service laws. He established the system of six months' probationary appointments, which were subsequently adopted by all agencies. American Bell and AT&T The American Bell Telephone Co. had been organized by Gardiner G. Hubbard, father in law of Alexander Graham Bell. As a lawyer and lobbyist, Hubbard had opposed the Post Office Department before Congress on various issues. Vail became convinced as a result of his association with Hubbard that the telephone would eventually revolutionize world communication, and he became a vigorous, though generally unsuccessful, promoter of Bell stock. Hubbard was impressed with Vail and offered him the position of general manager of the American Bell Telephone Company in 1878. Vail defended the Bell patents successfully from challenges from Western Union and others. He introduced the use of copper wire in telephone and telegraph lines. Personal life Vail was a first cousin to Alfred Vail instrumental in developing the first telegraph. In August 1869, Vail married Emma Righter (November 6, 1844 – February 3, 1905), of Newark, New Jersey. They had one son, Davis Righter Vail (July 18, 1870 – December 20, 1906), who died after a 10-day bout with typhoid fever in 1906. He first visited Vermont in 1883. This led to his eventual purchase of a farm in Lyndon, Vermont, Speedwell Farms, site of conferences which culminated in the creation of American Telephone & Telegraph. He was a member of the Union League Club of New York and the Algonquin Club of Boston and the Jekyll Island Club. Later years and death In 1888, Vail retired, temporarily as it turned out, and devoted his time to travel and adventure in South America, and promoting the use of the telephone abroad. In 1890 he received a concession from the federal government of Argentina to build a generating station at Cordoba to supply power to a trolley system in Buenos Aires. Vail had purchased a horse-drawn streetcar line serving the city. He later bought out all competing lines and consolidated the system. The Vail Mansion in Morristown, New Jersey was built 1916–1918 as his residence. It was the Morristown Municipal Building for over 75 years. It is now a condominium. Vail died on April 16, 1920, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. He had been brought to Baltimore from Jekyll Island, Ga. in his personal rail car. Jekyll Island was a winter retreat for wealthy northern industrialists. As a