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IF the world were to take an account of stock,
so to speak, and proceed in orderly fashion to
marshal its tangible assets in relation to
dollars and cents, the natural resources of our
globe, from centre to circumference, would head
the list. Next would come inventors, whose
value to the world as an asset could be readily
estimated from an increase of its wealth
resulting from the actual transformations of
these resources into items of convenience and
comfort through the exercise of their inventive
ingenuity.
Inventors of practical devices may be broadly
divided into two classes--first, those who may
be said to have made two blades of grass grow
where only one grew before; and, second, great
inventors, who have made grass grow plentifully
on hitherto unproductive ground. The vast
majority of practical inventors belong to and
remain in the first of these divisions, but
there have been, and probably always will be, a
less number who, by reason of their greater
achievements, are entitled to be included in
both classes. Of these latter, Thomas Alva
Edison is one, but in the pages of history he
stands conspicuously pre-eminent--a commanding
towering figure, even among giants.
The activities of Edison have been of such
great range, and his conquests in the domains of
practical arts so extensive and varied, that it
is somewhat difficult to estimate with any
satisfactory degree of accuracy the money value
of his inventions to the world of to-day, even
after making due allowance for the work of other
great inventors and the propulsive effect of
large amounts of capital thrown into the
enterprises which took root, wholly or in part,
through the productions of his genius and
energies. This difficulty will be apparent,
for instance, when we consider his telegraph and
telephone inventions. These were absorbed in
enterprises already existing, and were the means
of assisting their rapid growth and expansion,
particularly the telephone industry. Again, in
considering the fact that Edison was one of the
first in the field to design and perfect a
practical and operative electric railway, the
main features of which are used in all electric
roads of to-day, we are confronted with the
problem as to what proportion of their colossal
investment and earnings should be ascribed to
him.
Difficulties are multiplied when we pause for a
moment to think of Edison's influence on
collateral branches of business. In the public
mind he is credited with the invention of the
incandescent electric light, the phonograph,
and other widely known devices; but how few
realize his actual influence on other trades that
are not generally thought of in connection with
these things. For instance, let us note what a
prominent engine builder, the late Gardiner
C. Sims, has said: "Watt, Corliss, and
Porter brought forward steam-engines to a high
state of proficiency, yet it remained for Mr.
Edison to force better proportions,
workmanship, designs, use of metals,
regulation, the solving of the complex problems
of high speed and endurance, and the successful
development of the shaft governor. Mr. Edison
is pre- eminent in the realm of engineering."
The phenomenal growth of the copper industry was
due to a rapid and ever-increasing demand,
owing to the exploitation of the telephone,
electric light, electric motor, and electric
railway industries. Without these there might
never have been the romance of "Coppers" and
the rise and fall of countless fortunes. And
although one cannot estimate in definite figures
the extent of Edison's influence in the
enormous increase of copper production, it is to
be remembered that his basic inventions
constitute a most important factor in the demand
for the metal. Besides, one must also give him
the credit, as already noted, for having
recognized the necessity for a pure quality of
copper for electric conductors, and for his
persistence in having compelled the manufacturers
of that period to introduce new and additional
methods of refinement so as to bring about that
result, which is now a sine qua non.
Still considering his influence on other staples
and collateral trades, let us enumerate briefly
and in a general manner some of the more
important and additional ones that have been not
merely stimulated, but in many cases the
business and sales have been directly increased
and new arts established through the inventions
of this one man--namely, iron, steel,
brass, zinc, nickel, platinum ($5 per ounce
in 1878, now $26 an ounce), rubber,
oils, wax, bitumen, various chemical
compounds, belting, boilers, injectors,
structural steel, iron tubing, glass, silk,
cotton, porcelain, fine woods, slate,
marble, electrical measuring instruments,
miscellaneous machinery, coal, wire, paper,
building materials, sapphires, and many
others.
The question before us is, To what extent has
Edison added to the wealth of the world by his
inventions and his energy and perseverance? It
will be noted from the foregoing that no
categorical answer can be offered to such a
question, but sufficient material can be
gathered from a statistical review of the
commercial arts directly influenced to afford an
approximate idea of the increase in national
wealth that has been affected by or has come into
being through the practical application of his
ideas.
