayden, before there was any Wendell
Avenue place, and before Hayden had thought of
marriage. Dr. Steinmetz alluded to those boyish
days, with a jovial smile, by the inclusive expression,
“When we were bachelors !”

In the later years of his life, the camp was again
the scene of much youthful activity. The two Hay¬
den boys, Joe and Billy, had then grown up to be the
boon companions of the doctor. The three of them,
an odd, yet picturesque, bathing-suit trio, splashed
around on the river and puttered about the camp in
a perfect abandonment of content.

Dr. Steinmetz made frequent trips of adventure
with Joe Hayden, finding keen delight in exploring
the creek and the river, up-stream and down, poking
into inlets and recesses for miles in both directions.

The son of his esteemed former employer, Rudolf

409

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Eickemeyer, Jr., was an interested visitor at camp in
the summer of 1907. He received a genial letter,
dated “Camp Mohawk, August 10, 1907,” in Dr.
Steinmetz’s curiously neat handwriting, in which
he was cordially invited to he the doctor’s guest.
Explicit directions were given him how to reach the
camp after arriving in Schenectady, in case Dr.
Steinmetz was not able to meet him at the train.
Following these instructions, the visitor could not fail
to find the camp; “and there,” the letter continued,
“I hope to keep you until you get tired of camp life.
But you must not expect much from a camp. How¬
ever, I hope to keep you busy with the various camp
duties.” Then the letter closed With the favorite
Steinmetz expression: “Well, so-long; see you next
week.”

When Mr. Eickemeyer reached the camp, he found
it apparently quite deserted. He called out “Stein¬
metz !” but, receiving no reply, had to repeat the call.
Then he heard a faint answering hail, and presently
observed Steinmetz approaching from the direction
of the river, attired in a bathing-suit, and carefully
bending the tree-branches and bushes to one side as
he came along the path. He gave his guest an en¬
thusiastic greeting and for several days kept him
busy, indeed.

They had some profitable reminiscent talks to¬
gether, especially in the early evenings, which had
begun to be rather chilly. The low temperature
caused Mr. Eickemeyer to put on his overcoat and

410

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

wrap a blanket around him as he lay in a hammock
out under the trees. Dr. Steinmetz, however,
lounged around in his bathing-suit regardless of the
temperature and leaned in characteristic pose on an
old drawing-board.

The camp was the scene more than once of an in¬
formal conference with the doctor on some pressing
matter of interest to the electrical fraternity or to the
public at large. Occasionally Dr. Steinmetz was
sought after by people who came to see him on busi¬
ness — newspaper men, engineers, fellow-scientists —
and it has been the rough, unpainted camp by the
river that has witnessed some of these significant
meetings.

It is told that a distinguished party of Russian
business men and engineers once arrived in Schenec¬
tady to consult with Dr. Steinmetz regarding some
engineering problems in their own land in the days
before the war. To confer with him was one of their
principal objects in making the long trip from Russia
to America.

It was in the early springtime, just when the lure
of outdoor life was beginning to get into the air.
The Russian delegation inquired for Dr. Steinmetz
and found that he was at his camp, overhauling his
boats. So they motored out to the camp, some six
miles beyond the city limits of Schenectady.

They were conducted along a riverside path to the
door of the low wooden camp building, where they
paused, a group of polished gentlemen in tall hats,

411

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

shiny shoes, and well-tailored suits and coats. In
response to a knock, the door was presently opened,
and there stood Dr. Steinmetz himself, in an old
sweater and a pair of very muddy rubber boots.

He welcomed the delegation with the utmost cour¬
tesy and sat down with them at once around one of
the camp tables, where they discussed the problem
for an hour or more. The contra'st in appearance
did not ruffle the equanimity of Dr. Steinmetz in the
least, nor did it interfere with his cordiality as he
finally bade his callers good-by. And whatever the
Russian magnates may have thought of the Stein¬
metz style of camp attire, they seemed thoroughly
satisfied with his professional advice, which they had
traveled four thousand miles to secure.

Newspaper men occasionally journeyed out to his
camp to ask his views on this or that electrical matter,
or to secure his comments on some scientific develop¬
ment. Several times they reached the camp only to
find it empty at the moment. But after looking up
and down the river they would discover the doctor,
paddling contentedly about in his small canoe.

“Dr. Steinmetz!” the cry would go forth, across
the watery distance. “There ’s a newspaper man
here who would like to talk with you a few minutes
if possible.”

And the answer would immediately come from the
distant canoe, in the familiar thin, high voice of the
doctor :

“All right! I ’ll be there in just a minute.”

412

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

Then he would proceed to paddle leisurely up to
the landing, step out of his dimunitive craft, and
accompany his interviewer into the camp, there to
answer questions and to talk, perfectly at home, in his
well-worn red bathing-suit. His arms, neck, and
face were always a deep bronze from the summer sun,
and he was the picture of an out-of-doors man in
rugged health.

Those who were sufficiently intimate friends to
spend a day now and then at the camp with Dr.
Steinmetz and the Haydens found it deliciously
amusing at first, especially if they were not familiar
with the doctor’s habits and hobbies. It hardly
seemed possible that this easy-living, water-loving,
unconventional man, who was to be seen around the
camp all day in his bathing-suit, always pleasant,
always courteous, was the noted electrical engineer,
a world-famous mathematician, and one of the three
or four great scientists of his age.

But after a time the visitor invariably realized that
Dr. Steinmetz was merely a genuine human man,
notwithstanding his genius, and that like any other
man he wanted to be comfortable, even if sometimes
given to departing from conventions. And so before
long the visitor would come to feel perfectly at ease
in the presence of a great thinker who was himself at
ease, until, when the time arrived to say good-by,
and Dr. Steinmetz came forward to shake hands,
attired still in the old red bathing-suit, perhaps with
his feet perfectly bare, yet always with a bow that

413

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

was gracious, a manner that was courtly, and a hand¬
shake that was sincere, no one thought of his amus¬
ing appearance but only of his hearty, gentlemanly
warmth of feeling.

“A day in the camp of Charles P. Steinmetz,” said
a writer who found the sloping, tree-arched, leaf-
bedded trail to the plain pine structure one mellow
afternoon, “is like a day taken from the life of one
of the great philosophers of ancient Greece. He
goes out of doors in the summer because he wants
to be out of doors. To go out and then put some¬
thing -between oneself and the thing one wishes to
attain is foolishness, he believes, so he interposes no
obstacles between Charles Steinmetz and his friend
Dame Nature.

“As a result, there is not a single luxury in the
plain camp he built twenty-five years ago — first one
room and then another and another as the years went
by, until now it is a rambling four-roomed affair.

“There are no carpets on the floors, no pictures
on the bare wooden walls. The man whose salary
as engineer for the General Electric Company would
permit him to have any desire of his heart, gets along
with three simple cots, a swing bed, a rough work¬
table, an alcohol-stove of generous size, some old
chairs, a dining-table, and a big cupboard.

“Billy and Joe Hayden, of Schenectady, sons of
J. LeRoy Hayden, the adopted son of Steinmetz,
live with him at the camp throughout the summer.
It is a loosely knit establishment in which every one

414

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

does something for the common good and no one is
fussy.

“Dr. Steinmetz, who retires at nine o’clock every
night, is an early riser. He is out and around
usually before the boys get up. He cooks break¬
fast on the alcohol-stove, just as he does all the rest
of the meals. He is a champion pancake maker.
Charles P. Steinmetz gets as much fun out of flip¬
ping a flapjack as he does in turning an algebraic
formula into something that means electrically less
steps for millions of persons. He bakes them big
and round, one at a time, and enjoys eating them as
much as he does making them.

“After breakfast he goes to his work. If the day
is rainy, he works inside at the rough table he made
for the purpose long ago; but at all other times he
goes to his office on the Mohawk.

“Probably there is no other office like it in all the
world — a battered twelve-foot tippy canoe with a
cushion in the bottom and four boards laid together
from gunwale to gunwale, thwartwise to serve as a
desk.

“When he goes down to the river to work he car¬
ries his papers under his arm, with them Hutchin¬
son’s volume of four-place tables, and a little Nabisco
box wherein he keeps his pencils.

“Depositing these in his canoe, he pushes off from
shore, gives a few vigorous strokes with his copper-
bound double paddle, and orepares for the morning’s
work.

415

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

“He lays the four boards together carefully, and
with precision places his papers on them, each pile
weighted down by one of an assortment of pebbles
he carries in the bottom of the canoe. If the day
is too warm, he slips off his shirt and, putting it in
the bottom of the canoe, works in his undershirt.

“Through the long summer morning, the light
winds of the Mohawk push his craft up and down the
river, and for hours at a time he bends over his im¬
provised desk, all unheeding.”

It was sometimes said that Charles P. Steinmetz
could read anything that interested him. He was
found one day out in his canoe absorbed in a book
that had no cover. One glance was sufficient to show
that it was not a technical book; he was not at work
this time but reveling for the moment in complete
relaxation.

. His visitor ventured to inquire the title of this work
which had cast such a pleasant spell over the master
of electricity. Dr. Steinmetz smiled broadly but
shook his head.

“It ’s a book called ‘The Lunatic at Large,’ ” he
answered. “I don’t remember the author’s name.
The cover got torn off somehow. But it is in¬
teresting.”

The reply was typical of the man. He found
recreation very often in light fiction, sometimes in
exciting novels, or detective stories. Yet his serious
tastes in reading were broad and sound. He was

416

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

once asked to name a list of ten books which he would
prefer to have beside him, of all other books, should
he be compelled to pass the rest of his life on a desert
island. This is the list he drew up: Homer’s
Odyssey, the Odes of Horace, Goethe’s “Faust,”
Mommsen’s “History of Rome,” Kipling’s “Jungle
Book, ’ Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckle¬
berry Finn,” Stevenson’s “Treasure Island,” Mar-
ryat’s “Midshipman Easy,” Stanley’s “In Darkest
Africa,” and Sienkiewicz’s “The Deluge.”

This list was published as Dr. Steinmetz’s group
of “books I have enjoyed most”; and shortly after¬
ward a writer in the “Springfield Republican” com¬
mented on his selection in these words:

“From the classical languages come the greatest
of tales of adventure, the Odyssey of Homer, and the
most polished of vers de societe, the Odes of Horace.
German literature contributes its one indisputable
masterpiece, Goethe’s Faust, and the Roman History
of Germany’s greatest historian, Mommsen. For
historical fiction he turns not to Sir Walter Scott
but to the Polish novelist, Sienkiewicz, whose ro¬
mance, The Deluge, is one of the most instructive
books about Europe that a modern reader can find;
it shows vividly the struggle with the Tartar hordes
on the eastern marshes.

“English literature is represented on the list by
Darkest Africa, a record of romantic exploration
which is still fascinating in spite of the changes since
Stanley’s day, and by four works of fiction, all of

417

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

which would be called light — Marryat’s Midshipman
Easy, a classic picture of the old-time English navy;
Mark Twain’s companion hooks, Tom Sawyer and
Huckleberry Finn, the only American literature in¬
cluded; R. L. Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the
polished jewel of literature for boys, and Kipling’s
Jungle Books, a work on which their author’s repu¬
tation could well rest. Anybody wrecked on a desert
island with the ten favorite books of Mr. Steinmetz
would be well provided for.”

This was the period of Steinmetz’s career when he
was at his zenith. Mature in a peculiarly vivid, pro¬
found sense, recognized the world over for his astute
judgment and his intensive knowledge in several
fields of human interest, listened to with respect when
he spoke and consulted by high and low in his own
profession, he placidly moved through the halcyon
days of his life without the slightest evidence of con¬
scious superiority or deliberate ostentation.

It’ was in this period that he computed the prob¬
able value of a lightning-flash ; discussed the possi¬
bilities of radio, especially of radio transmission of
power; indicated his increasing interest in the en¬
trance of electricity into the home as a tireless assist¬
ant to the modern housewife; and looked back with
fond retrospect upon the start in life which he
credited America with having given him.

“I love America,” he said. “It took me, a crippled
boy, and gave me a chance. I have faith in it, and,
through my electrical work, I want to help the

418

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

America of the future. We will succeed the soonest
by giving every one a chance. But we must do
things in the most economical way.”

Several of his most interesting encounters with
other scientific notables occurred about this time.
In 1921 he was one of those who welcomed Professor
Einstein to America, and went with him to inspect
several radio stations in eastern states. Dr. Stein-
metz was generally supposed to be one of the dozen
especially favored individuals who were able to com¬
prehend the famous Einstein theory of relativity;
indeed, he published one or two articles about this
time in which he discussed the Einstein theory in
somewhat popular style.

In 1922, Signor Gugliemo Marconi, pioneer of
radio development, met Steinmetz at Schenectady
after an interval of about fifteen years since he had
last seen the electrical master. They were not to¬
gether long, but long enough for Signor Marconi,
who was well acquainted with some of the Steinmetz
hobbies, to inquire solicitously after the doctor’s pet
alligator and Gila monster, neither of which, he was
gravely informed, was any longer a protege of Dr.
Steinmetz.

It was in this same year that Dr. Steinmetz and
Thomas A. Edison met for the last time. The noted
inventor of East Orange had come to Schenectady to
see what was going on at the General Electric works.
Part of his interesting day’s round of inspections was
devoted to the general engineering laboratory, where

419

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

Dr. Steinmetz conducted his experiments with arti¬
ficial lightning.

