Here he met the pilot who was to lead him over the desert to study the
territory at close range. After studying the canal site, on horseback,
for a few days, they boarded an aeroplane, which was well provisioned,
and soon they were flying over vast stretches of sand. They made wide
detours, in their flight, so as to get a more general view of the
situation. Finally they turned southward to reach Timbuktoo on the
Niger river.
Two nights were spent on well selected ground. On the third day they
came to the Queen City of the Sahara, Timbuktoo, where they intended
replenishing their gasoline supply, and thus be able to return to the
Mediterranean coast.
During the entire flight Carl was busy making copious notes to be used
in connection with his plans on his return to America.
Carl was proud of his mission. And rightly so. The son of a New York
banker, with the advantages of a family name and all that wealth could
buy, he had spurned them, rising in his profession solely by his own
ability and perseverance.
His college days over, Carl had gone to San Francisco. Here he secured
employment with an engineering concern engaged in extensive hydraulic
and land irrigating developments. A few years of this work and he
returned to New York, where he joined an efficiency engineering firm.
Here, too, he showed his ability. By his methods of handling material
in various manufacturing plants much money was saved and with greater
efficiency. Electric stations, he proved, could be operated at less
cost, while in the field of street lighting, several cities benefited
by his knowledge, securing better light and at a great saving to the
municipality and the electric power companies.
Carl recognized as his greatest asset the teachings of his parents.
From childhood he had been taught by them the virtue of “Economy and
Efficiency.” It had been their watchword through life and he was
determined that it should be his. Not alone to himself but to those who
came to him for advice did he preach this doctrine.
His books and numerous scientific publications, too, brought home to
the reader the value of those two words. Before establishing himself
in a business of his own, he widened his field of activity, going to
the Charlottenburg University to study city planning and its kindred
subject, municipal engineering. Charlottenburg was the only college
teaching these subjects, although German cities, for the past two
generations, have been practicing the art in connection with municipal
improvements.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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