E.H. HALL Jr., "Letter",
Electrical Review, 21 September 1889
Voir article Graham Bell
E.H. Hall Jr. était le vice-président, de AT&T, la filiale de American Bell pour les communications longues distance. Ce texte, cité par Burns, est, à notre connaissance, le premier texte d'un dirigeant d'une grande entreprise de télécommunication relatif à l'hypothèse de la vision à distance.
"We all appreciate the advantage of speaking face to face above all other methods of communicating thought because ideas are then conveyed in three ways - by the words, by the tone and by the expression and the manner of the speaker. Untill Bell invented the telephone only the first method was available - first by letter and latter by the rapid letter - the telegram. It is perhaps fair to say that we obtain our impressions from all three of those things in equal proportions. I would not set bounds to the possibilities of inventive genius. Some day we may see as well as hear our distant friends when we communicate with them by the telephone."