They showed him that the "grand telephonic system" which he had planned was unfinished.
He was its architect, and it was undone.

The telephone business was energetic and prosperous.

Under the brilliant leadership of Frederick P.
Fish, it had grown by leaps and bounds.

But it was still far from being the SYSTEM that Vail had dreamed of in his younger days; and so, when the directors put before him his unfinished plan, he surrendered.
The instinct for completeness, which is one of the dominating characteristics of his mind, compelled him to consent.

It was the call of the telephone.
Since that May morning, 1907, great things have been done by the men of the telephone and telegraph world.