Heritage for Victory (ca. 1940)

where all counts too what happened yesterday is part of today and tomorrow we look at the Miracles of modern progress in terms of overwhelming industrial facilities lose sight of the that these are no more than just the tools with which to do a job if you want the real story of what we're doing today you've got to look beyond the walls of factories and Laboratories to people people with ideas skills and experience yes and something more something that is not easy to Define but it's very real and it started a long way back in 1869 during the era of reconstruction if you remember your history you'll recall that those were dismal days it was freely predicted that the nation was headed for disaster lift up thine eyes huh to what I ask you wish I could have stayed in Grant's Army at least a man could eat pessimists whispered that the pioneering was over and Industry would never survive the disruption of the tragic War just ended gone about as far as we can go and there's no place to turn in the Rochester New York office of Western Union a young t graph operator named Enos Barton was impatient with the faulty performance of the telegraph equipment of that day young Barton had ideas and secret Ambitions one of which was to buy a partnership in a model shop in Cleveland Ohio but there was also a girl kitty Richardson and good reason for holding to a steady job in those uncertain times but like many men ahead of him and since Barton learned that no secret is safe from his fiance before he realized it he' confessed his ambition and kitty had won his promise that he'd let nothing stand in his way then later that evening at a church meeting but I say to you the Frontiers have no limits except those that exist in the Mind and Spirit of men there is more need for pioneering today and tomorrow than ever before pioneering in thought pioneering and progress we' prove we have the courage to follow the flag and offer our lives in the Staggering horror of war now have we the heart to win the peace have we the vision to dream and the strength and Faith to make those dreams come true Bon answered the challenge he invested his own savings and all he could borrow in the Cleveland model shop here he helped bring to reality the dreams of many struggling inventors among them one Professor Elisha gray but while Barton was always willing to pour His Ingenuity and sweat into promising ideas his vision and enthusiasm were not always shared by his practical-minded partner are you and that Moonstruck Professor still tinkering with that thing Mr sha thing a printer Telegraph that really works never had so far I'll stick to the real business of this shop repairing Machinery if you've got time to waste on fellas like this graay well then there's another crackpot in vener waiting out front want to see him too of course who is it I don't know young fell named Edison yes it was Thomas a Edison but in those days he was just another Telegraph operator with ideas looking for help to the working model but when he heard of Professor Gray's latest development Edison put aside his own project would you like to see it might I I mean would it be all right of course we were just about to try it out and frankly I'm a little C curious to see whether it works Barton somebody else to see you just a moment Mr Shar ready when you are soon as I connected up that kind of nonsense goes on all the time you had some invention too uh no it's a personal matter I'll wait till he's disengaged you're likely to wait a long time why don't you bust right in I'll wait all right Professor gray we're ready now it's working it's coming through this should be a proud moment for you and a professor come with me I'll show you the transmitter well gentlemen you've you've been very kind but you have another visitor oh that's right excuse me oh Mr Edison would you like to see how this operates yes I would you see this ratchet he's gone I feel like a fool hello what's this Mrs Barton and gray you and your wives are invited to dine at my home Wednesday evening signed as very gracious of them I'm sure but who as general Stager vice president of the company oh before that dinner was finished General stagger had decided to join with the professor and young Barton to form a company a company whose principal assets were imagination and courage and Faith a year later The Firm of gry and Barton was operating in Chicago but success didn't come immediately people resisted change even progress but the Chicago Fire tragic and terrible as it was proved something of a blessing in disguise it gave Chicago a new birth and Gran Barton whose plant had miraculously escaped and was now known as the Western Electric Manufacturing Company contributed greatly to the modern city that Rose from the ages by 1876 Western Electric had grown to considerable importance a brilliant Young inventor Charles E scrier was now collaborating with Professor gray on new developments some of which were beyond the comprehension of even General stagger one was the harmonic [Music] Telegraph no better than any music box General Stager if we can reproduce the human voice in song Why Can't We transmit speech instantaneous conversation over a wire you can do that not yet but Professor gray believes he now has the answer to how to do it talking over a wire Barton this is important it must be protected Professor gray was in Washington at the patent office last month and he's there again today doing just that very thing in fact he should be there at this moment well why didn't you take care of it long ago perhaps we like yourself were a little slow to recognize its full implication only