[D8736AEH], Letter from Samuel Insull to Edison Lamp Co, Alfred Ord Tate, October 5th, 1887
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/D8736AEH
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Title
[D8736AEH], Letter from Samuel Insull to Edison Lamp Co, Alfred Ord Tate, October 5th, 1887
Editor's Notes
"CONFIDENTIAL. ## I happened to be in the Edison Light Co's. office the other day, and heard Williams & Potter enquire what special discount they could get on municipal dynamos for Japan. We turned our Japanese business over the your Company and gave a special discount from our regular price list, on the understanding that the discount should be kept confidential. You then turned this business over to Williams & Potter, and of course, we presumed in doing so, you had warned them that the discount in question was entirely confidential. You can imagine the writer's surprise when he heard Williams & Potter enquire of the Edison Light Co., what was the special discount on municipal dynamos for Japan. I should have thought W.&P. had been conducting this business long enough to know that the Edison Light Co. has nothing to do with this matter, and you can well understand how seriously it would affect our relations with the Light Co. were they aware of the fact that we were giving better prices in Japan than in the United States. Of course the reason for doing this is that otherwise we could nto get the Japanese business at all, and in increasing our market, it enables us to produce our machines at lower prices generally. I simply cut Williams & Potter off short, be referring them to you. If these gentlemen cannot be impressed with the fact that they must exercise some discretion in such matters, we shall have to ask that the business be either conducted by yourselves, or else return to us."
Author
Recipient
Mentioned
Date
1887-10-05
Type
Folder/Volume ID
D8736-F
Microfilm ID
119:1158
Document ID
D8736AEH
Publisher
Thomas A. Edison Papers, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University