t was wrong, in
the hard, practical details of their development. Edison tells this
illuminating story: "When I was laying tubes in the streets of New York,
the office received notice from the Commissioner of Public Works to
appear at his office at a certain hour. I went up there with a gentleman
to see the Commissioner, H. O. Thompson. On arrival he said to me: 'You
are putting down these tubes. The Department of Public Works requires
that you should have five inspectors to look after this work, and that
their salary shall be $5 per day, payable at the end of each week.
Good-morning.' I went out very much crestfallen, thinking I would be
delayed and harassed in the work which I was anxious to finish, and
was doing night and day. We watched patiently for those inspectors to
appear. The only appearance they made was to draw their pay Saturday
afternoon."

Just before Christmas in 1880--December 17--as an item for the silk
stocking of Father Knickerbocker--the Edison Electric Illuminating
Company of New York was organized. In pursuance of the policy adhered
to by Edison, a license was issued to it for the exclusive use of
the system in that territory--Manhattan Island--in consideration of a
certain sum of money and a fixed percentage of its capital in stock for
the patent rights. Early in 1881 it was altogether a paper enterprise,
but events moved swiftly as narrated already, and on June 25, 1881,
the first "Jumbo" prototype of the dynamo-electric machines to generate
current at the Pearl Street station was put through its paces before
being shipped to Paris to furnish new sensations to the flaneur of the
boulevards. A number of the Edison officers and employees assembled at
Goerck Street to see this "gigantic" machine go into action, and watched
its performance with due reverence all through the night until five
o'clock on Sunday morning, when it respected the conventionalities by
breaking a shaft and suspending further tests. After this dynamo was
shipped to France, and its successors to England for the Holborn Viaduct
plant, Edison made still further improvements in design, increasing
capacity and economy, and then proceeded vigorously with six machines
for Pearl Street.

An ideal location for any central station is at the very centre of the
district served. It may be questioned whether it often goes there. In
the New York first district the nearest property available was a double
building at Nos. 255 and 257 Pearl S