Edison In Commerce And Manufacture - 2

Edison In Commerce And Manufacture - 2

 Edison tells of another similar episode. "I had two men working for me--one a German,

the other a Jew. They wanted me to put up a little money and start them in a shop in New

York to make repairs, etc. I put up $800, and was to get half of the profits, and each of

them one-quarter. I never got anything for it. A few years afterward I went to see them,

and asked what they were doing, and said I would like to sell my interest. They said: `Sell

out what?' `Why,' I said, `my interest in the machinery.' They said: `You don't own this

machinery. This is our machinery. You have no papers to show anything. You had better

get out.' I am inclined to think that the percentage of crooked people was smaller when I

was young. It has been steadily rising, and has got up to a very respectable figure now. I

hope it will never reach par." To which lugubrious episode so provocative of cynicism,

Edison adds: "When I was a young fellow the first thing I did when I went to a town was

to put something into the savings-bank and start an account. When I came to New York I

put $30 into a savings-bank under the New York Sun office. After the money had been in

about two weeks the bank busted. That was in 1870. In 1909 I got back $6.40, with a

charge for $1.75 for law expenses. That shows the beauty of New York receiverships."

It is hardly to be wondered at that Edison is rather frank and unsparing in some of his

criticisms of shady modern business methods, and the mention of the following incident

always provokes him to a fine scorn. "I had an interview with one of the wealthiest men

in New York. He wanted me to sell out my associates in the electric lighting business,

and offered me all I was going to get and $100,000 besides. Of course I would not do it. I

found out that the reason for this offer was that he had had trouble with Mr. Morgan, and

wanted to get even with him." Wall Street is, in fact, a frequent object of rather sarcastic

reference, applying even to its regular and probably correct methods of banking. "When I

was running my ore-mine," he says, "and got up to the point of making shipments to John

Fritz, I didn't have capital enough to carry the ore, so I went to J. P. Morgan & Co. and

said I wanted them to give me a letter to the City Bank. I wanted to raise some money. I

got a letter to Mr. Stillman; and went over and told him I wanted to open an account and

get some loans and discounts. He turned me down, and would not do it. `Well,' I said,

`isn't it banking to help a man in this way?' He said: `What you want is a partner.' I felt

very much crestfallen. I went over to a bank in Newark--the Merchants'--and told them

what I wanted. They said: `Certainly, you can have the money.' I made my deposit, and

they pulled me through all right. My idea of Wall Street banking has been very poor since

that time. Merchant banking seems to be different."

As a general thing, Edison has had no trouble in raising money when he needed it, the

reason being that people have faith in him as soon as they come to know him. A little

incident bears on this point. "In operating the Schenectady works Mr. Insull and I had a

terrible burden. We had enormous orders and little money, and had great difficulty to

meet our pay- rolls and buy supplies. At one time we had so many orders on hand we

wanted $200,000 worth of copper, and didn't have a cent to buy it. We went down to the

Ansonia Brass and Copper Company, and told Mr. Cowles just how we stood. He said: `I

will see what I can do. Will you let my bookkeeper look at your books?' We said: `Come

right up and look them over.' He sent his man up and found we had the orders and were

all right, although we didn't have the money. He said: `I will let you have the copper.'

And for years he trusted us for all the copper we wanted, even if we didn't have the

money to pay for it."

It is not generally known that Edison, in addition to being a newsboy and a contributor to

the technical press, has also been a backer and an "angel" for various publications. This is

perhaps the right place at which to refer to the matter, as it belongs in the list of his

financial or commercial enterprises. Edison sums up this chapter of his life very pithily.

"I was interested, as a telegrapher, in journalism, and started the Telegraph Journal, and

got out about a dozen numbers when it was taken over by W. J. Johnston, who afterward

founded the Electrical World on it as an offshoot from the Operator. I also started

Science, and ran it for a year and a half. It cost me too much money to maintain, and I

sold it to Gardiner Hubbard, the father-in-law of Alexander Graham Bell. He carried it

along for years." Both these papers are still in prosperous existence, particularly the

Electrical World, as the recognized exponent of electrical development in America,

where now the public spends as much annually for electricity as it does for daily bread.

From all that has been said above it will be understood that Edison's real and remarkable

capacity for business does not lie in ability to "take care of himself," nor in the direction

of routine office practice, nor even in ordinary administrative affairs. In short, he would

and does regard it as a foolish waste of his time to give attention to the mere occupancy

of a desk.

His commercial strength manifests itself rather in the outlining of matters relating to

organization and broad policy with a sagacity arising from a shrewd perception and

appreciation of general business requirements and conditions, to which should be added

his intensely comprehensive grasp of manufacturing possibilities and details, and an

unceasing vigilance in devising means of improving the quality of products and

increasing the economy of their manufacture.

Like other successful commanders, Edison also possesses the happy faculty of choosing

suitable lieutenants to carry out his policies and to manage the industries he has created,

such, for instance, as those with which this chapter has to deal--namely, the phonograph,

motion picture, primary battery, and storage battery enterprises.

The Portland cement business has already been dealt with separately, and although the

above remarks are appropriate to it also, Edison being its head and informing spirit, the

following pages are intended to be devoted to those industries that are grouped around the

laboratory at Orange, and that may be taken as typical of Edison's methods on the

manufacturing side.