Dr. Steinmetz carried out a demonstration of his
lightning machine for Edison’s benefit, causing the
lightning to play pranks with porcelain insulators
and with the limbs of small trees. Then, while
cameras clicked busily, he and Edison examined the
shattered fragments of these objects, while Stein¬
metz explained what had happened and its sig¬
nificance.

It was toward the close of this part of his life,
too, that he gave several popular addresses by radio,
speaking from the studio of WGY, the broadcasting
station of the General Electric Company at Sche¬
nectady. The first of these was a talk on “Light¬
ning,” in which he explained the source of lightning
and estimated the probable voltage of a lightning-
flash.

In another radio address he rather astounded many
of his hearers by declaring that he doubted the gen¬
erally accepted theory of the existence of the ether.
He frankly did more than doubt; he frankly asserted
his opinion that there is no ether and that space is —
just space. This view of his was subjected to some
criticism, especially as he did not undertake to state
the whys and wherefores except in somewhat inci¬
dental fashion. But he did not urge the theory.
Never, so far as is known, spoke of it in public again,
nor pressed it with any emphasis in private conver¬
sation.

420

The approach to Camp Mohawk in 1913. The camp had by this
time been enlarged until it consisted of several rooms, joined
together

Photo Courtesy General Electric Co.

The camp in later years. This shows how the structure looked
after all the additions had been made. Dr. Steinmetz is standing
with the two Hayden boys in the original portion

LIFE IN OFFICE AND CAMP

Throughout these years when he was known and
looked up to by numerous men in his own profession,
and regarded with admiring awe by the public at
large, he was called upon at intervals for after-dinner
speeches. He gave a few of these, in some of which
he enunciated some of his best-remembered predic¬
tions in economics and physics. He had a broad
strain of humor and could usually make his audience
laugh with regularity. This ability, however, was
somewhat restricted by his peculiar thin, high voice,
with just a trace of accent; although throughout the
last thirty years of his life he displayed a perfect
mastery of English.

In the midst of these busy, useful days, he was
called upon to serve at the head of two national bodies
which honored him for his service in two distinct de¬
partments of human endeavor. The first of these
elevations was his election in 1915 as president of the
National Association of Corporation Schools; the
second was his designation for the same position in
the Illuminating Engineering Society for the year
1915-16.

421

CHAPTER XXIII

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

IKE Eugene Field, who continually amazed

and amused his friends by his eccentricities

^ ^ of daily life, Dr. Steinmetz was concerned

more with “affairs of the mind and the heart,” than
with conventionalities of society and dress. His was
a simple, democratic disposition, asking little of
others in the way of formalities and rather taking
it for granted that others would ask little of

him.

There was not the slightest suggestion of dis¬
courtesy in this characteristic attitude. Few men
possessed more natural courtesy or consideration for
others than did Steinmetz. But the niceties of eti¬
quette and changing styles in clothes simply did not
appear to him to be of half so much importance as
the solution of a complicated problem in higher
mathematics, or a computation with logarithms by
means of which the usefulness of electricity to all
mankind might be increased.

Hence, he devoted most of his waking hours to
these intensive efforts and was unwilling to take the
time to find out about matters that impressed him
as unimportant.

422

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

No one who ever became a close friend of Stein-
metz’s thought any the less of him because of this
disposition. The personality of this wholly human
scientist was extremely charming. He radiated an
atmosphere of kindly companionship, coupled with
extraordinary keenness of mind and quickness of per¬
ception; and it is difficult to say which of these ele¬
ments was wont to command the greater admiration
among his friends.

He was undeniably a man of hobbies. His fond¬
ness for plants of the desert was unique. He de¬
lighted in flowers, and his grounds on Wendell Ave¬
nue included a luxuriant flower garden. He loved
Nature in all her moods, and loved all of Nature’s
works.

There is a whimsical story of how his delight in
woods and plants and growing things reacted to his
pecuniary advantage when he purchased his property
on Wendell Avenue. The land included a clump of
woods adjoining the little dell, through which runs
a small stream. Supposing that the average land-
owner would buy simply to build and would be apt
to regard this grove as a liability on the property,
the agents for the land allowed a deduction in the
price on account of the wooded stretch. Dr. Stein-
metz said nothing at the time, but after the trans¬
action was closed he confided to Hayden that he con¬
sidered the little grove on the property one of the
best things about it; he was delighted to have it there,
feeling fearful only that the agents would discover

423

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

how much he would enjoy it — and consequently in¬
crease the price instead of reducing it!

His hobby for pets has already been referred to;
likewise his fondness for collecting. His camp and
the opportunity it afforded for paddling around the
river in a little canoe, only large enough for him¬
self, was unquestionably a hobby. And he was an
enthusiastic amateur photographer. He took photo¬
graphs more or less regularly for twenty years or
more, and had hundreds of negatives, all carefully
numbered, titled, and signed with his initials. Most
of the pictures are scenes at camp or groups
of the Hayden family, particularly the two elder
children, Joe and Marjorie, with some later
views of Billy Hayden, the youngest of the
three.

Of all the traits in the character of Dr. Steinmetz
— a character of many elements, certainly suggest¬
ing his student designation of Proteus to those who
saw him in all his moods — none is so winsome as that
which reveals him as the comrade of children. Al¬
most all the small boys and girls of the neighborhood
knew him personally, and they were sure to receive
a quick, cheery greeting from him if they met on the
street.

The relations that existed between Dr. Steinmetz
and his adopted family were a perfect example of
simple, sincere domestic affection. The Hayden
children never thought of him as an adopted kins-

424

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

man; it was always just plain “grand-daddy” with
them.

And he was a grand-daddy who was never too busy
to listen to their childish stories nor to explain things
they wanted to know about. He always found time
to help them with a school problem, showing them,
with gentle, kindly solicitude, the principles of arith¬
metic, and exhibiting the while the utmost patience.
He observed all their ways and manners, watched
how they grasped ideas, and listened, with his quiet
smile, to their lively, voluble comments.

Charles W. Wood, who saw much of Steinmetz at
one time, both at the camp and at home, records the
pleasure Steinmetz found in the study of children.

“It happens,” writes Mr. Wood, in the “National
Pictorial Weekly,” “that this acknowledged head of
his profession in America was one of the most human
of men. His fondness for children was pronounced.
He was as enthusiastic in helping them understand
how two and two must be four as he was in demon¬
strating his latest electrical calculations to a conven¬
tion of grey-bearded professors. Steinmetz in his
laboratory, Steinmetz working out a problem upon
which our industrial civilization waits, was no more
absorbed in study than was this same Steinmetz, with
a handful of fortunate children around him, as he
demonstrated the miracle of long division. Looking
at him upon such an occasion, it was impossible to
tell who was the pupil and who the teacher. For the
wizard was learning. He was asking questions. He

425

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

was finding out how the marvelous human forces
operate.”

Thus it can be seen that Dr. Steinmetz was a rare
grand-daddy, who, ever since the children could re¬
member, had always been there with his understand¬
ing sympathy, his quiet, whimsical methods of amus¬
ing them. *

Dr. Steinmetz at home, when thoroughly at leisure,
was almost sure to be found in the company of Mr.
Hayden’s children while the latter were growing up.
He was almost shy toward them when they were very
little, but as they reached adolescence his interest in
them knew no bounds; and all three of them, Joe,
Marjorie, and Billy Hayden, remember many a
jovial prank they had together.

Often, on a quiet summer evening, Dr. Steinmetz
was part of the family audience at high doings out
in the big, picturesque garden, half cultivated, half
natural. He would find a favorite spot on one of the
little benches beneath the tall pines, and there would
rest amid the coolness of the woods — those same
woods which were supposed to be an undesirable ad¬
dition to the property — while he watched whatever
was going forward on the green lawn that stretches
between the lilac-trees and the borders of the Can¬
terbury bells.

As likely as not it might be an exciting amateur
circus which was in progress on that lawn, with bare-
back riding, clowns, trained animals, and acrobats.
Or a Wild West round-up. Or a party of small

426

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

girls of the neighborhood, whom Marjorie was en¬
tertaining. Whatever it was, the doctor was a smil¬
ing onlooker, and some times an enthusiastic promoter
or an arch cooperator in some gigantic adventure
which the children were undertaking.

Throughout their school-days, the Hayden children
were absorbing a small treasure-house of information
from Dr. Steinmetz. He could always hold their
close attention by telling them stories from history,
both European and American, ancient and modern;
or by drawing upon his inexhaustible storehouse of
knowledge to explain to them some of the wonders
of the physical world.

Sometimes when Mr. and Mrs. Hayden returned
from an evening down town they would notice a
light still burning in the children’s room — long after
hours! Upon quietly going up to investigate, they
would come upon an odd scene. Dr. Steinmetz
would be there, leaning in characteristic attitude on
the corner of the bureau, relating some absorbing
narrative to the children, who would be curled up on
the bed before him.

And then, some days later, one of the children
would bring out a surprising bit of knowledge that
would lead his father to exclaim, “Billy, where did
you learn that?”

To which Billy would reply, “Oh, grand-daddy
told me.”

When the children began to advance in their
school-work, the doctor followed their progress with

427

V

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

unflagging interest. When Joe Hayden went
away to preparatory school, the doctor kept up a
steady correspondence with him, much of which was
written, just for the fun of it, in code, by using the
Morse system of dots and dashes. Joe originally
suggested the code method, and it appealed to Dr.
Steinmetz at the moment, although it must be re¬
marked that the doctor was never a voluminous
letter-writer and left but a meager personal corre¬
spondence.

The Haydens were a family whose children had
the exclusive services of a skilled chemist, a noted
scientist, in preparing their Fourth of July fire¬
works! Did ever boys and girls find so whole¬
hearted a playmate in a man whose fame stretched
from one coast to the other, and across the oceans to
other lands ?

For picture to yourself the interior of a large lab¬
oratory room, a room in Dr. Steinmetz’s laboratory,
adjoining his home on Wendell Avenue, in Sche¬
nectady. It is the chemical room of the laboratory,
which was added some years after the original build¬
ing was put up. There is a fascinating confusion of
chemicals and chemists’ paraphernalia on every hand
— tubes and bottles, glasses and burners, and count¬
less rows of glass jars in glass-incased shelves around
the sides of the room.

In the midst of it you find Dr. Steinmetz and small
Billy Hayden, their heads just as close together as
they can get. The two are so absorbed in watching

428

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

a vial cooking over a Bunsen burner that they do not
hear your step at the door. Something is going for¬
ward that is weird, romantic, altogether exciting!
You sense the tenseness in the air.

You make a sound, and they both look up and
smile. Billy, revealing that marvelous sight, a per¬
fectly happy boy, gives you one glance and then goes
back instantly to watching the mysterious something
that is a-brewing. The doctor, hardly less delighted,
pauses long enough to remark, with twinkly eyes:

“We are making fireworks for the Fourth of
July!”

Fireworks for the Fourth of July! A whimsical,
fantastic occupation, surely! An odd type of relax¬
ation for a man of vast scientific attainments. But,
you think at once, it is not so important that the doc¬
tor cannot interrupt it to talk to callers. Of course
he can postpone this curious laboratory enterprise,
whose motive is simply the amusement of children.

Interrupt? Postpone? The mere suggestion of
such a proceeding brings a fresh revelation of the
whimsicality of the man. Nothing whatever, you
discover, can possibly be allowed to interrupt that
laboratory business that evening. Callers must
wait — or come some other time! Billy and the fire¬
works are the supreme interest of the moment.
Rather than disappoint the children, Dr. Steinmetz,
you discern, would ask the most eminent caller to
wait.

So the making of the fireworks continues. It con-

429

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tinues all that evening. It continues past Billy’s
bedtime. It is carried on by Dr. Steinmetz alone off
there in the laboratory after Billy has gone into the
house. It is still a-brewing when the night is far
advanced. The doctor stays there by the bubbling
retort until the preparation is completed and the
novel Fourth of July celebration is assured.

The fireworks — “harmless fireworks” they were
called, and harmless they proved — were displayed
with great jubilation on the night of the Fourth, at
the camp on the creek. They were enjoyed not only
by Billy and Joe and Marjorie but also by many
campers up and down the river.

And if there was a party for the children at any
time, Dr. Steinmetz was likely to find himself one
of the invited guests. He would make it a point to
be on hand, too; he would no more disappoint the
children, when he knew they expected him, than he
would the president of the General Electric
Company.

On one of these happy occasions, Marjorie Hay¬
den was host to a group of little girls at a table all
dainty with pink decorations. In the midst of the
merriment, Dr. Steinmetz came quietly into the room
from his office in the museum and stood near the
door a moment, looking at the bright scene before
him.

Presently one of the little girls, a frequent visitor
at the house and therefore familiar to the doctor, dis¬
covered him and called out a happy “Hello I” And

430

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

then they all discovered him, and Marjorie had to
introduce him to all who did not know him.

She escorted him around the table until he had
stopped at every place and spoken to every little
girl. He was told each one’s name and was greeted
with delighted laughter by those who were already
acquainted with him.

Dr. Steinmetz’s birthday was never allowed to pass
unobserved. Billy and Marjorie would not hear of
it. They always had their own birthday parties, and
they were quite insistent, whenever April 9 came
around, that grand-daddy should have one, too.
And so, for many years, it was the custom.

These gracefully pleasant occasions can best be
comprehended by a description of one of them. It
came on a Sunday, so that there was ample time for
all the preparations.

