Edison's labor force also included administrators and
clerks, notwithstanding his well publicized disdain for office
work. The other
Edison electrical companies carried the same practice,
drawing the laboratory's position source higher
education the Edison enterprise.Tate, who became
indispensable Edison business manager and personal
secretary. fact, was stickler for accurate record keeping,
and determined find the costs experimentation.
Samuel Insull had defined the position private secretary to
Edison and made him very important person the hierarchy of
the laboratory. West Orange, Edison employed secretaries who
not only carried out bookkeeping duties, but also had power of
attorney deal with financial affairs. The sheer volume the work done West Orange and
. well dealing with all company business, Tate
also handled Edison's voluminous correspondence and his family
affairs. Insull was succeeded
as secretary protege, Alfred O.^ The Edison Machine Works
kept some their men the lab work projects which
they were interested, and they paid the men's wages. The requirements patent law made
a daily record experiments neccessity and financial
backers required breakdowns experimental costs. These were
no mere academic pursuits.Ill- 7
perfected the Edison laboratory. the old
days Newark and Menlo Park, the administration the
laboratory had been carried out Edison's personal secretary
who doubled bookkeeper, chief clerk, and general assistant
