(See Sidebar EDISON'S FINANCES AND THE
ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY. Edison
was riding the crest the wave the electrical industry and
he was driven forward his vision electrically run
world the future.V-15
In the 1870s, Edison's abuse bookkeeping formalities
enraged his suppliers and frustrated his customers; the
1880s alienated his old comrades who were now running the
electrical companies." Insull knew that the ruinously
expensive phonograph venture was eroding Edison's credit
standing and making harder for all the Edison companies to
borrow money. He
complained Edison that "we are constantly being asked pay
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bills the laboratory. The companies bearing Edison's name were
irreversibly identified with him and his financial dealings
were giving all them bad name.) These managers, who had once been
colleagues Edison, were now responsible for large operations
and had exercise the financial restraint that was alien to
"the old man. often
pushed experimental campaign forward regardless cost when
more cautious minds found the expense hard justify. Insull found out that
the lab was charging its supplies the Machine Works.
On the other hand, Edison wanted free from business
worries order concentrate his experiments." Samuel Insull had once been the man who had
devised stratagems raise cash for Edison, but 1888 he
found himself managing the Edison Machine Works and constantly
frustrated Edison's financial ploys. was brave mood and