Of course * the birthday supper was to be a sur¬
prise. At least, it was called a surprise, although
the doctor knew perfectly well what to expect. The
children were fairly a-quiver with excitement, none
the less, and upon the arrival of a friend of the
family to offer birthday greetings to the doctor, they
insisted on helping him exhibit his gifts — especially
the things they had presented to him.

Dr. Steinmetz was found in his museum office, ex¬
amining a handsome edition of a rare old book.
Billy and Marjorie and Joseph brought the caller in,
and then gathered every one around to see their gift,
a brand-new pencil-sharpener. Marjorie and Billy

431

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

climbed up on top of the desk to see all that hap¬
pened, while Joseph operated the sharpener. Dr.
Steinmetz looked on with twinkling, fun-loving eyes,
although he was clearly interested more in the chil¬
dren than in their gift.

The excitement increased as supper-time drew
near. The whole family joined in preparing the
surprise. What happened when, at length, every¬
thing was ready is best told in the words of the
guest :

“Mrs. Hayden shooed us all out into the hall.
The doors which led to the dining-room were shut, and
Marjorie and Billy brought grand-daddy right up
just as close as they could get, all ready to rush in
when the signal was given. They clung to his arms
and danced up and down in their delight, and at a
word from their mother sang the kindergarten birth¬
day song, ‘Happy birthday to you.’

“Then the doors were opened, and we all exclaimed
with pleasure at the pretty sight. The room was
lighted with only the birthday candles, which sur¬
rounded the cake in the center of the table. The
soft rays shone on the charmingly appointed table
and more dimly lighted the rest of the room, which
seemed half filled with flowering plants. One of the
windows looking into the conservatory was open, and
the new orchid which the family had just given Dr.
Steinmetz hung there, making the air of the dining¬
room sweet with its wonderful perfume.

“It was a pleasant supper-party, and when we

432

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

were ready for dessert, Marjorie said, looking af¬
fectionately at Dr. Steinmetz:

“ ‘The Birthday Child must cut the cake.’

“And so Dr. Steinmetz cut the cake, with the
pretty icing on it, which read ‘Happy Birthday,’ and
showed the years of his age underneath.”

And his garden — and his pets ! Dr. Steinmetz en¬
joyed nothing so much, in the spring and summer,
as an opportunity to show a visitor his garden. It
was realy a landscape-garden, to which the wooded
patch in the rear of the grounds, thickly grown with
pine-trees and bushy undergrowth, gave a pictur¬
esque setting.

His garden, of all gardens, was not a mere formal
estate for stylish exhibition. It was a place of deep
enjoyment for its owner from earliest spring until
latest autumn. He liked nothing better than to join
the family conference that always occurred when the
seed catalogues arrived. He took a whole-hearted
relish in the planting and cultivating, supervising
with zest, and often putting seeds or plants into the
ground with his own hands.

Dr. Steinmetz never failed to get out in the gar¬
den as soon as the very earliest blooms began to come
out. That would be often before the snow was off
the ground, when the crocuses were just appearing
around the greenhouse walks and later the snow¬
drops, wood-lilies, and daffodils blossomed beneath
the hawthorn hedges. Later still the tulips made a

433

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

gorgeous display in the big bed in the front garden.
As each new arrival appeared in its proper season,
Dr. Steinmetz welcomed it in his own characteristic
manner of pleased, absorbed enthusiasm.

His pride in the garden came quaintly to the front
whenever there was an opportunity to take a friend
around through the pleasant walks^ Mrs. Hayden
suggested one early spring evening that a visitor
who had just arrived would perhaps like to see the
lady-slippers. The family quietly got into their
wraps and were soon ready to start. At that mo¬
ment Dr. Steinmetz appeared, smilingly eager to
show off his garden, and he headed the procession
that passed down by the laboratory and out to the
edge of the pine woods.

Through long, winding paths the party proceeded
until in a green opening under the trees he pointed
out the daffodils, just catching the light of the low
sun, and the narcissuses, in pure white clusters. He
showed them the strawberry blossoms, the wild lilies-
of-the-valley, and the great white trillium with its
wondrously sweet scent. Painted trilliums were
there, too, almost invisible in the dusk, because of
their dark blossoms.

It was a delightful exhibit, delightfully exhibited.
And the most refreshing human touch was con¬
tributed by small Billy Hayden, who found it tre¬
mendously difficult to refrain from picking all the
flowers he saw and presenting them to the visitor.
Billy and Dr. Steinmetz disagreed about picking

434

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

flowers. Dr. Steinmetz declared that blossoms
should not be picked. He would much rather take
his friends into the garden to see the beauties of the
flowers. He averred that this allowed them to be
observed in their proper surroundings.

But there was a deeper reason, too, and Billy, it
turned out, knew what that other reason was.

“Mother and grand-daddy don’t want me to pick
the flowers,” he announced, “so that the blossoms
will turn into seeds and fall on the ground and more
flowers will come up next year. That ’s what grand-
daddy says.”

The promenade continued, down toward a little
stream that runs through the end of the garden
woods only in the springtime. In its damp vicinity
luxuriant ferns and wild orchids were growing, as
well as groups of pitcher-plants, which were sent to
Dr. Steinmetz from the Adirondacks. And there
the lady-slippers were discovered, blossoming for the
first time.

“They looked,” wrote the visitor, describing the
scene, “as if Nature herself, and no mere gardener,
had planted them, quaint little orchid things with
their long twisted petals, like the golden curls of a
fairy.

“Then down by the fence we went, to see how the
cowslips were growing, and up along the farther path
to where a new wild azalea bush, dug up in the woods
the Sunday afternoon before, was looking at home
in its new place. The laurel, brought from the Berk-

435

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

shires, the rhododendrons, from the prosaic florist,
seen here and there under the pine-trees, were all
getting ready to blossom a little later, to make the
woods lovely with their beauty after the earlier
spring flowers had gone.

“We admired Billy’s and Marjorie’s flower-beds,
which had just been planted, and the* tiny pond which
the stream from the conservatory made, surrounded
by a mass of blue and gold iris and large, sky-blue
forget-me-nots

That is a glimpse of Dr. Steinmetz among his
flowers and in his garden. Scenes equally captivat¬
ing, if somewhat more grotesque, often were to be
witnessed when he was among his pets.

A good many of the pets that Dr. Steinmetz owned
in later years had been presented to him. These in¬
cluded some of the queerest he ever had. Among
them was his famous Gila monster, which was kept in
a roomy cage, in his laboratory. When he first
owned it he allowed it to wander at will in the con¬
servatory, but persons who encountered it unexpect¬
edly were so badly frightened that he finally had the
cage built. It was a sluggish thing, sleeping most
of the time, and finally dying from decreasing in¬
terest in life. Dr. Steinmetz said it was a case of
lack of ambition and loss of appetite.

Gila monsters, Dr. Steinmetz had heard, can in¬
flict deadly poison by their bite. He endeavored to
verify this by making inquiries among zoologists, hut
the opinions that were advanced differed so much

436

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

that he decided to see if he could find out for him¬
self.

Accordingly he bought some rabbits with which to
make the experiment. But when he got the rabbits
home, they were such friendly, interesting little chaps
that the doctor could not bring himself to sacrifice
them, not even for the sake of the desired knowledge.
And so they were added to the Steinmetz family of
pets, where they were apparently perfectly happy,
although eventually, in a passing whim of ingrati¬
tude, they ran away.

Dr. Steinmetz brought three parrots with him
when he moved into his Wendell Avenue home. One
was green, the second was white, and the third was
gray. They were all handsome and unusually tame,
at least with Dr. Steinmetz. But they were great
chatterers, and when they were not talking they were
screaming. He finally had to separate them from
one another on account of the noise. He did this
by putting one on each floor of the house. Each was
at liberty to roam about on its own floor but was not
allowed to invade the other floors. In that way they
were kept more quiet, and it was possible to live in
the house without being irritated by a continual
hubbub.

Baby alligators were more than once serene in¬
habitants of the pool in the orchid house; tropical
hugs and a good-sized school of goldfish were also
to be seen there. The doctor once had a couple of
raccoons, which he kept in a cage over the brook until

437

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

they broke loose and scampered off. Several odd
varieties of owls had also been presented to him at
different times.

As for kittens, Dr. Steinmetz supplied the family
with one or two delightfully amusing incidents, re¬
sulting from his dealings with that species of the
dumb creation. A group of men were passing
through the home laboratory one night when they
caught sight of a wooden cage with straw in the bot¬
tom. It contained a small animal of some sort.
Recalling the many stories that were told of strange
pets owned by Dr. Steinmetz, they inquired, when
they had opportunity, “What have you got there in
the cage, doctor?”

“Oh,” answered Dr. Steinmetz, with a look of
mock seriousness, “that ’s Marjorie’s kitten.”

And so it was. The cage, it seemed, had once been
the “cradle” of a puppy, which had been graduated
from its training quarters, and the children had de¬
cided it would be just the place for the kitten to
sleep.

Not long afterward one of the children brought
home another kitten, a homeless waif. The kitten
that enjoyed the luxury of the cage resented the
presence of the new-comer. Soon the two were
sworn enemies, spending most of their time spitting
at each other through the bars of the cage.

Dr. Steinmetz observed this situation with grave
concern. At length he assumed the role of disci¬
plinarian and undertook to teach the kittens a code

438

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

of ethics. In the exercise of this commendable cru¬
sade for feline uplift, he was one day discovered down
on his knees by the cage with a long willow branch in
his hand, with which he was gently whipping the more
turbulent of the two kittens and saying in a coaxing
tone:

“No, no, catty; no, no!”

But the kittens continued as refractory as ever,
and the difficulty had to be finally solved by giving
one of the little “catties” away.

The four-footed, feathered, and crawling friends
of Dr. Steinmetz were somewhat depleted in latter
days. Through one circumstance or another, their
number decreased. Dr. Steinmetz summed up the
vicissitudes which have more or less surrounded them
when he told Marconi, in reply to a question which
the latter asked when the two famous scientists met
in the summer of 1922 at the General Electric plant:

“Oh, I have n’t many pets now. I have had to
give some of my pet alligators away. And the Gila
monster died. He was too lazy to eat.”

The people of Schenectady came to be accustomed
to seeing Dr. Steinmetz going about without a hat
during all except the three or four coldest months in
the year. And during these months he would appear
with a coon-skin cap, having large ear-flaps. No one
could ever recall having seen him in an overcoat, re¬
gardless of the weather. Indeed, his disregard for
winter wraps caused anxiety among the Haydens,

439

V.

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

who endeavored to show him that his health was at
stake. But the best they could do was to effect a
compromise by inducing him to put on extra heavy
underwear.

He was far too democratic to ride in his own auto¬
mobile, although he had a motor-car which he used
in later years to get out to his camp; in his earlier
life he made the journey to and from camp on a
bicycle. In going to and from his office at the Gen¬
eral Electric Company, however, he commonly rode
in the street-cars, invariably going to the very front
of the car, bidding a cheery good morning to the
motorman, and then intently watching the rails as
the car sped along. Even if he were talking to some
one who accompanied him, he would keep looking
ahead down the track, as though fascinated by the
way the car moved over the ground — a contrast, in¬
deed, to the discouraging efforts to run electric cars
in Brooklyn, of which he was a spectator many years
before, in the time of Eickemeyer and Field.

So irksome did he find it to give attention to
clothes that many amusing stories got into circulation
concerning his sartorial habits. It is quite true that
he hated to buy clothes — Hayden usually did all the
choosing of materials for him — and that only excep¬
tional circumstances could induce him to appear in
conventional dress. He usually wore a neat busi¬
ness suit to the office, but was as likely as not to have
on a sweater under his coat instead of a shirt, or to

440

V.

%

r-

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

forego the small matter of a tie. And no one ever
remembered having seen him in a dress-suit.

Once in a while, on rare occasions, he was induced
to wear a somewhat stylish suit of clothes, with high
collar and tie, for the purpose of being photographed.
This was very seldom, however; and his well-known
indifference to clothes always caused recurring specu¬
lation by his friends as to just what might be the ex¬
tent of his wardrobe.

Once or twice he quite forgot appearances during
the absorbing interest of an address that he chanced
to be delivering. Mr. Hayden recalls one such oc¬
casion, when they were in Chicago and the doctor was
to speak before the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers. The meeting was held in a room that
had been used as a lodge-room, and on the platform
were several big chairs, upholstered in red velvet.
The platform was high and the hall large and well
filled. Dr. Steinmetz was standing near one of the
chairs and thoughtlessly put one foot upon it. It
occurred to him that he could see everybody and make
them hear better if he were a bit higher up, and so
he stepped upon the chair. There he stood for the
rest of the speech, and Mr. Hayden, down in the
audience, saw with horror that he had forgotten to
take off his very muddy overshoes.

“So I usually traveled with him after that when
he went to make a speech, to remind him to take off
his overshoes. Of course, nothing could keep him

441

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

from climbing on the chairs if he wanted to,” said
Mr. Hayden.

But he was not quite as indifferent to his personal
appearance as some of the magazine writers have
tried to make him appear. There was a story in a
magazine once which said that Dr. Steinmetz never
bought a new suit until the one he was wearing was
fairly in rags. Just as the family were teasing him
about it, although they were a bit provoked at the
time, the postman came, bringing, among other
things, a bill for one hundred dollars from Dr. Stein-
metz’s tailor for his winter suits, which had recently
been sent home. But Mr. Hayden always chose the
materials, and Dr. Steinmetz refused to give up any
time to visit the tailor for fittings. The tailor al¬
ways came to the house.

