The reduction the laboratory labor force the 1920s was dramatic. deteriorated: "Merrily swings the ax" noted
Charles Edison.76
34
.situation Thomas Edison, Inc.75
There was total men work September 1923 and this number had
dropped July 1925.-Organization); see also
John Venable, Out ofthe Shadow: The Story Charles Edison^ (East Orange, NJ: Charles Edison Fund,
1978), 80.74
14 Charles Edison TAE, July 12, 1926 (in 1926, Thomas Edison, Inc. June 1929, just men were the
laboratory payroll and throughout 1930 there were only seven.
76 Employee Records, Edison Laboratory Time Sheets, Boxes 118-122. dropped even further February 1926 and
there were only left June 1927. The time cards
still ran from 1-181, revealing how the work force had shrunk. 1920
the laboratory employed just over 100 machinists and laborers, men involved in
research, men working phonograph engineering and office staff ten.
75 John Constable Charles Edison, October 1920 (in Engineering Department Records, Box 11,
Charles Edison folder)