First of all, as to inventions capable of
fairly definite estimate, let us mention the
incandescent electric light and systems of
distribution of electric light, heat, and
power, which may justly be considered as the
crowning inventions of Edison's life. Until
October 21, 1879, there was nothing in
existence resembling our modern incandescent
lamp. On that date, as we have seen in a
previous chapter, Edison's labors culminated
in his invention of a practical incandescent
electric lamp embodying absolutely all the
essentials of the lamp of to-day, thus opening
to the world the doors of a new art and
industry. To-day there are in the United
States more than 41,000,000 of these
lamps, connected to existing central-station
circuits in active operation.
Such circuits necessarily imply the existence of
central stations with their equipment. Until
the beginning of 1882 there were only a few
arc-lighting stations in existence for the
limited distribution of current. At the present
time there are over 6000 central stations in
this country for the distribution of electric
current for light, heat, and power, with
capital obligations amounting to not less than
$1,000,000,000. Besides the
above-named 41,000,000 incandescent
lamps connected to their mains, there are about
500,000 arc lamps and 150,000
motors, using 750,000 horse-power,
besides countless fan motors and electric heating
and cooking appliances.
When it is stated that the gross earnings of
these central stations approximate the sum of
$225,000,000 yearly, the significant
import of these statistics of an art that came so
largely from Edison's laboratory about thirty
years ago will undoubtedly be apparent.
But the above are not by any means all the facts
relating to incandescent electric lighting in the
United States, for in addition to central
stations there are upward of 100,000
isolated or private plants in mills, factories,
steamships, hotels, theatres, etc., owned by
the persons or concerns who operate them. These
plants represent an approximate investment of
$500,000,000, and the connection of
not less than 25,000,000 incandescent
lamps or their equivalent.
Then there are the factories where these
incandescent lamps are made, about forty in
number, repre- sensing a total investment that
may be approximated at $25,000,000.
It is true that many of these factories are
operated by other than the interests which came
into control of the Edison patents (General
Electric Company), but the
150,000,000 incandescent electric
lamps now annually made are broadly covered in
principle by Edison's fundamental ideas and
patents.
It will be noted that these figures are all in
round numbers, but they are believed to be well
within the mark, being primarily founded upon
the special reports of the Census Bureau issued
in 1902 and 1907, with the natural
increase from that time computed by experts who
are in position to obtain the facts. It would
be manifestly impossible to give exact figures of
such a gigantic and swiftly moving industry,
whose totals increase from week to week.
The reader will naturally be disposed to ask
whether it is intended to claim that Edison has
brought about all this magnificent growth of the
electric-lighting art. The answer to this is
decidedly in the negative, for the fact is that
he laid some of the foundation and erected a
building thereon, and in the natural progressive
order of things other inventors of more or less
fame have laid substructures or added a wing here
and a story there until the resultant great
structure has attained such proportions as to
evoke the admiration of the beholder; but the
old foundation and the fundamental building still
remain to support other parts. In other words,
Edison created the incandescent electric lamp,
and invented certain broad and fundamental
systems of distribution of current, with all the
essential devices of detail necessary for
successful operation. These formed a
foundation. He also spent great sums of money
and devoted several years of patient labor in the
early practical exploitation of the dynamo and
central station and isolated plants, often
under, adverse and depressing circumstances,
with a dogged determination that outlived an
opposition steadily threatening defeat. These
efforts resulted in the firm commercial
establishment of modern electric lighting. It
is true that many important inventions of others
have a distinguished place in the art as it is
exploited today, but the fact remains that the
broad essentials, such as the incandescent
lamp, systems of distribution, and some
important details, are not only universally
used, but are as necessary to-day for
successful commercial practice as they were when
Edison invented them many years ago.
The electric railway next claims our
consideration, but we are immediately confronted
by a difficulty which seems insurmountable when
we attempt to formulate any definite estimate of
the value and influence of Edison's pioneer
work and inventions. There is one
incontrovertible fact--namely, that he was the
first man to devise, construct, and operate
from a central station a practicable, life-size
electric railroad, which was capable of
transporting and did transport passengers and
freight at variable speeds over varying grades,
and under complete control of the operator.