With all these idiosyncrasies, there was never any
question as to the simple sincerity of Dr. Steinmetz
in all his views, nor of the bigness of his heart. He
had a childlike faith in mankind and in the goodness
of human beings. During the European War his
distress over the unloosing of human passion and
wantonness was far deeper than was his concern over
the political issues.

The war saddened him, without regard to the side
that seemed to have the advantage at the moment.
It saddened him still more when the United States
joined in the conflict, for he then found that, not¬
withstanding his twenty-three years of American
citizenship and his unswerving allegiance to Ameri-

442

PERSONAL WHIMS AND TRAITS

can ideals and institutions — his complete harmony,
in fact, with the spirit of America — his position was
a difficult one.

But his conviction that, even in war-time, men’s
motives were not wholly diabolical remained un¬
shaken; so much so that he was found one evening
displajfing some dumdum bullets that some one had
sent him, and affirming with the utmost earnestness
that surely neither side meant actually to use bullets
of that sort in battle. They had simply been hastily
gathered up without any definite purpose; but, as¬
suredly, they were never intended for the firing-line!

Such was the gentle trust of this most human of
scientists that his warm heart was incapable of be¬
lieving there could be such a thing as twentieth-
century barbarism in his fellow-men.

443

CHAPTER XXIV

WHAT STEINMETZ THOUGHT OF RELIGION

%

THOU servest,” might well have been inscribed
in imperishable letters after the name of
Charles P. Steinmetz from the moment of his
maturity. For his was a life that served his fellow-
men, by achievement and direct intent ; and not in ap¬
pearance only, but in golden reality. His was an
altruism perfectly unostentatious. There was no
trumpeting abroad, no words without deeds — but
useful deeds and few words.

In- the self-forgetful realm of practical service to
the world at large and everybody in it, Steinmetz as¬
suredly stood close beside Leigh Hunt’s embodiment
of the unselfish character, his immortal Abou ben
Adhem. Like Abou, Steinmetz loved his fellow-
men ; and he did much for them.

Some would put this down as the real religion of
Steinmetz, the religion of service, which, also, was
taught by the man of Nazareth. Needless to say, it
was a far finer thing, this ideal that governed the life
of such a scientist, than the dogma-bound, creed-
canting attitude that is lacking in real works. Stein¬
metz would have none of creeds, and no man was less
dogmatic, even in the realm in which he was a master.

444

STEINMETZ AND RELIGION

He had made it evident, at one time or another,
that he could not be regarded as other than an un¬
believer, in respect to the Christian faith, until to
those who knew him and had long had the opportu¬
nity to grow familiar with his views he had come to
be definitely looked upon as an agnostic. Some
might go further than this and describe him even as
an atheist, but it is by no means certain that he did
not hold a belief in God. He had given indications
of believing in a Supreme Being.

From his public utterances and writings, however,
the impression is clearly derived that Dr. Steinmetz’s
mind had become so steeped in the methods and point
of view of science that he could not approach the big
question of the existence of a spiritual side in man
except by the methods that science usually pursues;
and that meant, for him, the impossibility of believ¬
ing what cannot be logically proved.

However much Dr. Steinmetz practised altruistic
service and lived under the dictates of human sym¬
pathy, however big-hearted and sociable he was, how¬
ever winsome and gentle in character as his career
developed, he was unable to cultivate in the higher
sense the one essential to the religious life, faith.

He himself recognized and designated faith as the
basic requirement in religion. And he failed to find
that faith in his own heart.

Dr. Steinmetz, for many years during his later life,
maintained the friendliest relations with a society of

445

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

the Unitarian Church in Schenectady. It was All
Souls’ Church, the church in which Mr. and Mrs.
Hayden and their children were active. That cir¬
cumstance accounted for his own interest in the or¬
ganization, and at the same time makes clear the ex¬
tent to which he entered into the pursuits of the
Hayden family. What they were interested in, he
was interested in, and where they went, he went.
True, he did not make a practice of attending service
at the Unitarian Church. But he was present on a
number of occasions when there were events partici¬
pated in by the Hayden children. Comrade of the
children as he always was, Dr. Steinmetz would sac¬
rifice time and convenience to attend their various
merry gatherings. And when a Sunday-school event
occurred at the church, he was frequently to be found
in the audience.

He became a friend of the Unitarian minister at
All Souls’, the Rev. Ernest Caldecott, with whom,
on several occasions, he discussed the fundamentals of
religion. Mr. Caldecott found him anything but an¬
tagonistic toward the church, even though he did not
believe in the faith which the church represents. But
these conversations between the two also uncovered
the final attitude of Dr. Steinmetz upon religious
faith, his lack of belief, his agnosticism.

To Mr. Caldecott, more than to any other one per¬
son, he imparted his inner convictions upon this sub¬
ject. Mr. Caldecott has set them down in what may
be called as close an approach to an analysis of Dr.

446

STEINMETZ AND RELIGION

Steinmetz’s personal attitude on religion as can be
obtained. This is what Mr. Caldecott has to say
about Steinmetz and religion:

“If religion consists in setting a high value upon
life and in being loyal to that value, then Dr. Stein¬
metz was an intensely religious man. If it consists
in holding certain theological views, then he was not
religious. Everything depends upon one’s defini¬
tion.

“Steinmetz accepted the general understanding of
the term, for he had stated that ‘religion deals with
the relations of man with the supernatural, with God
and immortality, with the soul, our personality and
the ego, and its existence or non-existence after
death.’ This he called ‘the greatest and deepest
problem which ever confronted mankind.’

“His views were practically negative on the entire
problem ; he was simply an unbeliever. Having
given serious consideration to the matter he had de¬
cided that there was nothing for him to believe. This
has placed him before the public as an atheist. The
title he did not deny. The writer, however, would
put him down as a confirmed agnostic, for an atheist
is a person who knows there is no God, and Stein¬
metz was not of that temperament. Be that as il
may, the fact remains that he was a consistent unbe¬
liever.

“How much of his thinking upon the question was
influenced by his own experience of life will probably
be known. But it seems likely that his in-

447

never

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ability to do as physically normal men do had an ef¬
fect upon his religious ideas. With that penetrating
mind for which he was famous, he saw reason to be¬
lieve that no almighty goodness ruled this universe.
A malicious great being was unthinkable. All was
according to cause and effect, a process which had
wonderfully evolved, without persorfal direction or
plan, an amazing series of adaptations, with man but
an incident in the whole.

“His analytical mind was kept balanced by gen¬
uine sympathy, so that no bitterness was present in
his unbelief. His only complaint against religion or
the church, he once told the writer, was his strong
suspicion that the clergy were afraid to tell the truth
as they saw it.

“This background is necessary in order that one
may appreciate the views on religion held by Dr.
Steinmetz. On the side of theory he asserted that
religion dealt with infinity and science with finite mat¬
ters. Obviously, they were two separate and distinct
fields. In the nature of the case, there could be no
conflict between the two, unless one or the other
crossed over out of its own territory.

“Religion, he declared, is based on an assumption
which cannot be proved. Time and again religious
exponents have been compelled to shift their ground
because science has entered and given explanations of
phenomena which had previously been interpreted in
terms of supernatural intervention. Room seems
not to be even left for the existence of a ‘vital force,’

448

STEINMETZ AND RELIGION

for one after another of the chemical products of liv¬
ing things have been synthetically produced by chem¬
ists, until it seems but a matter of time before the
very heart of the universe will be reached.

“All this, said Steinmetz, would be undisturbing to
man but for the conceit of his own ego in the idea that
he himself is immortal and needs God in token of that
immortality. Yet in the mind of the scientist the
same principle obtained for man’s mind as for super¬
natural forces, viz., new discoveries tend ever more
strongly to show that life is a physicochemical process
and that when this process ceases mind ceases. Thus
man believes in his own continuance after death be¬
cause he wants to, and not because there is either rea¬
son or evidence that continuity is a reality.

“It would seem that Dr. Steinmetz regarded the
non-existence of God as a supernatural being as auto¬
matically excluding immortality. The writer had
arranged to discuss this matter with Dr. Steinmetz
and was only prevented from doing so by the latter’s
sudden illness and death. But, without making any
plea for continuity of existence, it would surely ap¬
pear reasonable that the combination of forces
through which all that is has been brought about, with
man as its apex, might, conceivably, be sufficient to
make possible a continuance of consciousness after
mortality. At any rate the non-existence of God
does not exclude the possibility of immortality (to
use the old word, which is an unfortunate one) . If
man is not immortal it is on grounds other than that

449

CHARLES PROTEUS STEIN M ETZ

God does not exist except in men’s minds. Dr.
Steinmetz had regarded these two conceptions as in¬
separable and said that we should not be disturbed
about being unbelievers but for immortality, which
needed a God to give it reality.

“On practical religion, especially as it affected
Christianity, Steinmetz was equally emphatic. His
views are all too easily taken as merely destructive.
As a matter of fact, he had not only a philosophy of
life, but a support in sterling character which con¬
vinces all who knew him that such a life is desirable
in all men.

“One afternoon, as we two sat talking about con¬
ditions in the world of human relations, the doctor
said to me, ‘No human being should engage in an
unsocial act.’ I then asked him what objection there
could be in tying up more closely with Christianity
as a practical means of redeeming affairs. With pity
in his eyes, he said, ‘Christianity has failed; anything
that has been advocated for two thousand years, and
has been no more successful than for men to hate each
other so that the biggest war in history has but re¬
cently closed, has failed.’

“Dr. Steinmetz then hastened to explain that he
had no objection to the fundamental ethical and
spiritual teachings of Jesus, although he considered
some of them too involved for a world like this. But
he was satisfied that too much was left to incom¬
petency under Christianity. The point of this con¬
tention was that man trusted too much to good inten-

450

STEINMETZ AND RELIGION

tions, aspirations, and so forth, whereas adequate
knowledge and proper equipment were necessary.

“And yet Dr. Steinmetz took satisfaction in being
a church-member. His attendance was largely con¬
fined to occasions when the children were prominent
in the service, for his affection for them was un¬
bounded. But his actual connection with a church,1
his preaching the annual sermon for the Laymen’s
League of that church, as well as other interests
which he from time to time manifested, showed that
in him was no violent antagonism toward the church
as a whole.

“He died as he lived — a simple, whole-hearted and
devoted servant of humanity.”

Too broad-minded to ignore the influence of reli¬
gion in the lives of many of those about him, and
in the world in general. Dr. Steinmetz recognized
religion as a definite characteristic of the human race.
What particularly interested him, as was to be ex¬
pected, was the relation of religion and science in
man’s practical every-day life.

About a year before he died, Dr. Steinmetz de¬
livered an address in which he summed up his con¬
clusions on this broad subject. It was an address
that gave only a hint of his own innermost convic¬
tions. But it contained statements in which religion¬
ists could and did take comfort, for he frankly pointed

i The First Unitarian Society, All Souls’ Church, Schenectady, mem¬
bership in which is entirely without test or requirement of belief.

451

V.

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

out that while science returns a purely negative an¬
swer to the colossal question as to whether or not
there is a God, and whether or not man has an im¬
mortal soul, still this negative answer “is not conclu¬
sive, and the question is still as open as it ever was.”
Furthermore, he reiterated a great truism, that reli¬
gion must be based inevitably upon faith, and in
science nothing is accepted on faith; everything must
be established by proof.

This opinion of the electrical master was encourag¬
ing to the followers of the faith only in a negative
sense, to be sure. They were glad to find that Dr.
Steinmetz did not ruthlessly rule out of existence
both God and immortality; he merely stated that
science could not recognize these things, but that this
position of science did not settle the question. God
and immortality might exist just the same.

It was the conclusion of an agnostic. It was the
conclusion which, any man who accepted only what
science would demonstrate to him and rejected what
science could not substantiate must have reached.

The address itself is a clear exposition, touching
briefly on the historical setting of the two great cen¬
tral conceptions, defining broadly the goals which
both science and religion strive to attain. Uttered
by an agnostic of strong scientific leanings, it is un¬
questionably fair and just in its treatment of the sub¬
ject which Dr. Steinmetz gave it: “The Place of
Religion in Modern Scientific Civilization.”

This address was delivered on November 5, 1922,

452

STEINMETZ AND RELIGION

in All Souls’ Church, Dr. Steinmetz occupying the
pulpit on that day by special invitation of the minis¬
ter. The lecture — for such it is much more than a
sermon — is given in full, since it reveals the thought
of a unique personage on a subject of unique
significance.

“Religion,” said Dr. Steinmetz, “may be defined as
dealing with the relations of man to superior enti¬
ties, usually conceived as individuals, that is, a per¬
sonal God or personal Gods, or conceptions of im¬
mortality, resurrection, etc. Science, as understood
here, deals with the conclusions derived by the laws
of logic from our sense perceptions.

“There has grown up through the centuries an in¬
creasing antagonism between science and religion,
making the two incompatible with each other. Reli¬
gion met this by the Inquisition, that is, by forcibly
suppressing science and its votaries. However, our
civilization is an engineering civilization, and the pros¬
perous life of the large populations which our earth
now supports has become possible only by the work
of the engineer. Engineering is the application of
science to the service of man, and so to-day science
is the foundation not only of our prosperity, but of
our very existence, and thus necessarily has become
the dominating power in our human society.

“Therefore, in civilized countries, the attempt of
religion to suppress science by the Inquisition of
medieval times is laughed out of court, and in semi-
civilized countries such an attempt, for instance, as

453

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

to forbid by legislation the teaching of evolution in
state universities, is rarely successful, at least not
for a long time.

