The principle was discovered in a toy--the practical, every-day application as a labor-saving device was to come--but it came soon. A genius brought it about by inventing a transmitter which enlarged the sound waves when vibrated over electrically charged wires. Just as simple as water boiling in a tea kettle--which, by the way, led to the _steam engine_. _Steam, steel, and electricity!_--the playground of the world’s greatest inventors--_where genius abounds_. Here were born our captains of industry, our fabulous fortunes, our _empire building resources_. Intertwined with these three great principles the _super-genius_ has romped and played with nature’s secrets until the age in which we live is one of _touch the button_--and some labor-saving device does the rest. We think it wonderful to live in the present age of genius. Nothing seems lacking. But what snails we’ll seem to those who come along _a hundred years from now_. Do we think that Arizona will lack for rain when she needs it--even fifty years hence? Surely the _drudgery of the horse_ will have passed into oblivion. Mr. Ford to the rescue! Having taken him out of the roadway, he most certainly will not allow the horse to go on slaving in the plough field. That blessing is already in process of solution. The real period for the genius is in the foreground. The hardships of the past are over. Capital is ready and waiting eagerly for the new idea no matter how small, _or how big_. Genius has but to shake off inertia, _build up initiative_ and make full use of its talents. There isn’t a stumbling block in sight. _The road is clear_--and every added facility helps that much toward making everybody’s life worth while. [Illustration] CHAPTER X THE BIG FOUR I’m for that hard-hitting type of manhood which stands adamant for the _square deal and no surrender_ under all circumstances. It is one thing to wish for justice--quite another to stand up and _fight for it_. Probably not one man in a thousand is geared with sufficient heart action to run counter to _a false public opinion_. It takes moral courage to do this, even on a small scale, whereas to ride a bucking broncho one needs physical prowess which is quite another kind of bravery. We’ve all known men who would fight their weight in wild cats but would run like a frightened rabbit at the sight of a pretty woman. To get up and _make a speech_ would have been out of the question for them. I heard of a case where a fine, quiet fellow who had been elected as a delegate to a small county convention, was instructed to arise to his feet at the moment of a certain nomination and shout “I second the nomination!” Instead of following instructions _he fainted_. This so excited the delegate who was to “move that the nominations be closed” that he forgot his part, with the result that an opposition candidate was quickly proposed, carried the convention, and, in due course, _was elected_ by the vote of the people.