Torpedo Promises to Put an End to War

To Nikola Tesla, whose telautomatic torpedo promises to put an end to war, a friend said the other day:

“There is this invention of Smith, and there is this invention of Jones, and there is the other invention of Robinson. In all these inventions yours was the leading hand. Without you they would never have been patented; without you they would never even have been thought of. And yet you get no credit for some of the most marvelous discoveries of the age?”

Mr. Tesla smiled.

“That the inventions have materialized, that they benefit mankind, is enough,” he said. “I am not selfish. My name is honored. I live well. Why, then, should I be hungry for a little more money, a little more renown?”

He smiled again.

“Why should I be like,” he said, “the millionaire butcher of my native town of Smiljan?

“This butcher was a bachelor, and when he became a millionaire he bought a magnificent equipage — two prancing black horses, a set of silver mounted harness, a coachman in livery, and so forth — and every day he drove proudly through the town.

“But he always drove alone. He never had anybody with him. So one day the priest of the parish said:

“‘Why, my good man, do you always ride alone in your grand coach? Why do you never take any of your friends out with you?’

“The millionaire frowned.

“‘If there were two of us,’ he replied, ‘no one would know who the team belonged to.’”

— Buffalo Enquirer.