tomorrow's weather un settled followed by storm Barton we're on the threshold of the greatest development and communication in the history of man nothing must be spared to push this just a minute there's more a news spash the patent office in Washington announces an improvement in telegraphy which will make possible instantaneous transmission of speech by wire it is claimed this device will permit to way conversations over distances reckoned in terms of Miles let me have this this is writing history the inventor of this revolutionary instrument is named as Alexander Graham Bell Bell Alexander Graham Bell W recog nition as the inventor of the telephone but the years of effort by Professor gray and his associates were not wasted as the telephone displaced the printer Telegraph the men of Western Electric focused their energies on the broader future one of these was f r Wells formerly Mr Barton's secretary now his assistant then one day in 1881 in the Executive offices of the Western Electric company well you've tried them both which is better well this one by far you can hear more distinctly and there's a better job in every way yet actually they're both Bell instruments made according to Bell's designs the only difference is the one that you prefer was made by Western Electric what's that thing just sort of an idea for a quick make and Brake connector nothing really important well this is important how long will it take you to disconnect it and pack it up an hour or less do so then we'll catch the afternoon train to Boston Boston yes to Boston we're going to call on the Bell people aoy there can you hear me need to shout Mr Bell I heard you perfectly just as you hear my voice gentlemen I'm glad I happened in this morning that's demonstration enough for me if Mr hubard and Mr Veil are convinced and I am well for my part I'm satisfied and I see no reason why we should not join forces to devise and produce new and finer one moment gentlemen before Mr Bell's enthusiasm carries us all away there are some things Mr hubard and I would like to discuss with the general and Mr Barton yes dull practical things like manufacturing costs and quantity production of course I uh have our figures right here well in the meantime perhaps Mr scrier would like to see our switchboard I would very much rather impressive isn't it at least that how many telephones have been installed few over 900 all this to handle only 900 telephones but one day you'll have many thousands of subscribers right here in Boston what then that now becomes your problem it's very impressive Mr fa but what is it this is a new switchboard for the Bell people it replaces a whole series of boards yes that can be operated by one man the entire thing right from where he sits oh more important it can handle calls just as fast as they come in really let me show you it's uh really no trick at all never mind this fumbling could be quite serious it means mistakes wrong numbers delays maybe this board is too compact nothing of the kind it's simply that your fingers aren't educated to this sort of thing let me try you should have had training with a needle and thread there just as you said no trick at all it's amazing nonsense any woman could do as well any woman of course is that such a blow to masculine superiority any woman I wonder [Music] within two decades Western Electric was not only the principal supplier of telephone equipment in the United States but also through the pioneering Aid of f Wells had established this new medium of communication in many other nations of the world yes I guess it may be said that we've grown the worldwide stature but we've merely scratched the surface we'll need much more production than our present capacity if we're to keep Pace with Mr Well's Ambitions abroad I suppose so but size itself is not a goal that day we first met the Bell people some 25 years ago it wasn't our size that was impressive we were small but we made a better telephone we gave better service every step since has been directed to that objective that's why we shouldered the job of installing our equipment ourselves to make certain that it delivered its best service we took on some headaches too as our installers occasionally remind us yes it hasn't been easy nor was it easy to assume the supply contracts were more and more telephone companies but by shouldering the responsibility for purchasing and for warehousing distribution and repair of equipment at our Branch houses we've given better service we've saved the telephone companies and the public a great deal of money when you stop to think of it that's quite a commentary on American business here were two concerns who a fewer years before had been rivals on the same development yet now they were cooperating in a perfect example of team play for public service by now the way ahead seemed clear but then came the financial Panic of 19 197 in the New York office of Western electrics HB the I can't understand it this country with all its prosperity and resources facing a financial crisis yeah perhaps it's just growing pain a nation becoming adult surely nothing's more vital to progress than the telephone yet because of this crisis the weaker companies may be completely wiped out all sections of the country may be without service well it's such a long range operation who invest Millions today to be paid back in nickels and dimes over the years ahead in these times long range vision isn't the Best Collateral Banks can't for close a mortgage on social progress but there must be someone there is that is for Western Electric to pledge itself to support those companies and that of course involves a risk perhaps a