These are the essential elements in all electric
railroading of the present day; but while
Edison's original broad ideas are embodied in
present practice, the perfection of the modern
electric railway is greatly due to the labors and
inventions of a large number of other well-known
inventors. There was no reason why Edison
could not have continued the commercial
development of the electric railway after he had
helped to show its practicability in 1880,
1881, and 1882, just as he had
completed his lighting system, had it not been
that his financial allies of the period lacked
faith in the possibilities of electric
railroads, and therefore declined to furnish the
money necessary for the purpose of carrying on
the work.
With these facts in mind, we shall ask the
reader to assign to Edison a due proportion of
credit for his pioneer and basic work in relation
to the prodigious development of electric
railroading that has since taken place. The
statistics of 1908 for American street and
elevated railways show that within twenty- five
years the electric-railway industry has grown to
embrace 38,812 miles of track on streets
and for elevated railways, operated under the
ownership of 1238 separate companies, whose
total capitalization amounted to the enormous sum
of $4,123,834,598. In the
equipments owned by such companies there are
included 68,636 electric cars and
17,568 trailers and others, making a total
of 86,204 of such vehicles. These cars
and equipments earned over
$425,000,000 in 1907, in giving
the public transportation, at a cost, including
transfers, of a little over three cents per
passenger, for whom a fifteen-mile ride would
be possible. It is the cheapest transportation
in the world.
Some mention should also be made of the great
electrical works of the country, in which the
dynamos, motors, and other varied paraphernalia
are made for electric lighting, electric
railway, and other purposes. The largest of
these works is undoubtedly that of the General
Electric Company at Schenectady, New York,
a continuation and enormous enlargement of the
shops which Edison established there in
1886. This plant at the present time
embraces over 275 acres, of which sixty acres
are covered by fifty large and over one hundred
small buildings; besides which the company also
owns other large plants elsewhere, representing
a total investment approximating the sum of
$34,850,000 up to 1908. The
productions of the General Electric Company
alone average annual sales of nearly
$75,000,000, but they do not comprise
the total of the country's manufactures in these
lines.
Turning our attention now to the telephone, we
again meet a condition that calls for thoughtful
consideration before we can properly appreciate
how much the growth of this industry owes to
Edison's inventive genius. In another place
there has already been told the story of the
telephone, from which we have seen that to
Alexander Graham Bell is due the broad idea of
transmission of speech by means of an electrical
circuit; also that he invented appropriate
instruments and devices through which he
accomplished this result, although not to that
extent which gave promise of any great commercial
practicability for the telephone as it then
existed. While the art was in this inefficient
condition, Edison went to work on the subject,
and in due time, as we have already learned,
invented and brought out the carbon transmitter,
which is universally acknowledged to have been
the needed device that gave to the telephone the
element of commercial practicability, and has
since led to its phenomenally rapid adoption and
world-wide use. It matters not that others
were working in the same direction, Edison was
legally adjudicated to have been the first to
succeed in point of time, and his inventions
were put into actual use, and may be found in
principle in every one of the 7,000,000
telephones which are estimated to be employed in
the country at the present day. Basing the
statements upon facts shown by the Census
reports of 1902 and 1907, and adding
thereto the growth of the industry since that
time, we find on a conservative estimate that at
this writing the investment has been not less
than $800,000,000 in now existing
telephone systems, while no fewer than
10,500,000,000 talks went over the
lines during the year 1908. These figures
relate only to telephone systems, and do not
include any details regarding the great
manufacturing establishments engaged in the
construction of telephone apparatus, of which
there is a production amounting to at least
$15,000,000 per annum.
Leaving the telephone, let us now turn our
attention to the telegraph, and endeavor to show
as best we can some idea of the measure to which
it has been affected by Edison's inventions.
Although, as we have seen in a previous part of
this book, his earliest fame arose from his
great practical work in telegraphic inventions
and improvements, there is no way in which any
definite computation can be made of the value of
his contributions in the art except, perhaps,
in the case of his quadruplex, through which
alone it is estimated that there has been saved
from $15,000,000 to
$20,000,000 in the cost of line
construction in this country. If this were the
only thing that he had ever accomplished, it
would entitle him to consideration as an inventor
of note. The quadruplex, however, has other
material advantages, but how far they and the
natural growth of the business have contributed
to the investment and earnings of the telegraph
companies, is beyond practicable computation.
