The Secret Life of Ruggles: War of Currents

The War Of Currents

Thomas Edison was running off the fame of his light bulb and various other inventions but he needed a way to power up cities so he could sell more bulbs. Edison invented the system of direct current, but because DC only flows in one direction; it would lose energy and damage the wires, making it impossible to send direct current over long distances. To remedy his problems Edison turned to a Siberian immigrant named Nikola Tesla. Tesla went to work for Edison and had presented to him the idea of harnessing alternating current. Edison was not interested at all in AC, he was convinced it was dangerous and pursuing means of harnessing it was foolish. According to Tesla’s account of the events, Edison had told Tesla, if he would create a more efficient method of DC to travel and provide power to a greater number of people, he would give him a reward of $50,000 (almost 1.25 million dollars by today’s standards). Tesla claims that after completing the task assigned to him he went to Edison who refused to pay him and told him he didn’t understand “American humor” and offered him an extra ten dollars a week instead. This meant war!

Tesla left working for Edison to strike out on his own. He took hard labor jobs for a while until he met a man named George Westinghouse. Westinghouse invested in Tesla’s research and work. Tesla had created his machine and Edison had his and this is really where the “war” began. Edison made it his mission to smear alternating current. Edison, not wanting to lose his monopoly on electricity, funded events around the country where the “dangers” of alternating power were demonstrated by electrocuting dogs, cats, and even an elephant, in 1903. Edison even paid Harold P. Brown to invent the electric chair in order to further demonstrate that alternating current could and therefore would kill people (The first person executed by electric chair was William Kemmler in New York, August 6, 1890).

In 1893 Chicago was holding its World’s Fair and it needed power for its electric exhibition. Edison had offered to power the event but he quoted the cost at 1.8 million dollars. After the rejection of the first price Edison then reduced his number by 60% ($554,000) but the city decided to hire Westinghouse as his offer was under $400,000.

This was a huge win for Tesla and Westinghouse and at the World’s Fair with the use of his coils Tesla demonstrated the ease with which one can harness alternating current. He even went so far as to let the current flow through him and out his fingertips to discredit the smear campaign created by Edison. He even used the electricity coursing through his body to illuminate a light bulb. It was also here where Westinghouse and Tesla presented how AC could transmit over large distances. This would eventually lead to Westinghouse getting a contract that allowed for him to begin using Niagara Falls as a means to create energy.

It is difficult to say who won the war, Westinghouse was on the brink of bankruptcy, and Tesla released him from their contract saving his old business partner from ruin but in the process leaving him unable to fund his own projects. Edison, however, adapted to the change in the industry and maintained his fortune. But let’s not forget that we use AC almost everywhere in our world; powering our homes, businesses, and lives, whereas DC, which is still around, is mostly seen in the form of batteries.

Relevance to Against the Day

The War of Currents is also a great example of the practice of industries of the day. Monopolies were the trend and the extent that people would go to keep their dominance in any field was extreme. Thomas Edison was a real life Scarsdale Vibe. He would pay children to round up stray cats and dogs so he could hold press conferences to electrocute the animals to discredit Tesla’s work. He commissioned Tesla to make him a machine that would increase his revenue by a considerable amount and when the time came to share even a bit of that wealth he was quick to refuse to honor his commitment to pay his debt. The commission of the electric chair shows that Edison was even capable of taking a human life if it meant preserving his income. Against the day takes place during, and often times within, the Chicago World’s Fair. It was at this time that Westinghouse and Tesla were in a bidding war against Edison for the contract to see who would power the event. Tesla himself is a character in the novel as well; Kitt Traverse worked with/for him.

The boom of electricity was occurring during the time of the novel. The concept of lighting entire cities was an entirely new concept to humankind. The relevance of this event goes deeper than just a few instances that I can list (seeing how I have not yet reached the half-way point of the novel). The ways of generating and distributing electricity on a massive scale was in its infancy which, arguably, makes the scope of these events pivotal to the whole story. Also concept of dual natures is a major theme in Against the Day; one could even say that alternating currents and direct currents are the dual natures of electricity and hence the "War of Currents" could tie into the story in that way as well.