The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-02-05

myself, This bookkeeping business is all
humbug; don't believe in it. I'll keep
my books hereafter in my head And for
a good while after that my bookkeeping
was represented by two books which I put
up alongside my desk. One of them was
marked What l Owe:' the other was
marked What Is Owed Me- And there was
the whole story. Well, had a curious way
OF paying my bills. A fellow would come
along and want his money; hadn't any.
He would say that he would take my note
Ihat was all right; l gave it to him and
didn't think anything more about it. By
and by | would get notice from the bank
saying my note had gone to protest, and
there would be $3.50 or s. fees to pay.
Wei. that didn't bother me; thought
that was their way of notifying me that
the time had come to pay the note. So |
would go out and skirmish around to get
the money. pay the note, fees and all, and
was perfectly happy. For years / don It
suppose | ever paid note that hadn't al
ready gone to protest. But my credit was
good; everybody was willing to take my
note. Sometimes some importunate fell
low would get a little anxious and that
meant only paying the sheriff s. a day to
stand around in the factory"
Again Mr.. Edison laughed with utmos
glee as he recalled these earlier financial
experiences. When he stopped laughing,
i
at the incandescent lamp. the luxurious
home and the evidences of great wealth,
and cast my eyes toward the laboratory,
which of itself represents fortune.
Mr.. Edison understood my meaning; he
simply nodded his head and said. ''Of
course" meaning by that that man who
has created millions for himself and others
must abandon primitive methods of finan-
ciering and be controlled by business
habits
Returning to the subject Of his cam
paigns. Mr.. Edison said:
AFTER the quadrupiex telegraph idea
began my telephone campaign, and
worked very. very hard upon that" He
did not refer to the fact that unknown to
him Mr.. Bell had already acquired the
right of precedence, nor to the further
fact that by reason of the Importance of
some of his own inventions for the use of
the telephone. the Edison and Bell inter
ests were practically harmOnized. 1t was
not necessary, since that is matter of
history.
II invented the earlier monograph
about this time, and saw the possibilities
of its commercial development but did
not take up that campaign until after
wards, putting it aside to begin my incon-
descent light campaign. That was begun,
| think, in 1878, and it lasted for more
than two years. The work put into this
was as much as could possibly do day in
and day out. Some of the difficulties were
enormous. knew the thing could be
done and that electricity could be made
available for lighting purposes. but the de-
tails required for the working out as much
labor. [ suppose, as ] shall ever bestOw
upon any other campaign"
You have waited long time for the
determination of the supreme court con-
firming TO you the patent. 1t must have
q ~
only to nave to put up with protracted
litigation, but to see what the supreme
court now calls infringements of your
patents so generally used" suggested.
Just at this moment Mr.. Edison's
youngest child. little girl perhaps of 3.
running up to her father and made known
some childish wish. He put his hand
softly upon her head, not otherwise indi-
eating that he knew that she was near
him. The recollect ons Of the litigations
extending for ten years. and terminated
now when the life of the original patent
is near expiration, caused HIM to speak
with much seriousness and something
like pathos in his tone. He said:
81 saw little paragraph the other day
IN one of the newspapers suggesting that
Edison must have some mighty influence
to secure favorable judicial decisions upon
so many of his contested patents. The
1mp1catlon OF the paragraph was, OF
course, plain. Now. the fact is that in all
the litigations brought by and against me,
requiring defense of my patents, | have
never Jon. single one but this one which
affirms my right to the incandescent light
patent. / have taken out grea. many
patents and filed many applications. 1t
has cost me $500, 600 to defend my rights,
and most of that money represents dead
loss. l am, therefore, somewhat out of
favor with this patent business. l do not
find that it gives man protection. l do
not think | shall have anything more to
do with the patent Office. / shall protect
my ideas in another way. and am not
the only one who has heen subjected to
great losses, great delays and most vexa-
tious embarrassments through our patent
system. l do not find that it gives any
man any certainty of protection.
After your incandescent hight cam
pagn, as you speak of it, was ended, you
began another one ?"
"Oh, yes. l always have campaigns
planned ahead. | then took up the pho
nograph. perfected it, made it of COM
mercial availability; but that was simply
finishing a postponed campaign. My first
new work after the incandescent light was