It would, perhaps, be interesting to speculate
upon what might have been the growth of the
telegraph and the resultant benefit to the
community had Edison's automatic telegraph
inventions been allowed to take their legitimate
place in the art, but we shall not allow
ourselves to indulge in flights of fancy, as the
value of this chapter rests not upon conjecture,
but only upon actual fact. Nor shall we attempt
to offer any statistics regarding Edison's
numerous inventions relating to telegraphs and
kindred devices, such as stock tickers,
relays, magnets, rheotomes, repeaters,
printing telegraphs, messenger calls, etc.,
on which he was so busily occupied as an inventor
and manufacturer during the ten years that began
with January, 1869. The principles of
many of these devices are still used in the
arts, but have become so incorporated in other
devices as to be inseparable, and cannot now be
dealt with separately. To show what they mean,
however, it might be noted that New York City
alone has 3000 stock "tickers," consuming
50,000 miles of record tape every year.
Turning now to other important arts and
industries which have been created by Edison's
inventions, and in which he is at this time
taking an active personal interest, let us visit
Orange, New Jersey. When his present
laboratory was nearing completion in 1887,
he wrote to Mr. J. Hood Wright, a partner
in the firm of Drexel, Morgan & Co.: "My
ambition is to build up a great industrial works
in the Orange Valley, starting in a small way
and gradually working up."
In this plant, which represents an investment
approximating the sum of $4,000,000,
are grouped a number of industrial enterprises of
which Edison is either the sole or controlling
owner and the guiding spirit. These enterprises
are the National Phonograph Company, the
Edison Business Phonograph Company, the
Edison Phonograph Works, the Edison
Manufacturing Company, the Edison Storage
Battery Company, and the Bates Manufacturing
Company. The importance of these industries
will be apparent when it is stated that at this
plant the maximum pay-roll shows the employment
of over 4200 persons, with annual earnings
in salaries and wages of more than
$2,750,000.
In considering the phonograph in its commercial
aspect, and endeavoring to arrive at some idea
of the world's estimate of the value of this
invention, we feel the ground more firm under
our feet, for Edison has in later years
controlled its manufacture and sale. It will be
remembered that the phonograph lay dormant,
commercially speaking, for about ten years after
it came into being, and then later invention
reduced it to a device capable of more popular
utility. A few years of rather unsatisfactory
commercial experience brought about a
reorganization, through which Edison resumed
possession of the business. It has since been
continued under his general direction and
ownership, and he has made a great many
additional inventions tending to improve the
machine in all its parts.
The uses made of the phonograph up to this time
have been of four kinds, generally
speaking--first, and principally, for
amusement; second, for instruction in
languages; third, for business, in the
dictation of correspondence; and fourth, for
sentimental reasons in preserving the voices of
friends. No separate figures are available to
show the extent of its employment in the second
and fourth classes, as they are probably
included in machines coming under the first
subdivision. Under this head we find that there
have been upward of 1,310,000
phonographs sold during the last twenty years,
with and for which there have been made and sold
no fewer than 97,845,000 records of a
musical or other character. Phonographic
records are now being manufactured at Orange at
the rate of 75,000 a day, the annual sale
of phonographs and records being approximately
$7,000,000, including business
phonographs. This does not include blank
records, of which large numbers have also been
supplied to the public.
The adoption of the business phonograph has not
been characterized by the unanimity that obtained
in the case of the one used merely for
amusement, as its use involves some changes in
methods that business men are slow to adopt until
they realize the resulting convenience and
economy. Although it is only a few years since
the business phonograph has begun to make some
headway, it is not difficult to appreciate that
Edison's prediction in 1878 as to the value
of such an appliance is being realized, when we
find that up to this time the sales run up to
12,695 in number. At the present time the
annual sales of the business phonographs and
supplies, cylinders, etc., are not less than
$350,000.
We must not forget that the basic patent of
Edison on the phonograph has long since
expired, thus throwing open to the world the
wonderful art of reproducing human speech and
other sounds. The world was not slow to take
advantage of the fact, hence there are in the
field numerous other concerns in the same
business. It is conservatively estimated by
those who know the trade and are in position to
form an opinion, that the figures above given
represent only about one-half of the entire
business of the country in phonographs,
records, cylinders, and supplies.
