[E1735-F] (E-17-35) Edison Portland Cement Co
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Description
This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the business of the Edison Portland Cement Co. (EPCCo). Among the correspondents are EPCCo president and longtime Edison associate Walter S. Mallory; Harold M. Scott, assistant to the president; William E. Horne, secretary; and Harry F. Miller, treasurer. The selected items, which indicate Edison's limited management role in the company, include reports by Mallory pertaining to financial conditions, operations, business outlook, and labor issues. Also included are financial documents revealing Edison's personal stake in the company, an "interview" with Edison written by Mallory as a promotional device, and references to the resignations of longtime employees Herman E. Kiefer, William H. Mason, and Edgar S. Opdyke. A letter to Mallory from William H. Meadowcroft, Edison's personal assistant, mentions the inventor's reluctance give interviews and his concern about "leaks, the origin of which we have been unable to trace." There are also references to the war, to Edison's contacts in Washington, D.C., and to efforts to obtain a greater allocation of coal shipments. A few of the documents contain notations by Charles Edison, who handled some of the business when his father was away.
Approximately 20 percent of the documents have been selected. The unselected material includes internal business correspondence relating to payments, finances, meetings, and company by-laws; regular bulletins for salesmen and dealers pertaining to issues such as the cloth bag shortage; advertising material; and a few additional reports that Edison initialed but did not comment upon.