He soon showed amazing ability and in two papers he read before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers he established a position as a leading authority on the subject. Soon after this the American General Electric Company was formed and Charles Steinmetz was offered the position of chief consulting engineer at a large salary. He accepted the position under somewhat peculiar conditions. He did not want a large salary, but he did wish to be quite free to carry out whatever experiments he desired and requested that the company should permit him to draw on them for whatever money he needed. This they were quite willing to do. At Schenectady, a very fine laboratory was fitted up for him and there he began his experiments in electrical engineering in which he was so keenly interested. For many years he toiled on without attracting a great deal of attention. He was a hard worker and forgot himself in his work. The General Electric Company knew that in him they had one of the greatest experts living, but for a long time he was not widely known. Then, from time to time, authoritative articles on electricity and chemistry began to appear in the leading magazines signed “Charles Steinmetz,” and they were recognised as being of a very high order. Then it gradually became known that a really great mind was at work in the laboratory at Schenectady, and his position as an authority was established. All this time he worked hard, ever seeking to perfect electrical appliances already in use and to make discoveries that would benefit humanity. His laboratory was one of the best equipped in the world and when Thomas A. Edison visited it, he expressed his admiration and astonishment at what he saw there. A warm friendship had sprung up between Steinmetz and Edison and they recognised each other, not as rivals, but as co-workers in the same field. When spoken to about his hard work, Charles Steinmetz refused to take any credit. He insisted that he loved his work so intensely that he never became fatigued. “There is no more credit due me for sticking to my work,” he said, “than there is to a child who plays. I love my work. It is my chief joy and I could not easily take a holiday from it if I had to.” He never had any faith in the lasting value of work done for the sake of the wages. He believed that work should be done for work’s sake. Only men and women who love their work, he believed, would ever make a success of it, and benefit others. In this connection it is interesting to note that when he died in November, 1923, he left behind him practically nothing except an insurance policy for $1,500 and an old automobile. He had no one depending upon him and to heap up money was the last thing in the world he wanted to do.