Taking next his inventions that pertain to a
more recently established but rapidly expanding
branch of business that provides for the
amusement of the public, popularly known as
"motion pictures," we also find a general
recognition of value created. Referring the
reader to a previous chapter for a discussion of
Edison's standing as a pioneer inventor in this
art, let us glance at the commercial proportions
of this young but lusty business, whose
ramifications extend to all but the most remote
and primitive hamlets of our country.
The manufacture of the projecting machines and
accessories, together with the reproduction of
films, is carried on at the Orange Valley
plant, and from the inception of the
motion-picture business to the present time
there have been made upward of 16,000
projecting machines and many million feet of
films carrying small photographs of moving
objects. Although the motion-picture
business, as a commercial enterprise, is still
in its youth, it is of sufficient moment to call
for the annual production of thousands of
machines and many million feet of films in
Edison's shops, having a sale value of not
less than $750,000. To produce the
originals from which these Edison films are
made, there have been established two
"studios," the largest of which is in the
Bronx, New York City.
In this, as well as in the phonograph
business, there are many other manufacturers in
the field. Indeed, the annual product of the
Edison Manufacturing Company in this line is
only a fractional part of the total that is
absorbed by the 8000 or more motion- picture
theatres and exhibitions that are in operation in
the United States at the present time, and
which represent an investment of some
$45,000,000. Licensees under Edison
patents in this country alone produce upward of
60,000,000 feet of films annually,
containing more than a billion and a half
separate photographs. To what extent the
motion-picture business may grow in the not
remote future it is impossible to conjecture,
for it has taken a place in the front rank of
rapidly increasing enterprises.
The manufacture and sale of the
Edison-Lalande primary battery, conducted by
the Edison Manufacturing Company at the
Orange Valley plant, is a business of no mean
importance. Beginning about twenty years ago
with a battery that, without polarizing, would
furnish large currents specially adapted for
gas-engine ignition and other important
purposes, the business has steadily grown in
magnitude until the present output amounts to
about 125,000 cells annually; the total
number of cells put into the hands of the public
up to date being approximately
1,500,000. It will be readily conceded
that to most men this alone would be an
enterprise of a lifetime, and sufficient in
itself to satisfy a moderate ambition. But,
although it has yielded a considerable profit to
Edison and gives employment to many people, it
is only one of the many smaller enterprises that
owe an existence to his inventive ability and
commercial activity.
So it also is in regard to the mimeograph,
whose forerunner, the electric pen, was born of
Edison's brain in 1877. He had been long
impressed by the desirability of the rapid
production of copies of written documents, and,
as we have seen by a previous chapter, he
invented the electric pen for this purpose, only
to improve upon it later with a more desirable
device which he called the mimeograph, that is
in use, in various forms, at this time.
Although the electric pen had a large sale and
use in its time, the statistics relating to it
are not available. The mimeo- graph,
however, is, and has been for many years, a
standard office appliance, and is entitled to
consideration, as the total number put into use
up to this time is approximately 180,000,
valued at $3,500,000, while the annual
output is in the neighborhood of 9000
machines, sold for about $150,000,
besides the vast quantity of special paper and
supplies which its use entails in the production
of the many millions of facsimile letters and
documents. The extent of production and sale of
supplies for the mimeograph may be appreciated
when it is stated that they bring annually an
equivalent of three times the amount realized
from sales of machines. The manufacture and
sale of the mimeograph does not come within the
enterprises conducted under Edison's personal
direction, as he sold out the whole thing some
years ago to Mr. A. B. Dick, of
Chicago.
In making a somewhat radical change of subject,
from duplicating machines to cement, we find
ourselves in a field in which Edison has made a
most decided impression. The reader has already
learned that his entry into this field was, in a
manner, accidental, although logically in line
with pronounced convictions of many years'
standing, and following up the fund of knowledge
gained in the magnetic ore-milling business.
From being a new-comer in the cement business,
his corporation in five years has grown to be the
fifth largest producer in the United States,
with a still increasing capacity. From the
inception of this business there has been a
steady and rapid development, resulting in the
production of a grand total of over
7,300,000 barrels of cement up to the
present date, having a value of about
$6,000,000, exclusive of package. At
the time of this writing, the rate of production
is over 8000 barrels of cement per day, or,
say, 2,500,000 barrels per year,
having an approximate selling value of a little
less than $2,000,000, with prospects
of increasing in the near future to a daily
output of 10,000 barrels. This enterprise
is carried on by a corporation called the Edison
Portland Cement Company, in which he is very
largely interested, and of which he is the
active head and guiding spirit.