“Our knowledge of the superior entities, with which
historic religion deals, has been derived hy experience
and by ‘revelation.’

“Undoubtedly experience led to the first concep¬
tion of superior beings, or ‘gods’: the forces of na¬
ture personified; the experiences in dreams; the or¬
derly progress of nature, which seemed to imply a
manager of the universe. With our increasing
knowledge, this became less and less satisfactory.
For instance, the terror of the thunder-storm led
primitive man to the conception of a Supreme Being,
whose attribute was the thunderbolt. But when
Franklin brought the lightning from the clouds and
showed it to be a mere electric spark, when we learned
to make lightning harmless hy the lightning-rod, and
when finally we harnessed electricit}’' to do our work,
naturally our reverence for the thrower of the thun¬
derbolt decayed.

“So the gods of experience vanished. For a time,
the wonderful fitness of nature gave argument for
the defense of the conception of a Supreme Being
who had made everything in nature so perfectly fit¬
ting its purpose. But Darwin gave a ridiculously
simple explanation of the fitness of nature, by show¬
ing that only the fittest can survive and anything un¬
fit is rapidly exterminated, and so, on merely mechan¬
ical principles, nature becomes perfect in fitness.

454

STEINMETZ AND RELIGION

Therefore, the hatred of all the forces of darkness
against the theory of evolution.

“Thus no evidence or proof of the existence of
a God has been found in the phenomena of nature,
based on experience.

“Logical proof of the existence of God, immor¬
tality, etc., has been given repeatedly, but in all
these attempts, the proof is based on an assump¬
tion, such as the existence of the mind independent
of the body, etc., and stands and falls with this as¬
sumption, and this assumption cannot he proved.
That is, the attempted proof of God is a syllogism.
There are a number of conceptions, such as God,
immortality, the existence, independent of the body,
of the soul and the mind, and in general, the personal
individuality or the ego, the existence of life not
merely as a biochemical process, but as an entity in¬
dependent of the living body, etc. All these con¬
ceptions are interrelated and dependent on each other
in such manner that, if one is proved, all the others
logically follow from it.

“For a long time attempts were thus made by em¬
pirical science to prove one of these conceptions.
The most promising appeared to be the proof of the
existence of life independent of and not limited by
the laws of inanimate nature. Such proof would be
brought if the existence of a ‘vital force’ could be
proved, which can do things that the laws of inani¬
mate nature cannot accomplish. As you know, the
vital force conception held sway for a long time in

455

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

chemistry. When chemistry developed, it was found
that the compounds met with in inanimate nature
could be produced by the chemist in his laboratory;
but the ‘organic’ compounds, that is, the things pro¬
duced in living plants and animals, could not be pro¬
duced by the chemist, and so were attributed to the
action of the vital force. But gradually one after the
other of these chemical products of living things were
produced synthetically by the chemist, and while
many of the organic compounds have for some reason
or other not yet been reproduced, the evidence has
long become conclusive that the same laws of chemis¬
try operate in the construction of the organic com¬
pounds, and no field is left for a vital force, but the
vital force does not exist in the realm of science.

“In the reahn of science, all attempts to find any
evidence of supernatural beings, of metaphysical con¬
ceptions, as God, immortality, infinity, etc., thus have
failed, and if we are honest, we must confess that
in science there exists no God, no immortality, no
soul or mind as distinct from the body, but scientif¬
ically God and immortality are illogical conceptions.
That is, science had inevitably to become atheistic.

“There remained only revelation as the foundation
of the historical conception of religion. But is there
any difference between the ‘dream’ of prehistoric
man, in which he ‘sees’ wonderful things, and the
‘revelation’ of Mohammed or Buddha or Moses or
other founders of religions, which all contradict each
other?

'456

Steinmetz exchanging experiences with Elbert Hubbard at
Association Island, Lake Ontario, in 1913

STEINMETZ AND RELIGION

Thus there is no evidence outside of science for
God, immortality and similar conceptions, and there
is evidence against these concertions in science, and
science has justified its methods and conclusions by
the work it has accomplished.

But it is very hard for man to get along with¬
out a belief in these conceptions. We may get along
without a God, but not without immortality. Our
self-conceit dislikes to place so little value on our¬
selves, our knowledge, skill, experience, in short, our
ego, to concede that all this is merely a function of
the biochemical process of life, which utterly ceases
and vanishes with the disintegration of the proto¬
plasm of our body by death.

“The conceptions of physical science are incom¬
patible with the metaphysical conceptions of God,
immortality, infinity, etc. But are the conceptions of
science really final and all-embracing, or are they
limited also, holding within a certain range only, and
not beyond this? Science derives its conclusions by
the laws of logic from our sense-perceptions. Thus
it does not deal with the real world, of which we
know nothing, but with the world as it appears to
our senses. But are there no limitations to our sense-
perceptions, which limit the validity of the conclu¬
sions we derive from them?

“All our sense-perceptions are limited by, and at¬
tached to, the conceptions of time and space. Kant,
the greatest and most critical of all philosophers,
denies that time and space are the product of experi-

457

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ence, but shows them to be categories, conceptions in
which our mind clothes the sense perceptions. Mod¬
ern physics has come to the same conclusion in the
relativity theory, that absolute space and absolute
time have no existence, but time and space exist
only as far as things or events fill them, that is, are
forms of sense-perception.

“Still greater and more pertinent is another limi¬
tation of our sense-perceptions: our senses can per¬
ceive only finite things, but cannot perceive the in¬
finite. No reasoning from any foundation can put
anything into the conclusions which is not contained
in the foundations, and thus, with our sense-percep¬
tions finite, all conclusions from them, that is, the
entire structure of science, are limited to the
finite. Hence any attempt of science to deal with
an infinite conception, as the infinite in time and space,
immortality, and the conception of God, etc., in short,
all those interrelated conceptions already discussed,
must fail and lead to contradictions, and show these
conceptions as illogical.

“Thus the proof of the non-existence, in science,
of the conception of God, immortality, etc., really
means nothing except that we cannot get by reason¬
ing a conclusion which is not contained in the prem¬
ises on which we started our reasoning; finite
science cannot deal with the conceptions of the in¬
finite or absolute.

“Furthermore, science derived its conclusions from
the sense-perceptions by the laws of logic. But what

458

STEINMETZ AND RELIGION

proof is there of the correctness of the laws of logic,
except experience, which, no matter how comprehen¬
sive, must remain limited?

“Thus the negative answer of science on the ques¬
tion of whether there are conceptive entities of in¬
finite character, as infinity in time and space, im¬
mortality of the ego, God, etc., is not conclusive, and
the question is still as open as it ever was.

“How can we approach its solution, and can we
ever get an answer on the question of the existence of
the infinite? The best we can expect to do is to
search into the foundations and limitations of our
mental processes, to determine how far conceptions
are really illogical and contradictory, and how far
they appear so, merely because they involve concep¬
tions beyond the limits of our mind. There can be
no scientific foundation of religion. Belief must al¬
ways remain the foundation of religion, while that of
science is logical reasoning from facts, that is, sense-
perceptions. All that we can say is that the two,
science and religion, are not necessarily incompatible,
but are different and unrelated activities of the hu¬
man mind.

“Thus, inherently, science and religion are not an¬
tagonistic, but separate, the one dealing with the
finite conclusions from our finite sense-perceptions,
that is, the world of facts and reality, and the other
with infinite conceptions, which can neither be proved
nor disproved empirically, but are outside of the
realm of science, in the field of belief. A collision be-

459

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tween science and religion can occur only when the
one tries to encroach on the field of the other, as, for
instance, when religion attempts to teach history in
the fable of the creation of the world, or biology in
opposing the theory of evolution, etc., These are
not proper and essential parts of religion. They are
mere survivals of the child’s age of man.”

460

CHAPTER XXV

THE GREAT TORCH SUDDENLY EXTINGUISHED

HE year 1923, in the life of Dr. Steinmetz,
gave no promise at the outset of the events
that were so near. The doctor was quietly
busy with all his accustomed activities through the
latter part of the winter and into the spring and
summer.

His one absorbing line of investigation was his gen¬
eral study of transient phenomena, particularly an
intensive series of experiments with his artificial
lightning. In these experiments he sought no spec¬
tacular effects but perseveringly worked for results
which seemed intangible and obscure to all but his
technically trained associates.

During the winter he improved his lightning-
generator. With the new apparatus he embarked
upon research even more interesting to a technical
man than those that had startled the public a year or
so previously.

Gradually, however, the need for increased facili¬
ties in this work was made apparent. The scope of
the investigations was steadily broadening, and the
electrical capacity of the apparatus was increased in
proportion. By the spring of 1923 Dr. Steinmetz

461

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

and his co-workers had planned sufficient experimen¬
tal work, as a result of what they had discovered up
to that time, to keep them busy for three years to
come.

The nature of the laboratory work had made it
evident, by this time, that special quarters would be
desirable. A third new lightning-generator had just
been completed, under the direction of Dr. Stein-
metz, having a capacity for producing more power¬
ful artificial lightning than either of its predecessors.
It came closer still to imitating nature’s lightning, al¬
though it was still a puny exhibition in comparison
with the grandly awesome product of an actual elec¬
trical storm.

The first experiments with this apparatus, and in¬
deed some of the experiments with the smaller ma¬
chine previously in use, caused a considerable upset
in the electrical circuits of the building. Five hun¬
dred thousand volts, and close to two million horse¬
power, was unloosed in a single flash of laboratory
lightning, affecting other electrical equipment rather
unexpectedly.

As erratic as the terror of the skies itself, the dis¬
charge of this miniature lightning fairly disrupted
some electrical apparatus. The high voltage backed
up in the main circuit of the laboratory build¬
ing, and on the occasion of one such an outbreak it
sent a wave of electrical energy into the wires that
supplied an electric glue-pot, used by some carpen-

462

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

ters, burning out the glue-pot and compelling the
carpenters to quit work.

These difficulties led to the decision to build a
special laboratory-room for Dr. Steinmetz. The
general engineering laboratory began the construc¬
tion of such a room in the early summer of 1923,
planning to locate it on the roof of one wing of the
laboratory building, entirely apart from the rest of
the laboratory.

The new lightning-machine was to have been in¬
stalled in this room. Other electrical equipment was
to be added, and the current for operating the
lightning-generator was to be supplied by a motor
generator set, which would have made the Steinmetz
laboratory independent of the main electrical circuit
of the building, so far as providing a source of energy
for the lightning-generator was concerned.

The actual construction of these new quarters for
Dr. Steinmetz was well advanced by early autumn,
at the time of his death ; and he had anticipated with
keen delight the advantages to his work which the new
facilities would have provided, but of which he was
never to make use.

In the spring of 1923, Dr. Steinmetz remarked to
the Haydens that during the summer he wanted to
carry out a plan he had been pondering for some time.
This proved to be an excursion to the Pacific Coast,
a region of the country that he had never seen.

463

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

The idea was talked over for a long while; and then
came a development that had much to do with crys¬
tallizing the matter and with fixing the approximate
date. The Pacific Coast section of the American In¬
stitute of Electrical Engineers invited Dr. Steinmetz
to be one of its speakers at its annual autumn meet¬
ing, to be held October 3 and 4, at Ddl Monte, Cali¬
fornia.

This invitation fitted in very well with the doctor’s
general desire; and it was finally made the nucleus
around which was laid out the program of his mem¬
orable western trip; memorable because of the re¬
markable reception accorded him by the public, with
the sad sequel that came just two weeks after his re¬
turn to Schenectady.

The trip was the all-absorbing thought in the doc¬
tor’s mind through the spring and summer. But it
was not allowed to interfere with a family pilgrim¬
age of the Haydens, which occurred every year on
Memorial day, and in which Dr. Steinmetz always
shared with hearty accord. Mr. and Mrs. Hayden
invariably took advantage of this holiday to pay a
visit to the original home of the Hayden family, at
Haydenville, Massachusetts. There, where the past
generations of the line slept in the village cemetery,
it was the custom to hold a family reunion. Dr.
Steinmetz never more completely exhibited his unity
of life with his adopted son and grandchildren than
on these occasions. He was one of them in every

464

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

respect, and took part with the children in their games
and revels.

Through the summer, preparations for the western
tour of Hr. Steinmetz and his adopted family went
forward steadily. The entire family made ready to
go, Mr. and Mrs. Hayden and the three children,
Joe, Marjorie, and Billy. Hr. Steinmetz would not
have enjoyed the journey half as much if any one in
the household had been unable to participate.

He expressed a particular desire to visit the Grand
Canon of Colorado ; hence, the outward route was ar¬
ranged to include that region, with Henver as the
first stopping-point. Gradually, as the news of his
coming got around among western cities, many re¬
quests were received at the Wendell Avenue home
for luncheon talks or evening addresses by the doc¬
tor. Electrical men throughout the West expressed
an interest in the tour; and by the time the group
left Schenectady, a number of public appearances
by Hr. Steinmetz had been definitely agreed upon.
These included addresses before many local sections
of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers,
which hastened to show their esteem for their former
national president.

On September 1 Hr. Steinmetz, with the Hayden
family, started from Schenectady on the first stage of
this trip. They reached Henver on September 3 and
remained there until the fifth. In that city Hr.
Steinmetz gave his first public address of the tour, an

465

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

evening address, for which the local committee had
engaged a hall of moderate size, seating perhaps nine
hundred persons.

