Could Not See Into Future

1919

Men of Genius Had Little Idea What Their Inventions Might Mean to the World

It appears that it is not infrequently the case that great inventors do not comprehend the significance of the things they have produced. Here are two examples:

When Hertz first began to obtain satisfactory results from his now famous researches into the possibility of transmitting electric waves certain men of science suggested that some day similar vibrations might serve to transmit messages through space. Hertz laughed at the hypothesis and assured all comers that his experiments were for laboratories only. Now, after a few short years, it is hard to find a single issue of a daily newspaper that does not record some noteworthy example of the use of wireless telegraphy.

Levassor was the great engineer who sketched the automobile with such skill that his design has not been materially changed to this day. After Levassor accomplished his historic trip from Paris to Bordeaux and return at the dizzy speed of about 15 miles an hour his admirers gave him a banquet. During the toasts one of them, stirred by the spirit of the occasion, rose and enthusiastically called on the assembly to drink to the approaching day when carriages should travel at the speed of 60 miles an hour. Levassor turned to his nearest neighbor and asked in a quick undertone:

"Why is it that after every banquet some people feel called on to make fools of themselves?"


Only One Foundation

Men best prove their right to rights by making good in little things. Rights are those things that grow out of universal justice. In the last analysis they are beyond price. Some folks say they have bought the right to certain things. That is only because custom has commercialized them. Such rights savor of monopoly and are as unstable as the dollars with which they are purchased. Right that rests upon divine law may seem very tame, but after all it's the only right that abides amidst the rise and fall of empires and the changing customs of men. To such rights every man is heir. — Exchange.