The "best lab ever" was now
a shadow its former stature the leading research
institution the United States. Yet terms of
quality and quantity staff, Edison's laboratory could not
compare with the front rank and AT&T industrial research. Western Electric's Research Branch had 234
employees 1921, many whom were Phds and professional
engineers. the early 1920s the West Orange laboratory
employed around 200 men, yet only about them were
.
Despite the decline the work force during the purges
of the 1920s, the West Orange lab was still major important
research facility.
. 1926 had dropped below
$150,000— one tenth GE's costs.XIII-27
of the amusement phonograph, but the work force the West
Orange laboratory 1920s was relatively untrained and
underqualified when compared with other industrial research
laboratories. Eastman Kodak, for example,
increased the staff its laboratory from 1913 in
1920. There were several laboratories that had
smaller staffs and budgets.
During the 1920s, research expenditures and AT&T rose
steadily. 54
formally trained. the other hand, the expenses Edison's
laboratory decreased. Its work force and expenditure that year, $338,680
55
were much less than the Edison laboratory. GE's laboratory Schenectady, for example, had
a staff around 300 1920, including about scientists
and engineers