Public interest, however, was much greater than
even Dr. Steinmetz himself supposed, and it showed
itself when the time for the address arrived. Long
before the hour set for the doctor’s appearance, the
hall was overflowing with Steinmetz admirers, and a
large throng had gathered outside. Those in charge
hastily transferred the assemblage to the largest hall
in the city, an imposing auditorium seating nearly
five thousand. That, too, was soon filled, so that
when Dr. Steinmetz finally walked out upon the plat¬
form, he found every seat occupied and many people
standing in the aisles and at the rear of the hall. The
people’s greeting to the electrical master was enthu¬
siastic and mingled with much sincere admiration.
His subject on this occasion was “The Electric
Power Industry,” which was his topic at virtually all
of his evening appearances. At noonday luncheons
he usually spoke either on “Electricity and
Civilization” or “Engineering Problems of the
Future.”

The scenes at Denver made it apparent that Dr.
Steinmetz was widely known by reputation and that
people of all walks of life were eager to see and hear
him, even though many of them were unfamiliar with
his field of work. N or were the throngs merely curi¬
ous, for his remarks were always closely followed and
not infrequently applauded. And this was but the

466

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

first of many such experiences throughout the jour¬
ney.

From Denver the party went on to Colorado
Springs, where they visited the Garden of the Gods,
the Cave of the Winds, Cheyenne Canon, and Seven
Falls, and rode by automobile over the Hermit Rim
drive and the Grand View drive. And then they
continued, on September 16, to the Grand Canon and
Los Angeles, where there were more addresses, both
at noon and in the evening, including a dinner at
which Dr. Steinmetz was the guest of honor.

Part of the itinerary at this stage of the tour in¬
cluded a visit to Hollywood and the principal
moving-picture studios. It was here that Dr. Stein¬
metz was welcomed by Douglas Fairbanks, who
showed him through the vast array of stage-sets and
explained everything that Dr. Steinmetz wanted to
know.

“A grown-up boy, with all the enthusiasm of youth,
and all youth’s unquenchable thirst for knowledge,
that was Charles Proteus Steinmetz as he revealed
himself to me on his visit to Hollywood,” said Doug¬
las Fairbanks, describing the unique occasion.

“He was tremendously interested in everything
pertaining to studio life and expressed surprise at the
infinite amount of detail connected with the produc¬
ing of a large motion-picture. Of course, he went
into everything which seemed possessed of any scien¬
tific angle whatever.

“He asked a thousand questions. His mind

467

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

seemed to assimilate ideas almost before they were
expressed. His enthusiasm and his vigor were
really contagious. His eyes were mere agents of
his brain. The minute he looked, a question formed
on his lips.”

This is a fleeting picture of Dr. Steinmetz in a
period of complete relaxation, out for a holiday, yet
a holiday mixed with much that was profitable. He
enjoyed this Hollywood experience; still, his great¬
est pleasure as the trip proceeded was the panorama
of matchless Western scenery which was unfolded be¬
fore him. He would stand for a long time gazing at
a great plunging waterfall, or a tall, silver-like thread
of a stream plunging down in a narrow cataract.
And it was the esthetic appeal that had touched him
at these moments. Let it not he supposed that in
his scientific mind he was picturing these streams
harnessed to a power-house and giving of their en¬
ergy to serve men electrically, while surrendering
their ability to thrill men’s love for the beautiful.
He thought not of this, or if he did think of it, the
thought was quite secondary in character. He was
the ardent, deeply stirred lover of nature throughout
this visit to scenes of nature’s wonderland.

This was his reaction, too, at night, when the luxur¬
ious Pullman train was speeding onward through re¬
gions of wild appeal. Once or twice Mr. Hayden
caught a glimpse of him on the sleeper. He was in
his berth but not sleeping. Instead, he was crouched
on hands and knees, gazing out of the window at the

468

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

country-side, passing in quick panorama under the
sheen of the moon. It seemed as if he could hardly
bear to cease contemplation of the boundless ex¬
panse of Western lands and the picturesque vistas
that continually appeared, not even long enough to
sleep.

On September 23 the party reached San Francisco,
where there was another round of luncheon talks, a
technical lecture in the evening before the local sec¬
tion of the American Institute of Electrical Engi¬
neers, and much enjoyable sight-seeing. A week later
the travelers proceeded to Del Monte, to attend the
Pacific Coast convention of the institute.

There Dr. Steinmetz delivered a formal paper,
constituting his most technical address of the trip.
Its subject was “High Voltage Insulation.” Mr.
Hayden was co-author with Dr. Steinmetz in this
discussion, which was received by the convention with
keen interest. Its importance lay in the way it dealt
with the most recent investigations of Dr. Steinmetz
into one phase of the general question of improving
electrical transmission so that even greater progress
can be made in the future than has been accomplished
in the past.

The return-trip to Schenectady began on October 6
and lay through Salt Lake City, where there was an¬
other series of talks. Again the evidence was pres¬
ent of great popular interest in the “little giant” of
the electrical world. The entire party was present

469

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

on one of these days, at an organ-recital in the Mor¬
mon Tabernacle.

On the way from Salt Lake City to Chicago, Dr.
Steinmetz met with one of the picturesque exper¬
iences of his later life and was one of the principals in
a peculiarly interesting episode. This was his
friendly meeting with William Jennings Bryan, who
chanced to be traveling on the same train.

Upon learning that Dr. Steinmetz was on the
train, Mr. Bryan inquired the way to his state-room,
where he was very cordially greeted. The two men,
each of public prominence in widely different spheres,
engaged in conversation for almost two hours. And,
as might have been expected, the dominant topic
was that of the relation between science and reli¬
gion.

Two men with more sharply different views dn this
question could hardly have come together. It was
the meeting of a Christian believer of the orthodox
school with an avowed agnostic, whom some thought
to be only a few degrees removed from a state of
learned atheism.

They proceeded at once to sound each other out.
In reality, Mr. Bryan was perhaps the most inquisi¬
tive of the two. He was eager to know just what
Dr. Steinmetz’s views were and asked several direct
questions, which Dr. Steinmetz answered with cordial
courtesy and evident sincerity.

He told Mr. Bryan, in substance, that he could not
believe anything he could not prove. His scientific

470

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

training and scientific mode of thinking had made
such an attitude essential, in his opinion. He could
and did believe all that science proved; but science
could not prove the principles of religion, the reality
of God, of the soul, of immortality; things which, he
pointed out, require faith in order to accept. He
could not personally accept anything on faith and
hence could not accept religion.

Yet he made it clear to Mr. Bryan, as he had made
it clear many months before to a church congregation
in Schenectady, that science and religion need not
conflict. Each had its own spheres of activity and
influence.

Dr. Steinmetz, in brief, frankly declared himself an
unbeliever. But he indicated his broad point of view
when he remarked that he believed, without the least
reservation, in having the Bible taught to children.
He thought it would be beneficial to them, and that
only good reactions could result from inducing them
to know it as it stands.

This interesting visit of the famous politician, lec-
turerer, publicist, and Christian leader with the
master mathematician, electrical engineer, physicist,
and eminent scientist concluded some time before
Chicago was reached. The two parted with as much
cordial feeling as they had shown upon meeting,
neither seemingly any the less friendly because they
held such divergent opinions on matters commonly
admitted to be at the base of human welfare.

Dr. Steinmetz, whatever his religious views, was

471

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

warm-hearted, sympathetic, and considerate of other
people’s feelings every moment of his life. He in¬
dicated this in a rather striking way shortly before
their journey’s end. The Hayden children, to while
away a few moments, had begun reciting a childish
jingle and invited the doctor to join with them. But
the jingle contained reference to aij individual of
the negro race; and near them in the Pullman car
the negro porter was at work, well within ear-shot.
Dr. Steinmetz, perceiving this, could not be induced
to join in reciting the jingle. Pie would not run the
risk of having the porter overhear them and feel hu¬
miliated.

At Chicago, as elsewhere on the trip, the doctor
showed some dislike for walking. Frequently he had
been obliged to walk something of a distance from
train to train, or from train to automobile. These
moments, even though brief, seemed to him to be the
most irksome of the entire journey.

At length, on October 12, their train rolled out of
the West and stopped at the familiar Schenectady
station. Half an hour later they entered the home
on Wendell Avenue, and the six weeks trip was at an
end.

As he walked into the reception-hall of the house
that had come to be a Very happy spot to him, Dr.
Steinmetz remarked to Mr. and Mrs. Hayden: “I
am glad to get home again; and I am glad we took
the trip. I think it was worth while.” He had pre¬
viously told them, while on the train to Chicago, that

472

One of the last photographs of Dr. Steinmetz. He is in the moving-picture
colony at Hollywood, California, and with him is Douglas Fairbanks

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

he had had a fine time and had enjoyed the trip to the
utmost extent.

“Our next trip,” he said, half jokingly, yet seri¬
ously, too, “will be to the Mediterranean. That will
not be so tiring, perhaps. It will be an ocean trip,
with only two weeks on land, and then the return.”

At no time on the trip had he said anything about
feeling unwell. He got tired at times; and in one
city he underwent a medical examination, chiefly at
Mr. Hayden’s behest. The physician who made the
examination told Mr. Hayden that Dr. Steinmetz’s
heart was functioning poorly, but this was not dis¬
closed to Dr. Steinmetz.

When he got home he had his personal physician
look him over, not because he was in any sense fear¬
ful, but as a methodical procedure. His physician
thought he needed a good rest and told him to stay
in bed for a while. But Dr. Steinmetz did not enjoy
that. He was unwilling to be in bed in the daytime.
He gave his family some difficulty keeping him quiet
and warm, insisting as he did on getting up at differ¬
ent times through the day. However, he did con¬
sent, after a while, to stay on the second floor, in order
to avoid the tiring exertion of going up and down
stairs. He was only down-stairs once after he got
home; every day, with that one exception, he had his
meals in his room, and nearly always had his break¬
fast before arising.

Time passed tediously with him under the rest
treatment. Although always fond of reading, par-

473

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

ticularly relishing the mystery type of story in mo¬
ments of relaxation, he found it hard to keep his
mind occupied during these last days. He had read,
with much delight, the entire series of Tarzan stories,
and had reveled in ah the most thrilling detective
stories — always avoiding, in all his fiction read¬
ing, those stories which he heard had 'unhappy end¬
ings, and invariably expressing regret if he stumbled
upon such a narrative.

Apparently he had no premonition that the end
was near. He displayed no trace of apprehension,
much less of panic, although there is reason to believe
that he had for some time understood the condition
of his heart. To the very last, however, he was
mentally tranquil, calm, and well poised, with his
thoughts busily occupied.

The night before his death he was up and dressed
for a while, although he did not venture to come
down-stairs. He spent part of the evening reading,
finding some passages of interest in Humphrey’s
“Physics of the Air.” Some of the phenomena which
this book mentioned, and one or two of the illustra¬
tions of devices for recording changes in the atmos¬
phere, recalled what he and Hayden had witnessed,
during their trip, at the Lick Observatory. He
marked some of these passages with a pencil, to call
Hayden’s attention to them. He also read a maga¬
zine fiction story.

Shortly after 9 :30 o’clock he retired, with his usual
cheery good night to the family.

474

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

About eight o’clock on the morning of October 26,
1923, Mr. Hayden went up to Dr. Steinmetz’s room
to see how he had passed the night. He found the
doctor awake and comfortable but somewhat restless.
They conversed for a few moments, and Mr. Hayden
insisted that the doctor take a dose of medicine.
Then he told the doctor he would have breakfast sent
up to him, and that it would be better not to try to
get up until he had eaten something.

“All right,” agreed Dr. Steinmetz. “I will lie
down.”

Those were his last words. Mr. Hayden left the
room and on the stairs passed his son, Billy Hayden,
coming up with a breakfast-tray prepared for Dr.
Steinmetz. The boy entered the doctor’s bedroom
and announced breakfast. There was no reply from
the bed. Drawing closer, Billy noticed that Dr.
Steinmetz seemed very still, and his anxiety was
aroused. He hurried down-stairs and called his
father. Mr. Hayden at once telephoned for the phy¬
sician, but there was nothing whatever that human
aid could do. Dr. Steinmetz had died quietly, pain¬
lessly, all in a minute, between the time that Mr.
Hayden left his bedside and the time when young
Billy Hayden entered the room.

The sad news spread through the city like an elec¬
tric flash. Within a few moments it was known at
the General Electric plant, and in an unbelievably
short interval it had spread from end to end of the
big establishment. Officials of the company were

475

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

soon at the house on Wendell Avenue, to offer con¬
dolences and express the tribute of the organization
through which Dr. Steinmetz had served mankind.

All that day and the next day, telegrams came to
the General Electric Company from individuals,
scientific bodies, electrical concerns, throughout the
United States and from abroad, communicating the
universal regret which the loss of the electrical master
aroused, and expressing the admiration which all men
felt for his undisputed genius.

Two days later the public of Schenectady, people
of high and low degree, representative of the rank
and file of folk everywhere who have benefited in¬
directly, yet definitely, from the work of Dr. Stein¬
metz, paid their own homage at his bier. The great
master of electricity lay in state in the home which he
had built and loved, while for hours on that dull,
drizzly October Sunday an endless line of mourners
filed past. Crysanthemums, roses, and those orchids
which he particularly loved banked the casket on
every side; and the sorrowing continued on the fol¬
lowing day when the funeral was held, thousands
watching at the grave as the last rites were performed
and those luxuriant flowers were laid in a fragrant
pile upon the little mound of cold brown fearth.

