"Where have you had one working?"
"At the University."
"You mean in the laboratory."
Roger nodded. Haskell cleared his throat and looked over Roger's black head for a minute, then he said:
"My dear fellow, I am a business man, not a philanthropist. When you can come to me and say, 'I've got a plant in Texas and one in Mississippi and one in Egypt and they've worked for, say two years, and the folks want more,' why, then you'll interest me. But I don't see putting a hundred thousand dollars into a laboratory experiment, however clever."
Roger's clear blue eyes, still unsophisticated despite his twenty-five years, did not flinch. There was a perceptible pause, however, before he said:
"But, Mr. Haskell, how am I going to get a dozen plants into use unless some one manufactures and installs them for me?"
"Some one will have to do just that. But you'll have to pay for it."
"But I thought great concerns like yours," persisted Roger, "were constantly looking for new developments."
"We are. But frankly, Mr. Moore, your whole idea is too visionary. Some day, undoubtedly, we shall have solar engineering. But that day is several generations away. We have coal and all its by-products and water power is just beginning to come into its own."