Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-02-20
EDISON ''DONE FOR"
He Was Not Practical Enough
 for Wall Street.
HIS COMPANY GOES TO RIVALS
The AmalgamatiOn Turns it Owe to tn
 Thomson Houston.

only a Tithe of the the ''VVizard OS MenIO Parks" Stock Remains to Him-Henry Willard Engineered tho DeaI-Ths Scheme Was Carried Out Before MT. Edison Realized What Was Being Done He Relied on Friends and Business AssOciates-The Former Were Specu- latOrs, 1t Seems, and the Latter Were Largely Incompetent.
 NEW YORK, Feb. 20.-Thomas A. Edi- son, the "Wizard," the king of practical electricians, has been "done." The hands of Wall street manipulators are seen everywhere in the act of his un- doing.
 The calm, clear headed, big hearted in vsntor relied on friends and business associates. The former were spectators; the latter have largely proved incompe- tent.
 The result of the intellectual giant s dependence will be the amalgamation of the Edison General Electric and the Thomson-Houston companies The re- organization plan was practically agreed on several days ago.
 Henry Willard arranged it. Drexel, Morgan & Co.,, the bankers, who have succeeded in obtaining control of the majority of the stock of the Edison Gen eral Electric company. were and are the powers behind the throne,
 The coalition as arranged wipes out the Edison influence and transfers the good will of business capitalized at $15, GOO, 900 to the Thomson-Houston company. The brainiest inventor of the age is asked to play 'second hddle'' to Elihu Thom- son, the practical man of the absorbing company.
 The scheme was planned by Mir. Willard and carried out before MT. Edison real ized what was being done. He imagined that the immense financial interests he had brought into the General company were being properly taken care of by tn c men he trusted. He never expected to be in a position where he would have to submit to the dictation of Wall street manipulators.
 When the details of the amslgamation plan were presented to him he drowned. It did not take him long to realize that he was in sad minority, and that those who were engineering the scheme were in virtual control of business that he had spent fifteen years in building up. He was practically driven out of the General Company. Here is the way the situation presented itself to him:
 'When the General Edison Electric Company was formed in the latter part of 1SS9, the Edison Electric Light Com pany, the Bergman Company on Avenue 5, the Edison Machine Works at Schen- ectady, N. Y., the Edison Lamp Com pany at Harrison, N. J., and the Sprague Electric Railway & Motor Company were the elements of organization. I owned d controlling interest in the Light Com pany and the majority of the stock in Rergmann Company, the Edison Machine Works and the Edison Lamp Company
 'I don't know what fhuss interests were worth, but I do know that the companies that now represent $15, 900, ,00C in capital under the title of the General Electric Company were practically con trolled by me. Now there is not, under the old separate organizations, even 8 suspicicion of controlling power in my name.''
 Mr. Edison's friends declare that he has been taken in by Wall street 'pro moters."