Eminent men served as the honorary pall-bearers:
Owen D. Young, chairman of the board of directors
of the General Electric Company; Gerard Swope,
president of the General Electric Company; Francis
C. Pratt, one of the vice-presidents of the company;

476

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

Dr. Charles A. Richmond, president of Union Col¬
lege; Dr. Ernest J. Berg, consulting engineer of the
General Electric Company, and Dr. Steinmetz’s
house comrade of many years before; and Lieutenant-
Governor George R. Lunn, in whose city adminis¬
tration Dr. Steinmetz served in his only period of
public life.

The wide-spread regret at the passing of Charles
Proteus Steinmetz was accompanied by a momentary
interval of surprise when it became known that he left
no great estate. His Wendell Avenue house, which
in his will he expressly left to Mr. Hayden, had been
deeded over to the latter by Dr. Steinmetz six months
previously, so that this provision of his will was al¬
ready fulfilled. Beyond this, he established a trust
fund for one of his sisters, Miss Clara Steinmetz, who
was living in New York at the time of his death, and
remembered with small sums others among his rela¬
tives and intimate friends.

But there was no accumulation of riches, such as
many persons supposed would prove to be the case,
taking into account the eminence of Dr. Steinmetz in
his profession and his years of distinguished service
with the General Electric Company. Dr. Steinmetz
did not seek wealth; nor did he believe in hoarding it.
His riches were of a different sort. They were rep¬
resented — yet only in part — by such honors as the
award to him in 1913 of the Elliott Cresson gold
medal “in recognition of the successful application of
analytical methods to the solution of numerous prob-

477

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

lems of first practical importance in the field of
electrical engineering.” They were embodied, these
riches of Steinmetz, even more enduringly in the
hearts of his fellow-mortals, and in the lives of all
who live in these modern days with their widening
usage of electrical methods, so many of them depend¬
ing upon his achievements. *

What the estate of Dr. Steinmetz really signified
was impressively pointed out in an article in the
“Christian Century,” quoted by the “Literary Di¬
gest” a few months later. The article commented on
the persevering efforts of Andrew Carnegie and
John D. Rockefeller to give away their millions
before they had the opportunity taken from their
hands.

“But Charles Proteus Steinmetz, who was one of
the world’s greatest mathematicians and electrical
engineers when he died,” said the article, “brought
us a new suggestion. He had ample opportunity to
accumulate wealth, but he proposed that no man take
from society more than he requires for his immediate
needs. Let a man house and clothe and feed himself
and his family; let him take enough to afford him op¬
portunity for unhampered service to the community.
For the rest, let the man take no thought; certainly
never let him waste himself in piling up riches.
What flows out above his actual needs, let it go hack
immediately and directly to where it will produce for
the public good. This, says ‘The Christian Century,’
sounds almost like the revolutionary proposals that

478

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

a crowd of peasants, sitting on a Galilean hillside,
heard one day.”

In similar vein, a newspaper editor in the neighbor¬
ing city of Albany, said: “The man who was uni¬
versally known as the Wizard of Schenectady is dead,
and therefore the crowding achievements of a life
that was short in proportion to its accomplishments
are marshaled in review. They are his estate more
truly than the money which he had made, and for
which he never greatly cared. They are the heri¬
tage he leaves, and not the children of his adoption
only, but all the generations born and yet unborn are
the heirs of his genius.

“Yet it was not with the things he had done that
Dr. Charles Proteus Steinmetz was concerned. His
life was always too busy to spend even thought upon
the past, unless he saw in the vision that grew larger
every year he lived new means of turning old ideas to
account. He lived and worked in the future, and the
secrets which the future still holds will be his monu¬
ment even beyond the marvels which he wrought for
the present enjoyment and profit of his fellows.

. . Steinmetz was one of a splendid company
recruited by the centuries. Men in many walks of
life have taken their places in its ranks, which are
never very full. It is the company of the great¬
hearted and high-souled who spend themselves upon
their race. . . . He was beyond all things else, at
the end as well as at the beginning, a lover of his
kind, who turned his love to practical things.”

479

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

The great tide of honorable acclaim and spontan¬
eous appraisal of his life and work was swelled by
countless individual tributes. Among the most im¬
pressive were those of Herbert Hoover, Secretary of
commerce; E. W. Rice, Jr., honorary chairman of the
board of directors of the General Electric Company ;
Professor Harris J. Ryan, president *of the Ameri¬
can Institute of Electrical Engineers; A. E. Ken-
nelly, professor of electrical engineering at Harvard ;
Charles F. Scott, professor of electrical engineering
at Yale; S. W. Stratton, president of the Massachu¬
setts Institute of Technology; and R. A. Milliken,
director of physics at the California Institute of
Technology.

This particularly unique paragraph appeared in
the “New York Times”:

“To describe the freedom given to Steinmetz by
the General Electric Company, his friend, Prof.
Vladimir Karapetoff, of the Cornell School of Elec¬
trical Engineering, has evolved a happy phrase —
‘he was allowed to try to generate electricity out of
the square root of minus one.’ That, doubtless, was
what the man often seemed to be doing to those to
whom mathematics as he knew it was equally incom¬
prehensible and useless. Fortunately his employers
— no genius ever had better and few as good — took
a different view.”

Striking among the many estimates of his character
which his death called forth is the tribute to “Daddy”

480

THE GREAT TORCH GOES OUT

Steinmetz which came from Mrs. J. LeRoy Hayden,
wife of his adopted son.

“When ‘Daddy’ Steinmetz passed away,” said Mrs.
Hayden, “one message we received was ‘a tribute of
respect to the memory of the brilliant intellect, the
big and loving heart and the white soul of Dr. Stein¬
metz.’

“To us who had called him ‘Daddy’ for twenty-one
years, it was a perfect picture of the man we had
known and loved so well.

“He was essentially a home and family man. To
be called ‘Grand-daddy’ meant more to him than to be
known as the electrical wizard. To him, children
came first. He believed that every child should have
everything possible that he or she could want. In
return he expected respect and obedience. He, him¬
self, was never too tired nor too busy to answer their
questions and seemed happiest when included in their
plans. He liked to be one of them.

“He was most hospitable and always enjoyed
guests. While he did not play cards, he loved a
game of chess. The one friend with whom he played
was more often victor than loser. Daddy took his
defeat good-naturedly and said he ’d do better next
time.

“He was never critical of others, never thought
ill of any one, but was always willing to give the
benefit of the doubt.

“Chapters have been written of his greatness in-

481

CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ

tellectually; as many more could be filled with his
generosities and kindnesses to others. Dwarfed,
perhaps, in body but with a heart as big as the uni¬
verse and a soul as white as a child’s.”

There were many memorial gatherings in the few
days immediately following Dr. Steinmetz’s death.
One of the most impressive was held at All Souls’
Unitarian Church, in Schenectady, from the pulpit
of which, a year previously, Dr. Steinmetz had enun¬
ciated his views on the relation between science and
religion. The principal speaker was E. W. Rice,
Jr., the man who, thirty years before, had arranged
with Steinmetz to become an employee of the newly
organized General Electric Company. Mr. Rice,
during his remarks, related a conversation among
some neighbors, who were mourning the death of the
master- of electricity.

One of them exclaimed, with deep emotion, “And
he was my friend.”

His small son of seven years looked up from his
play and added, “He was my friend, too, daddy.”

And that is how he will be remembered by many,
next after the memory of his engineering brilliance —
as a “friend of man.”

482

INDEX

Abou ben Adhem, 444

All Souls’ Church, Schenectady,
446, 451

Alternating Current, Patience
of Steinmetz in teaching new
method of calculating, 201,
202

Possibilities of, 191, 192, 192
Steinmetz describes the, 190,
191

Steinmetz works out method of
calculation for, 194, 195, 196

“Alternating Current Phenomena,”
142, 199, 201

America, Carluszek plays going
to, 26, 31

Steinmetz decides to come to,
124, 126

Steinmetz reaches, 128
Tribute of Steinmetz to, 418,
419

America and the New Epoch, 54,
81, 309

American, Steinmetz becomes a
naturalized, 222, 223
Steinmetz develops into an, 135,
140, 141

American Institute of Electrical
Engineers, Papers on hy¬
steresis before the, 177, 179,
180, 182, 183, 184
Papers on alternating current
calculation before the, 198
Papers on general theory of
transients before the, 328
Pacific Coast Section, Address
of Steinmetz before, 469
Steinmetz joins the, 141
Steinmetz’s first appearance be¬
fore the, 142

Steinmetz made president of,

271

Arc lamp, Work of Steinmetz
with, 263, 264, 265, 266
Arrest, Steinmetz in danger of,
109, 110

Asmussen, Oscar, 120, 122, 123,
124, 125, 126, 129, 130, 131,
136, 137, 139
Association Island, 402
Astronomy, Steinmetz’s studies in,
52, 121, 122

Aunt Julia, Steinmetz and his, 17,
33, 46

Automatic generating stations.
Views of Steinmetz regarding,
365, 366, 367
Averett, A, E., 222

Bell, Dr. Louis, 204, 205
Berg, E. J., 216, 222, 292, 477
Comments on Steinmetz by, 220
Comradeship of Steinmetz with,
229, 230, 232, 234, 241, 242,
243

Eskil, 222, 234, 244
Birth of Steinmetz, 12
Bismarck, 12, 13, 97, 106
Blakesley, 192

Board of Education, Appoint¬
ment of Steinmetz as presi¬
dent of the, 311, 312
Work of Steinmetz as president
of the, 314, 315, 316
Books, Steinmetz’s interest in, 45,
416, 417, 418

Boston Transcript, Comment on
hysteresis in, 180
Breslau, Carl Heinrich’s arrival at,
11

Fortnightly Literary Magazine,
103, 104, 105

Rector of University of, 107, 108

483

INDEX

Steinmetz’s flight from, 109, 110,
111, 113

University of, 46, 54, 55, 56,
57

Bryan, William Jennings, Meeting
of Steinmetz and, 470, 471

Calculating Department, Stein¬
metz joins, 210, 213
Steinmetz becomes head of, 219,
220

Caldecott, Rev. Ernest, 446
California, Steinmetz visits, 467,
468, 469

Camp Mohawk, 248, 249, 250, 251,
407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413
Graphic description of Steinmetz
at, 414, 415, 416
Lightning strikes, 331, 332, 333,
334

Carluszek, Play days of, 17, 19,
20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
Castle Garden, Arrival of Stein¬
metz at, 5, 129, 134, 181
Chemistry, Steinmetz’s studies in,
52

Children, Steinmetz a lover of,
424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429
Christening of Steinmetz, 12
Cigars, Liking of Steinmetz for,
122, 123, 223, 224, 225, 226,
241, 242, 285

Clara, Steinmetz’s half-sister, 17,
27, 28, 46, 239, 245
Classics, Steinmetz and the, 52
290, 291, 313

Clothes, Steinmetz’s Attitude to¬
ward, 42, 233, 422, 439, 440,
441

Coal, How Steinmetz thought elec¬
tricity would save, 382, 385,
386, 387, 388
Coffin, Charles A., 211
Colorado, Steinmetz visits, 465,
466, 467

Common Council, Election of
Steinmetz as President of, 315,
316, 317

“Concordiensis,” of Union Col¬
lege, 284

Conservatory, Steinmetz’s private,
259, 260, 261, 262
Consulting engineer, Steinmetz
becomes, 296, 297
Eminence of Steinmetz as, 393,
401, 402

Corporation, Attitude of Stein¬
metz toward a, 309, 310
Creighton, E. E. F., 285
Crows, Steinmetz tames two, 235,
236

Death, Steinmetz in, 475, 476,
477

Doherty, Henry L., 403

Eddy, Assistant Professor Horace
T., 282

Edison, Thomas A., 144, 274, 402,
403, 419

Education, Interest of Steinmetz
in, 312, 313

Eickemeyer’s influence upon Stein¬
metz, 147, 148, 165, 166, 185

Eickemeyer and Osterheld, 132,
172, 203

Eickemeyer, Rudolf,

Death of, 219
Early life of, 149, 150
First meeting of Steinmetz and,
132, 133

Electrical inventions of, 151, 152,
153, 185

Hat machines improved by, 151
Steinmetz bids farewell to, 209
Steinmetz establishes laboratory
for, 170, 171, 172
Steinmetz starts to work for,
134, 135, 155

Steinmetz works on drawings of,
158, 159

Sunday gatherings at home of,
164, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170
Yonkers home of, 154
Rudolf, Jr., 148, 410

Electric truck, Steinmetz devises
an, 388, 389, 390

Electrical Engineers, American
Institute of, 141, 142

484

INDEX

“Electrical Engineer,” The, 151,
177, 179, 184, 193
Electrical engineering, Studies of
Steinmetz in, 52, 67, 68, 69, 70,
71

Electrical engineering, Stein¬
metz’s first real interest in,
143

Electricity, Age of, 383, 392
Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift, 193
Eliot, President Charles W., 272,
283, 403

Emerson, Walter S., 132, 145, 146
Emery, Charles E., 183
Emmons, G. E., 204
Energy, New sources of, 376
“Engineering Mathematics,” 200
English, Steinmetz begins study
of, 126

Steinmetz, on landing in New
York, unfamiliar with, 130
Enthusiasm of Steinmetz for his
work, 145

Estate left by Steinmetz, 477, 478
European war, Steinmetz’s reac¬
tion toward, 442, 443
Experiments, Steinmetz’s home,
48, 238

