אוקי, זרקתי כמות דפים ששווה לשני סמסטרים בערך לפח כחלק ממבצע העתקת הנוכחות שלי מחיפה חזרה למרכז, שכן עוד שבועיים לימודיי נגמרים, וניתקלתי בצילום שאת תוכנו הקלדתי למטה. דרכי ודרכו של הקטע שמתחת הצטלבו בפעם הראשונה בקורס של פרופ' גז מהפקולטה להנדסת חומרים בטכניון ומיד ניגשתי לעשות לי עותק של הקטע. שכחתי לגמרי מהקטע הזה משום שבזמנו כבר הראתי את הקטע לכל מי שחשבתי שיהיה מעוניין, אולם עכשיו כאשר יש את הבלוג הזה הרגשתי צורך עז לחלוק אותו עם כולכם.
אני אחסוך מכם את הפרשנות הרחבה שמתבקשת מן הקטע הזה כי אתם לא משלמים לי מספיק בשביל להורות לכם חוכמות חיים ולכן רק אגער בכם לקרוא אותו מתחילתו ועד סופו ואז לשבת ולחשוב.
זהו, שיהיה שבוע מגניב לכולם, אגב.
November 15, 1876
Chauncey M. DePew, Esq.
President, Telegraph Co.
Ref: "The Speaking Voice over Telegraph Wires"
Dear Mr. DePew:
This committee was formed at your request to consider the purchase of U.S Patent 174,465 by our company. Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard and Mr. Alexander G. Bell, the inventor, have demonstrated their device, which they call the "Telephone", for us, and discussed their plans for its use.
The "Telephone" purports to transmit the speaking voice over telegraph wires. We found that the voice is very weak and indistinct and grows even weaker when long lines are used between sender and receiver. Technically, we do not see that this device will ever be capable of sending recognizable speech over a distance of several miles.
Messrs. Hubbard and Bell want to install one of their "Telephone" devices in virtually every home and business establishement in the city. This idea is idiotic on the face of it. Furthermore, why would any person want to use this ungainly and impractical device when he can send a messenger to the local telegraph office and have a clear written message sent to any large city in the united states?
The electricians of your own company have developed all the significant improvement in the telegraph art to date, and we see no reason why a group of outsiders, with extravagant and impractical ideas, should be entertained when they have not the slightest idea of the true practical problems involved. Mr. G.G Hubbard's fanciful predictions, while they sound very rosy, are based on wild-eyed imagination and a lack of understanding of the technical and economic facts of the situation, and on a posture of ignoring the obvious technical limitations of this device, which is hardly more than a toy or a laboratory curiosity. Mr. A.G Bell, the inventor, is a teacher of the hard-of-hearing, and this "Telephone" may be of some value for his work, but it has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.
In view of these facts, we feel that Mr. G.G Hubbard's request for $100,000 for the sale of this patent is utterly unreasonable , since the device is inherently of no value to us. We do not recomment the purchase.
Yours truly,
{Name Deleted}
for the committee
