the life of Philo T Farnsworth - Early Television Foundation

PROMISE OF FINANCIAL HELP 73
north. A large suitcase containing most of their clothing, including
Farnsworth's new suit, was on the running board.
When they stopped at King City for lunch, someone stole the
suitcase. As a consequence, Farnsworth arrived in San Francisco
with only the shabby clothes he had put on for making the
trip. He hunted up my friend, Harry Cartlidge,
a hundred dollars to re-outfit himself.
and borrowed
In the meantime I had proceeded to El Paso to fulfill my
contract with the community chest in that city. Phil was left
to his own devices in San Francisco to get things started.
great weight was lifted from my shoulders by having his idea
backed by a strong financial group.
All his life Phil has been a reluctant correspondent. During
my six weeks' stay in El Paso I learned how deficient he was in
this respect. After my procuring for him his heart's desire in
the way of financial backing, it never occurred to him that I
might like to have occasional reports on how he was getting on.
So the first news I had from him came from Cartlidge, who
wrote me that he had loaned Phil a hundred dollars to replenish
his wardrobe after the theft. For further details I had to wait
until I returned to San Francisco for a personal
visit.
the first of
A
was in readiness to start
By October everything
work at the Green Street laboratories.
The financial backers wisely followed Mr. McCargar's counsel
that Farnsworth must be in complete control of his research
without the handicap or help of a supervising engineer. They
recognized that if his work was to be valuable, it must be the
product of genius, rather than engineering, and that he should
therefore be in complete command of the enterprise. They had
faith in Farnsworth's integrity
and industry, and in his enthusiasm
for his work.