Evening journal., 1910-01-28
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
THE First Attempts at
Bookkeeping Of Thomas
A. Edison"
BY "HoIIand.v
BY "HolIand.'
Thomaa A. Edlson now Know tAe

Thomas A. Edison now knows the
value of money, the independence and
the sense Of power which it gives.
But there was a time In his early ex-
perieuce when he had no other con-
ception of money than that it was
good thing to have in the pocket, so
that It could be taken out and spent
whenever any Of II was needed.
Soon after Edison had perfected his
incandescent light, he found himself
in the possession of capital for the
first time in his life. That light,
within ten years after it was perfect
ed, brought him a capital of some
SO, 100000. When he told me this
asked him II he handled his accounts
and looked after his money with the
same systematic method which char
acterized his pursuit Of science. He
smiled for a moment, as though some
amusing recollection had come to
him.
Well" he said, 'I know now how
20 secure competent assistants who
will look carefully and accurately
after the business end OF my under
talkings. But there was time when
was as green about such things as
a boy who hoes corn upon prairies
would be- That was when had re-
ceived several thousand dollars IN
part payment for my microphone
transmitter patent, which. as you
know. aided vitality the perfecting OF
the telephone. ~n 4. 1t
This was the first. big money so
to speak, that had ever possessed
and with II decided to establish my
own plant and laboratory and begin
work upon the other things ! had in
mind. So secured a place in Jersey
City. equipped Il and started to work
"I was pretty much the whole
thing about the plant. I figured out
that the best way for me to keep my
accounts was the SIMPLEST so I had
two spikes made, each about the
thickness of an ordinary telegraph
wire, sharp at one end and stuck at
the other end into leaden support
or base. Upon one Of these lead
bases pasted a strip of paper upon
which / had linked these words:
What is owned me- Upon the other
/ pasted another slip Of paper, upon
which had written the words; What
I owe. One stood at one side of my
desk. and the other at the opposite
/ corner. What was owed me was al
my right hand, because that was oi
more consequence.
$50, when had done and sold q
piece of work, stuck a memorandum
upon the spike TO tell what was com
ing to me. When / got any bills
against myself, stuck those upon the
other spike. thought that at the
end of month, or certainly at ths
end Of year, these memoranda would
match one another. and what was lef
would hll my pockets Sometimes
while I was filling these spikes, I go
short Of actual money, and the banl
would cash my note. had learned
as much as that. Then never psit
any more attention to It, till one da,
I would receive a notice saying tha
NY note had gone to protest.
thought that was the way the banl
had Of telling me that IL was due, 81
I would shin around and get thu
money to pay the note. The banl
never made any objection. ! guesl
they understood me.
"At the end of the first year m.
methods of keeping accounts showed
me that had made quite good bi
Of money. There wasn't any mistak
ing the accounts. There was the rec
ord. had made the money--nI
doubt Of that. And then II occurred
10 me: Where is that money?
haven't got II; the bank hasn't got II
and yet / have surely had it. puz
zled over the problem for time. thel
I became satisfied with the though
that had had the money, and let
go at that. But afterwards, when
had moved to Menlo Park, saw tha
that way OF keeping account
wouldn't do. So hired a bookkeepe
and cashier, and since then hav
never bothered myself about that EN-
of my affairs" .,...
CCopyrisht, 1909. by f. J.. Ed---rdS)