government, and the universities became
permeated with socialism.

Steinmetz, then a boy of seventeen, was drawn into the work of
socialistic agitation, and he became the editor of a paper during a period
when the real editor was in prison for _lese majeste_.

The paper was finally suppressed, and Steinmetz's connection with it was
reported to the university authorities. Then he received information that
a warrant was out for his arrest and he fled to Zurich, Switzerland. Here
he supported himself by tutoring, and by writing for electrical magazines
and for a daily paper.

The articles for the daily paper paid him two dollars a week. His income
was pitifully small, but he managed to save a few dollars, and, meeting
with a young American from San Francisco, he decided to relinquish his
ambition to become a professor of mathematics in some German university.
He then emigrated to America.

Lands as a Poor Immigrant.

Steinmetz and his American friend landed in New York with just twenty
dollars between them. They hired a small room in Brooklyn, where they
started housekeeping together. Steinmetz had acquired this knack during
his Zurich days, and through his first year in America he lived with his
friend in one room, doing their cooking and washing on a gas-stove, and at
the same time conducting electrical and chemical experiments.

Steinmetz had with him when he arrived in this country a couple of letters
of introduction, one to a man who manufactured electrical and chemical
supplies on a small scale. This letter was the first presented, but on
visiting the place Steinmetz was unable to see the manufacturer. He was,
however, told to call again. He called again, and was once more put off
with a polite invitation to return. After two more calls Steinmetz
realized that he was an unwelcome visitor. He thought it over for a few
moments, then laughed and, turning to the clerk, said:

"Oh, well, all right. He'll have to call on me, now, if he wants me--and I
think he will."

Eventually the manufacturer did want Steinmetz, but never got him, for
Steinmetz took the second letter of introduction to Rudolph Eickemeyer,
head of the Eickemeyer Elevator Company, of Yonkers. Eickemeyer sized the
young man up, and at once put him to work as a draftsman, at twelve
dollars a week.

It was while in Yonkers that Steinmetz drew attention to his ability by a
series of articles in an American electrical magazine on alternating
curre