Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Lines 180-182 (552-554)

 "Speak bluntly may I? Invent us a counter-transformer. Some piece of equipment that will detect one of these Tesla rigs in operation, and then broadcast something equal and opposite that'll nullify its effects."

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Here we see free market capitalism at work as it is expected to work by powerful and rich magnates. If somebody is free to improve society at the expense of the rich and powerful's wealth, then the rich and the powerful should be free to smash those people into little worthless smithereens. Scarsdale has no intention of "competing" in the "free market" of ideas. Tesla wants to build free power; Scarsdale wants to build a vault around the entire concept and sink it in the ocean.

"Speak bluntly may I?"
Imagine having to always couch your beliefs and declarations in metaphor, simile, and analogy because the earnest baring of your soul would be too horrific for those around you to stomach.
    I typed this meaning to criticize people like fictional character Scarsdale Vibe but have inadvertently hurt my own feelings.

"Invent us a counter-transformer"
Wait. I missed the part where Tesla was inventing Transformers in 1893. So basically Scarsdale wants the Professor to invent Decepticons.

"Some piece of equipment that will detect one of these Tesla rigs in operation, and then broadcast something equal and opposite that'll nullify its effects."
This isn't an outrageous theory at all. During the fledgling days of radio experimentation, transmissions had no way of going out without interfering with other radio transmissions in the area, resulting in garbled nonsense. This was about a decade or so later than 1893 so Scarsdale wouldn't be basing his idea on that. But the sense that if something can be transmitted, it is a thing that can be actively stopped is a reasonable one from a human perspective. Can you not smash a pipe pumping gas from one place to another to stop it from powering a distant apparatus? Could you not cut a wire to stop a telegraph transmission? Why not be able to detect and stop free power transmitted through the Aether then? And the best thing about making a "counter-transformer"? As the diabolical thwarter of some other scientist, you don't need to be nearly as imaginative or smart to build the thing that stops another thing!