very grave risk but well that's the way it has to be the telephone companies must not be killed off Mr Barton we know how you feel so we're taking that gamble now we stand or fall with the telephone companies you did the right thing we've come a long way since those days and every mile post along the way every achievement has been further proof that the frontiers of progress have no limit each new development each step forward merely serves to broaden the Horizon of future Opportunity by 1917 plane to ground and plain tolane communication had become an accomplished fact and paced the way for modern Skyway traffic by 1922 the Western Electric System of radio broadcasting was in operation and in almost no time we learned to expect the finest of the world's entertainment delivered to our living rooms 19 19 26 silent movies came to [Music] life by 1927 radio telephone Spann the Atlantic with regular commercial service nobody called it a miracle it was taken for granted in their crude and cluttered Workshop gray and spon had pioneered the hard way but through the years came progress in the ways of progress Cooperative research steered into definite channels of scientific exploration replaced the hit or miss methods of J's Discovery speeding the advance of all civilization the modest plant which first bore the name of Western Electric grew to with manufacturing PLS each employing tens of thousands and still other thousands skilled installation men complete the process of manufacturer in central offices all across the nation and in 29 of the principal cities of the country Distributing headquarters were established linking the nation together in a vast network of Supply a giant production and service institution designed and geared to the performance of a single job supplying the needs of the Bell System that set the tempo of American Business that speeded the output of the greatest producer Nation on Earth that carried the casual conversation of Social and community life or a mother's frightened voice in the middle of the night that was our peacetime job the job on which we of Western Electric had concentrated with a single purpose for three generations and then overnight we were at War a war we were not prepared to fight still fresh and bitter are the memories of those days the frightful Race Against Time as we trained civilians to be fighting men the desperate demands for fighting equipment we Western Electric men and women remember you were in it from the start our first assignment was communication maintaining the nerve system of the arsenal of democracy communication directing the Battle of production carrying the endless tactics of turning out ships and planes and tanks and guns Communications translating headquarters strategy into battle action on a dozen hardpressed fronts that was our first assignment and one that we could swing into iMed performance but there were other assignments far more important top priority in secrecy in urgency secret weapons of almost incalculable complexity and Ingenuity electronic brains for the advanced technocracy of modern war instruments and devices so new that they existed only on paper or as an idea and a prayer that became our most vital job a job so vast and intricate our enemies thought it couldn't be done a job we didn't know we could do until we did it through months while Americans fought a desperate rear guard action our production facilities had to be transformed whole sections of factories which for a generation had specialized on one job alone were cleared of existing facilities and changed over to new and totally strange production procedures even under the Flaming Lisha War emergency it was a slow process but it was accomplished and our fighting forces began their offensive now please understand we at home don't pretend to be heroes compared with the performance of our fighting men ours is a pretty humble job but only the fighting men know the full extent to which the telephone service has been transformed into a fighting weapon it's out in the Pacific giving eyes to the fighting ships training the guns and transmitting battle orders it's in the sky too in the dive bombers Fighters and Scouts it goes in with the Marines and GIS coordinating the teamwork of amphibious assault on dday it helped pinpoint Hitler's impregnable defenses and aim the guns that tore them apart on 100 fronts all over the world instruments We Built For Better Living have been changed into Miracle weapons for defending our way of life War has disrupted our normal way of living and brought serious inconveniences some people are having to do with our telephones before all can have telephones the intricate complex equipment that goes into modern Central offices must be made in great quantity installed and interconnected to the system throughout the country much of it is unlike what we've been making for war this means another huge job for Western Electric and it's a job that can't be done overnight yet Western electric growing upon its years of experience the new skills acquired during the war and its great tradition of service in meeting emergencies will do its part to see that no American home waiting for Bell Telephone Service need wait one day longer than necessary this is another challenge to Western Electric a challenge as great as the one Enos Barton faced 75 years ago now have we the heart to win the peace have we the vision to dream and the strength and Faith to make that dream come true it was Faith Made Alive and Strong by courage and purpose that brought us up the long hard road to the day and under God shall carry us through to a greater and brighter tomorrow [Music]