[LB057111], Letter from Thomas Alva Edison to Frederick Perry Fish, February 27th, 1893
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/LB057111
Transcription
February 27, 1893. F. P. Fish, [Esq]. [40 Water St.] Boston, Mass. My Dear Mr. Fish: I have received your letter [illegible] in regard to the Chicago Exposition and observe that [you] are not familiar with the circumstances which rendered it imperative for me to abandon the [hope?] of making a personal exhibit. Several months ago I commenced to re-design my Concentrating plant at Ogden, N.J., where myself and my friends have [made a] very large investment, and I have prosecuted this work night and day ever since. The experiments yet to be made must all be conducted at the mill and my presence there is a necessary consequence. The interests dependant upon these results are of such magnitude that the postponement of any portion of the work is a proposition which I cannot for a moment consider, and under these conditions, and in view of the limit of time between the present and the date of the opening of the Fair, it is an absolute impossibility for me to give the matter of a personal exhibit the attention that would be required to bring it up to the standard which has elsewhere been established. This matter does not, as might be supposed, involve merely the collection of apparatus which has done duty [in the past,] but embraces a number of special exhibits that [exist to-day] chiefly on paper, or in such incomplete form that [a] great amount of work would be entailed [in] preparing them [for] the proposed purpose. These could only [be] brought out under my direct personal supervision, which for the reasons given I am unable to [accommodate]. I am quite sure that none of my friends would advise me to [make] an exhibit upon the narrow lines that [illegible] are open for addition now; and that the requirements of the situation can best be met by following a course that will permit the General Electric Company to utilize all their space for the production of a commercial exhibit which will, I am convinced, reflect the highest credit upon the enterprise and upon all [those] connected therewith. Yours very truly,