The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1917)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD 119 EDISON FORCES TO RAISE $300,000 FOR LIBERTY LOAN Starting of Campaign to Secure Subscriptions to War Loan Marked by Big Patriotic Parade, and Unveiling of Liberty Torch — Edison Tells Employes What It Is Worth to Be an American WATCH US GET 2 '300,000 DOLLARS 1! EDISON 5 LIBERTY LOAN 3 CLUB Unusual attention has been drawn to the Liberty Loan Campaign now closing in Orange, N. J., to raise $300,000 through the workmen and clerks of the Thomas A. Edison Affiliated Interests, in which the lighting of a liberty torch on top of the Edison plant was a feature. William G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury, who gave the signal that was flashed to light the liberty torch, atop one of the Edison buildings, on June 1, recognized Mr. Edison's great work in a telegram sent the day following the opening of the campaign, which read: "The President has sent me your telegram announcing that two hundred of your clerks and workmen organized by a German-American subscribed $30,000 to the Liberty Loan and pledged themselves to raise a total of $300,000 among their fellow workmen in the Edison laboratories. Will you not be good enough to express to your clerks and workmen my deep appreciation of this genuine service of patriotism they are rendering to their country. Please accept for yourself my warm thanks for your June 1 was marked by a large assemblage of the workmen, who, with heads uncovered, watched the unveiling at a signal given by Charles Edison, son of the inventor. A parade preceded the ceremonies in which more than 5,000 men and girls were in line, headed by the Edison Employes' Band of forty-two pieces. That night at a signal given by Secretary of Treasury McAdoo the huge torch was lighted announcing that $120,000 already had been raised. The opening of the campaign a week previous will go down in West Orange as one of the most intensely interesting public affairs in northern New Jersey. Assembled on the fifth floor of the Storage Battery Building were the two hundred or more men chosen as captains to put over the Edison Liberty Loan subscription in record time. Seated at a long plain pine table were Thomas A. Edison, Charles Edison, William Maxwell, Nelson C. Durand and other officials of the Edison Affiliated Interests. Little formality was observed in opening the campaign. The Edison Band played a number of patriotic tunes. Mr. Edison then spoke: "How much is it worth to you to be an American citizen? How much are you willing to pay for the privilege of living under the Stars and Stripes?" he asked. "The fathers of some of you fought to save the Union; the great way possible. I am already doing what I can in a certain direction. It is not something I can talk about, but I am trying to do my 'bit' for Uncle Sam." William Maxwell, the vice-president of Thomas A. Edison, Inc., and manager of the musical phonograph division, in replying referred to the splendid example Mr. Edison is setting to the youth of the land: "I notice," said Mr. Maxwell, impressively, "that Mr. Edison says he' is trying to do his 'bit,' but that is something he can't talk about. However, I am going to say a few words about it. Last February Mr. Edison's physician, family and associates persuaded him to take a much needed rest in Florida. The railway and Pullman tickets had been bought and paid for. I was talking with Mr. Edison a few days before the date set for his departure. He was very tired and admitted that he needed a rest. It was the first time I had ever heard him make such an admission. He was looking forward to his vacation with obvious enthusiasm. The very next day word came from Washington that a crisis was impending. In spite of the protests of his friends, Mr. Edison resolutely said, 'The Florida trip is off; I can't go.' Since then he has been working literally night and day for the government. He is sparing no expense. "Mr. Edison is seventy years old. This morning he worked until 4 o'clock and was on the job again at 9. Week after week he has been working eighteen hours a day for his country. Liberty Loan Parade at Edison patriotic co-operation in this great piece of national and international financing, the success of which is vital to our country. I should be most happy to have the workmen in the factories everywhere make active campaigns among themselves for subscriptions to the Liberty Loan Bonds. I shall immediately consider what practical means may be employed to carry out the suggestion." A human touch which no other personality could give was given to the campaign when Edison entered it. It was not the amount raised, it was the way Edison intended raising it that appealed to the big men behind Mr. McAdoo. Here was a man in his seventieth year, fired with the enthusiasm of youth mellowed by age, whose patriotism was shown in long hours of work each day devoted to the service of his country. The $300,000 subscription was not coming from Edison, who gave his workmen an opportunity to subscribe, but was coming direct from the men who worked in the shops and who voluntarily assumed as many $50 bonds as they could pay for in weekly payments. The unveiling of the Liberty Loan torch on Plant Vice-President Maxwell Leading the Cheering Special Sale on Main Springs 10" x |n x 0.22, per 100, ;$2S.OO 8£" x !n x 0.21, " " 18.00 The very best the American Steel and Wire Co. can turn out. FAVORITE TALKING MACHINE ACCESSORY CO. 438 Broadway New'York grandfathers of a few of you fought to make this a free nation. Some of you came to America in order that your children and your children's children might have a fair chance in the battle of life. They are saying in Germany that the hearts of the American people are not in this war. Traitors to this country are secretly working to that end. Most of you here to-night are ineligible to military service, but it is within your power to help refute the slander that has been put on American patriotism. I do not believe that we have become a decadent race in the last fifty years. I believe we are ready to make every sacrifice we are called upon to make. "More than five hundred thousand of our young men will soon be risking their lives beneath the Stars and Stripes on the battlefields of Europe. They will offer the greatest sacrifice which a man can offer to his country. What sacrifice are you willing to make? Will you pay what it is worth to you to be an American citizen? The first volley fired by the United States in this war will be a volley of silver bullets. Will you help mould these bullets? Your country asks but one thing of you now. She offers you the best security in the world and asks you to lend her what you can afford. If you can afford only a dollar a week, your country will still be grateful to you. "You have met here to-night virtually to arrange a loan to your government. Meetings of this sort have a deeper significance than similar meetings of bankers. The fact that you have gathered here to-night to devise ways and means of raising money for the government among your fellow employes shows that your hearts are in the war and that you will at all times be ready to do your duty, no matter what that duty may be. I will co-operate with you in every "Mr. Edison will join the rest of us in subscribing to the Liberty Loan. He has spent and will continue to spend large sums of money in the research work he is doing for the government. He will pay a large amount in taxes to the government. I might say at this point that whereas many other manufacturers have sent representatives to Washington to oppose various forms of war-time taxation which they believe to be unjust, and which probably were unjust, Mr. Edison has refused to permit any of his industries to offer one word of protest to any form of taxation which the government has proposed. That is what Mr. Edison has done and will do in a financial way; but all of that fades into relative insignificance when you think of his nightly vigils day after day, week after week and month after month, in which he taxes his brain and body to the very limit of his endurance in the service of his country. That's what Mr.. Edison thinks it is worth to be an American." Evidently the Edison people have the right spirit — the spirit of achievement, that never fails to win out. M. C. PERKINS BECOMES MANAGER M. C. Perkins, connected with the sales division of the Columbia Graphophone Co. for a number of years, has been appointed manager of the company's wholesale division at Springfield, Mass. Mr. Perkins is thoroughly familiar with the requirements of Columbia dealers, and his past experience will enable him to render valuable co-operation to the retailers in his territory. For the past few years he has been chief clerk at the Columbia wholesale establishment at 83 Chambers street, New York, where he was very popular.