[LM240488], Memorandum, Thomas Alva Edison, March 1900
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/LM240488
Transcription
I notice in letter from Pilling that Penna. Steel Co. says our construction is too light, use words "theoretical" etc. Now this may shake the confidence of our people in what we are doing. I want to say that it does us a very great injustice, we are calculating everything to produce our buildings as cheap as possible and still be safe. We have submitted our plans to Burr, who the Penna. Steel people said was the best authority and he pronounces them all right for the purpose we use them for. We have also compared them with similar structures put up by the Berlin Bridge Co. and Ritter & Conley, and find that we are fully as strong as they, and in some instances stronger. How comes it that a concern is Connecticut buy their steel from the Steel Co. put up buildings in competition, if it is not due to the fact that they do not put a pound of steel in that is unnecessary. A steel Company is debauched by a wealth of material which does not breed economy.