Had not Edison suspended the manufacture and
sale of his storage battery a few years ago
because he was not satisfied with it, there
might have been given here some noteworthy
figures of an extensive business, for the
company's books show an astonishing number of
orders that were received during the time of the
shut-down. He was implored for batteries, but
in spite of the fact that good results had been
obtained from the 18,000 or 20,000
cells sold some years ago, he adhered firmly to
his determination to perfect them to a still
higher standard before resuming and continuing
their manufacture as a regular commodity. As we
have noted in a previous chapter, however,
deliveries of the perfected type were begun in
the summer of 1909, and since that time the
business has continued to grow in the measure
indicated by the earlier experience.
Thus far we have concerned ourselves chiefly
with those figures which exhibit the extent of
investment and production, but there is another
and humanly important side that presents itself
for consideration namely, the employment of a
vast industrial army of men and women, who earn
a living through their connection with some of
the arts and industries to which our narrative
has direct reference. To this the reader's
attention will now be drawn.
The following figures are based upon the
Special Reports of the Census Bureau,
1902 and 1907, with additions computed
upon the increase that has subsequently taken
place. In the totals following is included the
compensation paid to salaried officials and
clerks. Details relating to telegraph systems
are omitted.
Taking the electric light into consideration
first, we find that in the central stations of
the United States there are not less than an
average of 50,000 persons employed,
requiring an aggregate yearly pay- roll of over
$40,000,000. This does not include
the 100,000 or more isolated
electric-light plants scattered throughout the
land. Many of these are quite large, and at
least one-third of them require one additional
helper, thus adding, say, 33,000
employees to the number already mentioned. If
we assume as low a wage as $10 per week for
each of these helpers, we must add to the
foregoing an additional sum of over
$17,000,000 paid annually for wages,
almost entirely in the isolated incandescent
electric lighting field.
Central stations and isolated plants consume
over 100,000,000 incandescent electric
lamps annually, and in the production of these
there are engaged about forty factories, on
whose pay-rolls appear an average of
14,000 employees, earning an aggregate
yearly sum of $8,000,000.
Following the incandescent lamp we must not
forget an industry exclusively arising from it
and absolutely dependent upon it--namely, that
of making fixtures for such lamps, the
manufacture of which gives employment to upward
of 6000 persons, who annually receive at
least $3,750,000 in compensation.
The detail devices of the incandescent electric
lighting system also contribute a large quota to
the country's wealth in the millions of dollars
paid out in salaries and wages to many thousands
of persons who are engaged in their manufacture.
The electric railways of our country show even
larger figures than the lighting stations and
plants, as they employ on the average over
250,000 persons, whose annual
compensation amounts to not less than
$155,000,000.
In the manufacture of about
$50,000,000 worth of dynamos and
motors annually, for central-station
equipment, isolated plants, electric railways,
and other purposes, the manufacturers of the
country employ an average of not less than
30,000 people, whose yearly pay-roll
amounts to no less a sum than
$20,000,000,
The growth of the telephone systems of the
United States also furnishes us with statistics
of an analogous nature, for we find that the
average number of employees engaged in this
industry is at least 140,000,
whose annual earnings aggregate a minimum of
$75,000,000; besides which the
manufacturers of telephone apparatus employ over
12,000 persons, to whom is paid annually
about $5,500,000.
No attempt is made to include figures of
collateral industries, such, for instance, as
copper, which is very closely allied with the
electrical arts, and the great bulk of which is
refined electrically.
The 8000 or so motion-picture theatres of
the country employ no fewer than 40,000
people, whose aggregate annual income amounts to
not less than $37,000,000.
Coming now to the Orange Valley plant, we
take a drop from these figures to the
comparatively modest ones which give us an
average of 3600 employees and calling for an
annual pay-roll of about $2,250,000.
It must be remembered, however, that the sums
mentioned above represent industries operated by
great aggregations of capital, while the Orange
Valley plant, as well as the Edison Portland
Cement Company, with an average daily number
of 530 employees and over $400,000
annual pay-roll, represent in a large measure
industries that are more in the nature of closely
held enterprises and practically under the
direction of one mind.
