[D8627Y], Letter from Charles Batchelor to Samuel Insull, July 1st, 1886
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Title
[D8627Y], Letter from Charles Batchelor to Samuel Insull, July 1st, 1886
Editor's Notes
I wired you today as follows: [Quoting wire] ##"Am sorry you have made concession, but will stick by it as we do not make same thing as Callender. Want you to make this final proposition. We will take the whole feeders at price you have given, but if only part, then we must have full cost price quoted in the estimate. If they don't immediately take it, we will withdraw entirely the bid, as we don't want it al all at that price. We cannot take stock in payment as we are making a dead loss on the job. If there was any profit, would consider it guarantee mailed." [End of quoting wire] ##We certainly ought not however to do business on a losing basis. We were informed by Johnson that nothing would do but an armoured cable and Johnson strongly upholds an armoured cable. I think it is ridiculous for us to be bidding against Callender who has nothing but an unarmoured cable and who can always go 8,000 or 10,000 dollars less than we can on account of difference of material. If we do not get this job, the Detroit Co. and the Light co. generally will get a chance to test the Callendar cable, which as regards the Detroit Co. they seem to want to do and probably Callender will guarantee it for anything. If we should get this contract as against the Callender Co., we have simply set off the Callender people at an expense of 7,000 or 8,000 dollars to ourselves and they are ready to cut us down in the next station that we may enter as competitors. I therefore wired you that I did not care about going any further in the matter and if they were going to give the feeders to Callender and you got a good chance to let them do it, for God's sake do not try to get the job anymore. ##Since sending you this telegram, I have received your letter of the 30th, but I do not see any reason to alter our plans at all. We are not making what Callender makes and to do work at a dead loss to ourselves is not what we should begin to do now. We could make a similar cable to Callender's and at just as low a price as he can, but we do not want to offer anything we cannot guarantee. ##I send you with this letter a copy of our agreement with the Metropolitan Telephone and Telegraph Co., in order to base any guarantee which you have got to give there. Please understand that the guarantee must be qualified if we have to deal with both the Callender cable and our own.
Author
Recipient
Date
1886-07-01
Type
Folder/Volume ID
D8627-F
Microfilm ID
79:547
Document ID
D8627Y
Publisher
Thomas A. Edison Papers, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University