eral Electric" in the same
breath was to speak of a thing and its antithesis. Everything George
Westinghouse was or had been the General Electric was not and had never
been. The General Electric had been and was by leave of the "System"; in
fact, was one of the very foremost examples of its methods. Its
high-priest was J. Pierpont Morgan; its home, Wall Street; its owners, the
principal votaries of the "System." It had grown because of their favor
and by means of the rankest exhibitions of knock-down-and-drag-out methods
of consolidation of all competitors but--Westinghouse.

Just previous to 1894 Westinghouse had rejected a dazzling scheme of
uniting the two institutions on an immense capitalization which would
have absorbed millions and millions of the people's savings and earned
millions in commissions for its projectors. Wall Street's indignation at
his hardihood knew no bounds, and at the time of which I write the
yegg-men of the "System" were laying for him with dark-lantern and
sand-bag.

To appreciate the story of what the "System" tried to do to George
Westinghouse and what he withstood, one must know the man. He embodies
in many ways the conception of what the ideal American should be. His
remarkable six feet and odd of physique and his fertile, powerful brain
are the admiration of all true men with whom he comes in contact. In
spite of his unparalleled success and the accumulation of a great
fortune, he retains the same simplicity of manner and conduct that
characterized him when working at the bench for weekly wages, and with
all his shrewdness and force of character he has preserved a simple,
honest, childlike belief in humanity. Single-handed he conducted all his
great enterprises on a plain, patriarchal basis, using their revenues
for extensions, and depending on his faithful and well-satisfied
stockholders for such further accessions of capital as the business
might in his judgment need. About the time General Electric was most
anxious to bolster up its jerry-built structure with the solid
Westinghouse concern, the latter institution had begun the erection of
some big new plants which required immediately several millions
additional capital. Westinghouse prepared to apply to his stockholders
for the required funds, and the announcement was to be made at the
annual election soon due. Suddenly the financial sky became overcast.
The stock-market grew panicky and money as scare in Wall Street as rain
in Ar