The table herewith given summarizes the figures
that have just been presented, and affords an
idea of the totals affected by the genius of this
one man. It is well known that many other men
and many other inventions have been needed for
the perfection of these arts; but it is equally
true that, as already noted, some of these
industries are directly the creation of Edison,
while in every one of the rest his impress has
been deep and significant. Before he began
inventing, only two of them were known at all as
arts--telegraphy and the manufacture of
cement. Moreover, these figures deal only with
the United States, and take no account of the
development of many of the Edison inventions in
Europe or of their adoption throughout the world
at large. Let it suffice
STATISTICAL RESUME
(APPROXIMATE) OF SOME OF
THE INDUSTRIES IN THE
UNITED STATES DIRECTLY
FOUNDED UPON OR AFFECTED
BY INVENTIONS OF THOMAS A.
EDISON
Annual Gross Rev- Number Annual Class of
Industry Investment enue or of Em-
Pay-Rolls sales Central station lighting and
power $1,000,000,000
$125,000,000 50,000
$40,000,000 Isolated incandescent
lighting 500,000,000 -- 33,000
17,000 000 Incandescent lamps
25,000,000 20,000,000
14,000 8,000 000 Electric fixtures
8,000,000 5,000,000 6,000
3,750,000 Dynamos and motors
60,000,000 50,000,000
30,000 20,000,000 Electric
railways 4,000,000,000
430,000,000 250,000
155,000,000 Telephone systems
800,000,000 175,000,000
140,000 75,000,000 Telephone
apparatus 30,000,000
15,000,000 12,000
5,500,000 Phonograph and motion
pictures 10,000,000
15,000,000 5,000
6,000,000 Motion picture theatres
40,000,000 80,000,000
40,000 37,000,000 Edison
Portland cement 4,000,000
2,000,000 530 400,000
Telegraphy 250,000,000
60,000,000 100,000
30,000,000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals 6,727,000,000
1,077,000,000 680,530
397,650,000
that in America alone the work of Edison has
been one of the most potent factors in bringing
into existence new industries now capitalized at
nearly $ 7,000,000,000, earning
annually over $1,000,000,000, and
giving employment to an army of more than six
hundred thousand people.
A single diamond, prismatically flashing from
its many facets the beauties of reflected light,
comes well within the limits of comprehension of
the human mind and appeals to appreciation by the
finer sensibilities; but in viewing an
exhibition of thousands of these beautiful gems,
the eye and brain are simply bewildered with the
richness of a display which tends to confuse the
intellect until the function of analysis comes
into play and leads to more adequate
apprehension.
So, in presenting the mass of statistics
contained in this chapter, we fear that the
result may have been the bewilderment of the
reader to some extent. Nevertheless, in
writing a biography of Edison, the main object
is to present the facts as they are, and leave
it to the intelligent reader to classify,
apply, and analyze them in such manner as
appeals most forcibly to his intellectual
processes. If in the foregoing pages there has
appeared to be a tendency to attribute to Edison
the entire credit for the growth to which many of
the above-named great enterprises have in these
latter days attained, we must especially
disclaim any intention of giving rise to such a
deduction. No one who has carefully followed
the course of this narrative can deny, however,
that Edison is the father of some of the arts
and industries that have been mentioned, and
that as to some of the others it was the magic of
his touch that helped make them practicable.
Not only to his work and ingenuity is due the
present magnitude of these arts and industries,
but it is attributable also to the splendid work
and numerous contributions of other great
inventors, such as Brush, Bell, Elihu
Thomson, Weston, Sprague, and many others,
as well as to the financiers and investors who in
the past thirty years have furnished the vast
sums of money that were necessary to exploit and
push forward these enterprises.
The reader may have noticed in a perusal of this
chapter the lack of autobiographical quotations,
such as have appeared in other parts of this
narrative. Edison's modesty has allowed us but
one remark on the subject. This was made by him
to one of the writers a short time ago, when,
after an interesting indulgence in reminiscences
of old times and early inventions, he leaned
back in his chair, and with a broad smile on his
face, said, reflectively: "Say, I HAVE
been mixed up in a whole lot of things, haven't
I?"
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