The Last Days of Night(108)

It was, Paul realized, the fate of lawyers that they might lose the case but win the war.

In the rest of Paul Cravath’s life, he would see Thomas Edison on only one more occasion.





My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s…negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.

—STEVE JOBS



ON THE DAY that he would last see Thomas Edison, Paul watched 100 million gallons of white water pour over the great lip of Niagara Falls. A twenty-nine-ton turbine used the raw force of those tumbling gallons to spin a generator that converted it into enough alternating current to power tens of thousands of household light bulbs.

Paul was there for a gala reception to mark the opening of the largest electrical-power generator in the world. It had been built by Westinghouse, designed based on Tesla’s ideas, and would power lamps across the East Coast that had been manufactured by Edison’s former company, GE. The unveiling was a ceremony of a size as unprecedented as the plant itself. Every figure of any prominence in the American electrical community was in attendance.

Which meant, so Paul realized as he stood at the falls, that Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla would for one evening all be in the same place. To Paul’s amazement, this had never happened before. He knew that it would almost certainly never happen again.

It was after the dull, formal ceremony that Paul stood in the open air, sipping from a flute of champagne as he watched the churning waters. It was nice to be reminded that of all the fantastic things he’d seen in his life, of all the man-made inventions he’d witnessed, none held the power that Niagara did. Or rather that even Westinghouse’s perfect current depended upon nature for its power. The God of Paul’s father still powered the devices of Paul’s client.

From the corner of his eye, Paul saw Edison leaning against the railing over the water. To Paul’s surprise, Westinghouse was with him. As was Tesla. They were talking.

Paul didn’t know whether to approach the group, but Edison caught a glimpse of him and waved him over.

“Mr. Cravath,” said Edison. “I didn’t know if you’d be here.”

Paul nodded. What was there to say to this man whose life had once so dominated his own?

“Mr. Bell sends his greetings,” said Edison.

“…Excuse me?”

“Mr. Bell says hello. I was at dinner with him in Nova Scotia just the other month. He told me the story of your visit.”

Paul was startled. “He said he was helping me for your sake.”

Edison nodded. “It worked. I’ll have to have you down to my new laboratory sometime. I’ve been working on motion pictures.”

Paul’s face made clear he had no clue as to what the phrase “motion pictures” might refer.

“You should see, Mr. Paul Cravath,” added Tesla. “Many photographs all in a row. It creates an appearance of a real thing moving.”

“How have you seen it?” asked Paul.

“My laboratory on Fifth Avenue, New York, has gotten crowded. I broke some items.” Tesla shook his head sadly. “I am clumsy, it is possible, with my things. Mr. Thomas Edison offered a space for working to myself. While some unnecessaries were cleaned away.”

“It’s actually quite nice to have Nikola around,” said Edison. “It’s been a pleasure to bounce ideas off him, see what he thinks of the new cameras. My boys are very much in awe. I’ve built the camera lab next to Tesla’s; Black Maria, I call it. A ‘motion picture’ studio. It’s fun. All in all, these years have been…well, they’ve been the happiest of my life. So whatever part you played in that, Mr. Cravath, I just wanted to say…you didn’t do so badly.”

Paul stared. After a long moment of silence, he laughed. Of all the things he’d imagined that Thomas Edison might ever say to him, he’d never imagined that.

He extended his hand, and Edison shook it.

All four men turned their attention to Niagara. Together they gazed out at the froth. The wet spray rose up from the waterfall, a mist rising up to the heavens. The effect was hypnotizing. As they stared, Paul noticed that Tesla’s eyes went elsewhere. To somewhere that none of the others could see.

“Wonder,” said Edison.

Paul turned. “What’s that?”

“Wonder,” said Edison again. “I fear it’s soon out.”

“It won’t ever go out,” said Westinghouse.

“Wonder?” asked Paul, not quite following along.

“Our age of invention,” explained Edison. “These days of handcrafted miracles…they won’t last much longer. Does that ever worry any of you? Light bulbs. Electricity. It seems likely that ours will be the last generation to ever gaze, wide-eyed, at something truly novel. That our kind will be the last to ever stare in disbelief at a man-made thing that could not possibly exist. We made wonders, boys. I only wonder how many of them are left to make.”

“The study of science,” said Tesla, “it is not ever to end.”

Edison nodded. “That’s true. But it won’t be like this. It will be more…technical. Inside the magic box, not outside it. A light bulb is intuitive; an X-ray is practically alchemy. The machines are becoming so infernally complicated that barely a soul can even conceptualize how they work. And moreover, they won’t need to in order to use the things. From here we can only build incrementally. Improvements. Not revolutions. No new colors, only new hues. Do you remember the first time you saw a light bulb at work?”