Mr. Tesla Shows a Great Deal of Patriotism

Nikola Tesla, the famous electrical expert and inventor, will, it is said, place at the service of the Government, free of charge, his system of telegraphing without wires, by which ships 100 miles from land can send messages ashore. Tesla loves his adopted country, and his opinion of it and its people he expresses as: “What opportunities this country offers a man! Its people are a thousand years — yes, a thousand years — ahead of the people of any other nation of the world. They are big, broad-minded, generous. I could not have accomplished in any other country what I have done here. I was in France for a time. I tried to work out some of my ideas there. But I could get no encouragement; I could find no one to back me. When I came here I met men immediately who were ready to help me develop my ideas. The American people are quick to hold out a helping hand and to give recognition. Yes, I am as good an American as there is. I have nothing to sell to the Government of the United States. If it needs my services in any way it is welcome to them.” This wireless telegraph invention has taken more than five years of hard work, and therefore Mr. Tesla shows a great deal of patriotism in offering it to the Government — assuming that it is all that he claims it to be.