"Precisely why Pierpont's in on this. That and his arrangement with Edison—but there I go again spilling secrets. Bankrolling Tesla has given Morgan's access to all Tesla's engineering secrets. And he has operatives on the spot, ready day and night to rush us photographed copies of anything we need to know."
* * * * * * * * * *
A-ha! So J.P. Morgan's historical association with Nikola Tesla plays into Pynchon's tale! According to this fiction, Morgan wasn't interested in working with Tesla on a trans-Atlantic wireless system at all (or anything seven years before that, even, as he seems to be doing here in 1893, according to Scarsdale). He was simply infiltrating Tesla's camp to sabotage his work.
I don't know if this is foreshadowing or some other literary motif but we'll see later that the working class plays the same game and are labeled socialists, communists, and anarchists for their efforts. How the world eventually comes to view you and your actions all depends on whether or not you own the media. And law enforcement. And politicians. One guy is just tweaking the rules because he's smart and good at money and rich and awesome. The other guy is a chowder-headed nitwit with a bomb who read one pamphlet on socialism, misunderstood it because he was poor and dumb, and became a terrorist who needs to be hanged as an example to all the other chowder-heads who dare to try to make the world a better place.
"he has operatives on the spot"
I should probably try to remember this when I get to the Nikola Tesla section. Maybe I can ferret out the characters who are obviously on Morgan's payroll!
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