Fairbanks, Douglas, meeting of
Steinmetz and, 467, 468
Father, Steinmetz and his, 29, 43,
44, 45, 47, 48, 49
Steinmetz says good-bye to his,
111

Steinmetz recalls attitude of his,
114

Death of Steinmetz, 208, 209
Fechner, Professor, 38
“Fidelitas,” 63
Field, Cyrus W., 154
Stephen D., Electric street car
of, 154, 155, 159, 160, 161
Stephen, Trick played on, 173,
174

Fish, W. C., 215
Flight of Steinmetz, 109, 110, 111,
113

Food, New sources of, 376, 377

“Fox,” Steinmetz a student, 58,
60

Franklin Institute, Steinmetz wins
medal of, 266

French, Steinmetz’s studies in, 37
Funeral of Steinmetz, 476, 477

Galle, Professor, 52
Gawenska, 8

General Electric Company, 155,
197, 211, 282, 293, 313

Purchase of Eickemeyer’s busi¬
ness by, 203, 204

Steinmetz joins the, 204, 206,
208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213

Steinmetz wins recognition with,
219, 220, 221

Steinmetz a Socialist while in
employ of the, 308, 309
General Electric Realty Co.,
247

General Electric Review, 134, 172,
177

Getty, Robert Parkhill, 167, 168
Great Eastern, Steamship, 45
Greek, Steinmetz’s studies in, 37
Grossmutter, Steinmetz’s, 17, 18,
22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 33, 46
Gymnasium, Steinmetz enters, 36,
37

Steinmetz graduates from, 40,
41

Harlem, Steinmetz’s life in, 136,
137, 138, 139

Hauptmann, Carl and Gerhart,
76, 123

Hayden, Billy, Steinmetz makes
fireworks for, 428, 429, 430

Joe and Billy, 409, 414, 430,
431, 432, 436

Joseph LeRoy, 136, 153, 229,
247, 248, 386

Beginning of permanent asso¬
ciation of Steinmetz with, 267,
268

Growing likeness of Steinmetz
for, 252, 253

Laboratory life of Steinmetz
and, 269, 270

485

INDEX

Steinmetz’s first meeting with,
245, 246

Steinmetz shares his new home
with, 278, 279, 280

Majorie, 430, 431, 432, 433, 436,
438

Hebrew, Steinmetz’s studies in, 37
Harvard University, Degree con¬
ferred on Steinmetz by, 272,
283, 403

Heimat8Schein, Steinmetz tries to
obtain a, 115, 116, 117, 118
Hillman, H. W., 263
Hobbies, Steinmetz and his, 422,
423, 424

Hohenzollern, William, 13
Hollywood, Steinmetz at, 467, 468
Hubbard, Elbert, Estimate of
Steinmetz by, 402, 403, 404
Hysteresis, Papers by Steinmetz
before A. I. E. E. on, 177, 179,
180

Steinmetz establishes law of,
176, 177, 178

Icaria, Utopian colony in Cali-
fornia, 82, 83, 84
Idealist, Steinmetz an, 304, 305,
821

Illuminating Engineering Society,
Steinmetz made president of,
421

Insull, Samuel, 403
International Electrical Congress,
Steinmetz’s paper before, 196,
197, 199

Intramural Railway, 216
Inventor, Steinmetz as an, 295,
296, 398, 399

Iron, Steinmetz shows magnetic
properties of, 181

Kapp, Gisbert, 175, 176, 192
Karapetoff, Professor Vladimir,
480

Kennelly, Dr. A. E., 183
Kindergarten, Carluszek’s entrance
into, 33, 34

Knowledge, Steinmetz first feels
fascination of, 34, 35

Krueger, Mrs., 244, 247, 252
Carl and Gretchen, 244, 252
Kuzbas Colony, Comments of
Steinmetz on, 320

Laboratory, First private, 238
Steinmetz builds a new private,
255, 257, 258, 259
La Champagne, French immigrant
steamer, 126, 128
Lamp, Steinmetz family’s awe of
new kerosene, 23, 24
Lassalle, Ferdinand, 84, 85
Latin, Steinmetz’s studies in, 37
Lenin, Nikolai, 319
Liberty Hall, 234, 238, 240
Lightning. How Steinmetz began
his investigations into, 324,
331

Views of Steinmetz on, 328, 329,
330, 331

Lightning-arresters, Contribution
of Steinmetz to, 325, 326,
327

Lightning generator, Demonstra¬
tion of the, 339, 340, 341, 342,
343, 344

Work of Steinmetz with, 334,
335, 336, 337, 461, 462, 463
Litchenheim’s, 64, 111
Lougee, N. A., 336
Lunn, George R., 310, 311, 316,
317, 477

Lutheran Church, Steinmetz re¬
ceives instruction of, 42
Lux, Henry (Hinz), 63, 71, 72, 76,
91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 110,
114

Lynn, Mass., Steinmetz’s life in,
217, 218

Magnetic losses, Steinmetz estab¬
lishes law of, 177, 178
properties of iron, Lack of un¬
derstanding of, 174, 175
testing, Steinmetz begins work¬
ing on, 171

Magnetism, Breslau students in¬
vestigate, 70, 71

486

INDEX

Experiments of Eickemeyer in,
185

Steinmetz becomes interested in,
175

Steinmetz investigates, 176, 177,
178

Magnetite arc lamp, Steinmetz’s
invention of, 263, 264, 265, 266,
267

Marconi, Gugliemo, 402, 419, 439
Marguerite, Steinmetz’s half sister,
17

Marie, Steinmetz’s half-sister, 17,
27, 28, 46

Martin, Douglas S., Writings of,
134, 143, 174, 177, 178
Mathematics, Ability of Stein¬
metz in, 297, 298, 401, 402
Steinmetz’s studies in, 37, 52
Mathematical Society of Breslau,
57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65
Memorial tributes to Steinmetz,
478, 479, 480, 481, 482
Mercury rectifier, Development
by Steinmetz of a, 266
Mohawk River, Steinmetz explores
the, 230, 231

Mohawk River Aerial Navigation,
Transportation and Explora¬
tion Company, Limited, 240,
241

Moser, George, 301
Mother, Death of Steinmetz’s, 16
Mueller, Edward, 140, 166, 218,
307

Multiplication tables, Steinmetz’s
experience with, 36

National Association of Corpora¬
tion Schools, Steinmetz elected
president of, 421

Neubert, Caroline, Mother of
Charles P. Steinmetz, 7, 11
New York Mathematical Society,
Steinmetz joins the, 141
Electrical Trade School, Ad¬
dress before the, 368, 369,
370, 371, 372

Niagara Falls, Steinmetz works on
proposition relating to, 214

Suggestions of Steinmetz regard¬
ing, 347, 348, 349
Nihilism, 79

No-smoking decree, Steinmetz’s
attitude toward, 223, 224, 225,
226

Notebooks, Steinmetz’s father
binds his, 48, 49

Ober Schlesische Railroad, 14,
43

Office life of Steinmetz, 394, 395,
397, 398, 404, 405, 406
Osterheld, George, Eickemeyer
and his chum, 150
Eickemeyer’s partner, 153
Henry, 153

Ostrowo, Town of, 7, 8, 9
Otis Brothers & Co., 161
Electric Co., 161
Elevator Co., 161
Norton P., 161, 203

Pacific coast, Visit of Steinmetz
to, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469,
470, 471

Parshall, H. F., 210, 213, 214, 215,
219

Peek, F. W., Jr., 296, 334
Pets, Steinmetz and his, 235, 236,
237, 436, 437, 438, 439
“People’s Voice,” The, 87, 97, 98,
99, 100, 101, 102, 105
Photograph, German police con¬
fiscate student, 85, 86
Plants, Steinmetz’s fondness for,
234, 235, 255, 259, 260, 261,
262, 433, 434, 435, 436
Polish, Steinmetz studies, 37
Pope, R. W., Ex-Secretary of
A. I. E. E., 198
Power generation near coal mines,
374, 375, 382

Utilizing by-product, 375
Pratt, Francis C., 476
Professor of electrical engineering,
Steinmetz serves as, 286, 288,
289, 290, 291, 292
of electrophysics, Steinmetz
serves as, 292

487

INDEX

Professors, Steinmetz admired by
his, 52, 53, 107, 110
“Proteus,” 12, 58, 84, 157, 158

Questioning attitude of Steinmetz,
38, 39

Radio, Comments of Steinmetz on,
378, 379

Radio address by Steinmetz, 420
Railroad electrification, Views of
Steinmetz on, 380, 381, 382,
383, 384, 885, 386, 391
Raymond, Andrew Van Vranken.
282, 283
E. B., 216

Reading, Steinmetz fond of, 416,
417, 418

“Religion, Place of in Modern
Scientific Civilization” (lec¬
ture by Steinmetz), 452, 453,
454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459,
460

Religion, Views of Steinmetz on,
444, 445, 447, 448, 449, 450,
451

Representative government in.
Germany, Remarks of Stein¬
metz upon, 74, 75
Review, General Electric, 134,
172, 177

Revolution of 1846, 8
of 1848, 149

Rice, E. W., Jr., 204, 206, 212,
482

Meeting of Steinmetz with,
205

Recognition of Steinmetz’s abil¬
ity by, 211

Richmond, Charles Alexander, 477
“Romance of an Engineering
Genius” (Charles W. Wood),
399

Russian Soviet, Friendliness of
Steinmetz for the, 319, 320

Schenectady, Steinmetz takes up
residence in, 219
Schlichter, Walter I., 222
Schroeter, Professor, 53

Secret letters, Steinmetz and Lux
exchange, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96
Shorthand, Steinmetz’s system of,
395, 396, 397

Sickness, Steinmetz’s last, 473,
474

Siemens — Schukert Company, 216
Silesian News, The, 102
Smith, William James, Writings
of, 334

Social Democratic party of Ger¬
many, 80, 87, 89, 90, 96, 303
Socialism in Germany of Bis¬
marck, 74, 82, 105, 106
of Steinmetz, 73, 299, 300, 301,
302, 303, 304

Socialist and Farmer-Labor ticket,
345

Socialists of Germany during
European war, 80
Sprague, Frank, president of
A. I. E. E., 182
Stanley, William, 183, 243
State Engineer, Steinmetz a can¬
didate for, 345, 346, 350, 351
Strength of Steinmetz in elec¬
tion for, 355

Newspaper comments on 'Stein¬
metz’s candidacy for, 356, 357,
358

Static machine, Jokes played by
Steinmetz with his, 280, 281
Steam, Steinmetz compares elec¬
tricity and, 380, 381, 386, 387
Steinmetz, August, 8, 9, 10, 11
Carl, grandfather of Charles P.
Steinmetz, 7

Carl Heinrich, father of Charles
P. Steinmetz, 6, 8, 10, 11, 14,
16, 23, 29, 30, 43, 44, 45, 47,
48, 49, 208

Clara, 17, 27, 28, 46, 289, 245,
477

Marie, 17, 27, 28, 46
Rudolf, 10

legends, 223, 224, 225, 226, 233,
241, 242, 291, 292
Student, Steinmetz a diligent, 51,
52, 66, 67

revelries, 62, 63, 64, 65

488

INDEX

Socialist group at Breslau, 71,
72, 75, 76, 77
“Suitas,” 63

Superpower development, 367
Swope, Gerard, 476

Tauenzienstrasse, 11, 14, 16
Tesla, Nikola, 69, 338, 402
“Theoretical Elements of Electri¬
cal Engineering,” 200
“Theory and Calculation of Tran¬
sient Electrical Phenomena
and Oscillation,” 328
Thesis, Steinmetz completes his
student, 109

Time-book, How Steinmetz kept
his, 155, 156, 157
Tischendorfer, 174, 216, 217
Thomson, Professor Elihu, 212,
338

Toy house of Carluszek, 20, 21, 22
Toy locomotive of Carluszek, 29,
30

Transformers, Possibilities of, 191
Investigation by Steinmetz of
G-E, 214

Transmission of electrical energy,
Relation of Steinmetz to, 274,
293, 294, 295

as separate industry, 373, 374

Union College, Degree conferred
on Steinmetz by, 272
Lectures by Steinmetz at, 200
Steinmetz becomes a professor
at, 281, 282

Work of Steinmetz as professor
at, 286, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292
Union College Alumni Associa¬
tion of New York, Steinmetz
speaks at dinner of, 284

University, Steinmetz enters the,
46, 47, 51, 52

life in Germany, 54, 55, 56
Uppenbom, 125, 131

Vanderbilt, Mrs. Commodore, 167
Viele’s Creek, 231, 251, 407, 408
Voyage of Steinmetz to America,
126

Waste, Steinmetz’s hatred of eco¬
nomic, 382, 387

Water-power, Limitations of, 375,
376

Potential sectional capacity in,
384, 385

Steinmetz’s views on, 353, 354,
364, 365

Wendell avenue, Steinmetz’s home
on, 256, 275, 276, 277, 278
William I. of Prussia, 13
Wizard, Steinmetz called a, 298
Wood, Charles W., Writings of,
346, 378, 399, 400, 425
Working day, Steinmetz predicts
shorter, 377, 378

World’s Fair at Chicago, Stein¬
metz visits, 216

Yonkers, Steinmetz seeks work in,
132

Steinmetz leaves, 208
Visits by Steinmetz to, 218, 219
Young, Owen D., 476

Zurich, Polytechnic School, 115
Polytechnic School, Steinmetz
tries to enter, 114, 115, 116,

117, 118

Steinmetz arrives at, 113, 114
Steinmetz lives precariously in,

118, 119, 121

489

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