The 48 Laws Of Power

TRANSGRESSIONANDOBSERVANCEOFTHE

LAW

In 1883 a

young

SerbianscientistnamedNikolaTesla

was

working

forthe

European

divisionoftheContinentalEdison

Company.

Hewasabrilliant

inventor,

and

CharlesBatchelor,

a

plant

manager

anda

personal

friendof

Thomas

Edison,

persuaded

himheshouldseekhisfortunein

America,

giv-

ing

hima

letterofintroduction

toEdisonhimself.So

began

alifeofwoe

andtribulationthatlasteduntilTesla’sdeath.

WhenTeslametEdisoninNew

York,

the famousinventorhiredhim

onthe

spot.

Teslaworked

eighteen-hourdays,findingways

to

improve

the

primitive

Edison

dynarnos.Finally

heofferedto

redesign

them

completely.

ToEdisonthisseemeda

monumental

taskthat

could

last

years

without

paying

off,

buthetold

Tesla,

“’I'here’s

fifty

thousanddollars

init

for

you-—xf

you

candoit.”Teslalabored

day

and

night

onthe

project

andafter

only

a

year

he

produced

a

greatlyimproved

versionofthe

dynamo,

complete

withautomaticcontrols.HewenttoEdisontobreakthe

good

newsandre-

ceivehis

$50,000.

Edisonwas

pleased

withthe

improvement,

forwhichhe

andhis

company

wouldtake

credit,

butwhenit

came

totheissueofthe

money

hetoldthe

young

Serb,“Tesla,

you

don’tunderstandourAmerican

lmmori,”

andofferedasmallraiseinstead.

Tesla’sobsessionwastocreatean

alternating-current

system

(AC)

of

electricity.

Edisonbelieved

inthedirect—current

system

(DC),

andnot

only

refusedto

support

Tesla’s

research

butlaterdidallhecouldto

sabotage

him.Teslaturnedtothe

greatPittsburghmagnateGeorgeWestinghouse,

whohadstartedhisown

electricity

company.

Westinghousecompletely

fundedTesla’:researchandofferedhima

generousroyaltyagreement

on

future

profits.

TheAC

system

Tesla

developed

isstillthestandard

today-—

but

after

patents

werefiled

inhis

name,

otherscientistscameforwardto

takecreditforthe

invention,

claiming

that

they

hadlaidthe

groundwork

forhim.Hisnamewaslostinthe

shuffle,

and the

public

cametoassociate

theinventionwith

Westinghouse

himself.

A

year

later,

Westinghouse

was

caught

in a mkeover bid from

_}.PierpontMorgan,

whomadehimrescindthe

generousroyalty

contract

hehad

signed

withTesla.

Westinghouseexplained

to

thescientistthathis

company

wouldnotsurviveifithadto

pay

himhisfull

royalties;

he

per-

suadedTesla

to

accept

a

buyout

ofhis

patents

for

$216,000-—a

large

sum,

no

doubt,

butfarlessthanthe

$12

million

they

wereworthatthetime.The

financiershaddivestedTesla

of

the

riches,

the

patents,

and

essentially

the

creditforthe

greatest

inventionofhiscareer.

Thenameof

Guglielmo

Marconiisforeverlinkedwiththeinvention

ofradio.Butfewknowthatin

producing

hisinvention-——hebroadcasta

sig-

nalacrossthe

English

Channelin1899--Marconimadeuseofa

patent

Teslahadfiledin

1897,

andthathiswork

depended

onTesla’.-iresearch.

Once

again

Teslareceivedno

money

andnocredit.Teslainventedanin-

ductionmotoraswellastheAC

powersystem,

andheisthereal“fatherof

radio.”Yetnoneofthesediscoveriesbearhisname.Asanold

man,

he

lived

in

poverty.

THET()RT()lSE.'l'Hl-I

l7I.F.l"llA\$TANDTill’.

l[|l‘P()l‘U'l‘A\’|lB

One

day

literorloise

metthe

elephant.

who

trumpeted,

"Our

ofmy

way,youwmkling—

I

mightstep

on

you!”

Thetortoisewasnot

afraid

and

stayed

wherehe

was,

sothe

elephantstepped

on

him,

butcouldnot

crushhim.“Donot

boast,

Mr.

Elephant,

1

amas

strong

as

you

are.’

"

saidthe

tortoise,

bu!the

elephantjust

laughed.

Sothetortoise

askedhim:0come

tohishillthenexi

morning.

Thenext

day,before

sunrise,

thetortoiseran

downthehillto(he

river,

wherehemetthe

hippopotamus,

who

waxjust

onhis

way

backintothewater

after

hisrtoclurmzl

_feading.

“Mr

Hippo!

Shallwehavea

rug~of-

war?IboxI’mas

strong

as

you

are!”

said{hetortoise.The

hippopotamuslaughed

atthisridiculous

idea,

but

agreed.

Thetortoise

produced

a

longrope

andtold/he

hippo

to

holditinhismouth

untilthetortoise

shouted

“Hey!”

Thentheturlaiierun

back

up

thehillwhere

he

found

the

elephant,

whowas

gettingimpa-

tient.He

gave

the

clcpham

Ihearherend

of

the

rape

and

said,

“When

Isay‘Hey!’

pull,

and

you'll

see

which

afus

isthe

strongest."

Thenheran

halfway

backdownthe

LAW 7

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