Introduction Of The Edison Electric Light - 7

Introduction Of The Edison Electric Light - 7

 The organization of the Edison Electric Light Company went back to 1878; but up to the

time of leasing 65 Fifth Avenue it had not been engaged in actual business. It had merely

enjoyed the delights of anxious anticipation, and the perilous pleasure of backing

Edison's experiments. Now active exploitation was required. Dr. Norvin Green, the wellknown

President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, was president also of the

Edison Company, but the pressing nature of his regular duties left him no leisure for such

close responsible management as was now required. Early in 1881 Mr. Grosvenor P.

Lowrey, after consultation with Mr. Edison, prevailed upon Major S. B. Eaton, the

leading member of a very prominent law firm in New York, to accept the position of

vice-president and general manager of the company, in which, as also in some of the

subsidiary Edison companies, and as presi- dent, he continued actively and energetically

for nearly four years, a critical, formative period in which the solidity of the foundation

laid is attested by the magnitude and splendor of the superstructure.

The fact that Edison conferred at this point with Mr. Lowrey should, perhaps, be

explained in justice to the distinguished lawyer, who for so many years was the close

friend of the inventor, and the chief counsel in all the tremendous litigation that followed

the effort to enforce and validate the Edison patents. As in England Mr. Edison was

fortunate in securing the legal assistance of Sir Richard Webster, afterward Lord Chief

Justice of England, so in America it counted greatly in his favor to enjoy the advocacy of

such a man as Lowrey, prominent among the famous leaders of the New York bar. Born

in Massachusetts, Mr. Lowrey, in his earlier days of straitened circumstances, was

accustomed to defray some portion of his educational expenses by teaching music in the

Berkshire villages, and by a curious coincidence one of his pupils was F. L. Pope, later

Edison's partner for a time. Lowrey went West to "Bleeding Kansas" with the first

Governor, Reeder, and both were active participants in the exciting scenes of the "Free

State" war until driven away in 1856, like many other free-soilers, by the acts of the

"Border Ruffian" legislature.

Returning East, Mr. Lowrey took up practice in New York, soon becoming eminent in his

profession, and upon the accession of William Orton to the presidency of the Western

Union Telegraph Company in 1866, he was appointed its general counsel, the duties of

which post he discharged for fifteen years. One of the great cases in which he thus took a

leading and distinguished part was that of the quadruplex telegraph; and later he acted as

legal adviser to Henry Villard in his numerous grandiose enterprises. Lowrey thus came

to know Edison, to conceive an intense admiration for him, and to believe in his ability at

a time when others could not detect the fire of genius smouldering beneath the modest

exterior of a gaunt young operator slowly "finding himself." It will be seen that Mr

Lowrey was in a peculiarly advantageous position to make his convictions about Edison

felt, so that it was he and his friends who rallied quickly to the new banner of discovery,

and lent to the inventor the aid that came at a critical period. In this connection it may be

well to quote an article that appeared at the time of Mr. Lowrey's death, in 1893: "One of

the most important services which Mr. Lowrey has ever performed was in furnishing and

procuring the necessary financial backing for Thomas A. Edison in bringing out and

perfecting his system of incandescent lighting. With characteristic pertinacity, Mr.

Lowrey stood by the inventor through thick and thin, in spite of doubt, discouragement,

and ridicule, until at last success crowned his efforts. In all the litigation which has

resulted from the wide-spread infringements of the Edison patents, Mr. Lowrey has ever

borne the burden and heat of the day, and perhaps in no other field has he so personally

distinguished himself as in the successful advocacy of the claims of Edison to the

invention of the incandescent lamp and everything "hereunto pertaining."