Annual report of the Board of Directors to the stockholders at their annual meeting ...

([New York] :  The Edision Electric Illuminating Co. of New York  )

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  1898: Page 50  



50

his direction, have been ably seconded in interior construction
since 1898 by Mr.John Sparrow, Superintendent of Construction,
who is in charge of repair and installation work within the sta¬
tions.

These officers and heads of departments, with Mr. Edw. A.
Leslie, as General Manager of the affiliated high-tension com¬
panies, constitute the Staff Council, which meets each Friday,
at luncheon, for the discussion of the Company's business, and
which has proved one of the most valuable features of the
Company's administration. At these meetings every feature of
the Company's relations, whether in planning a new station, in
developing new electrical equipment, in handling relations with
customers, in considering reductions of rates, in scrutinizing
costs, in settling minor salaries or general wages, or in other
fields, receives careful attention from men of different types and
habits of mind, so that when a decision is reached it has had the
benefit of general discussion and approval. The best illustration
of the flexibility of the Company's system is in the fact that its
organization permitted the simultaneous absence in Europe last
year, on the Engineering Commission, of the General Manager,
the Constructing Engineer and the General Inspector, without
detriment to the Company's interests, although during the sum¬
mer it was constructing two new annex buildings, providing for
large and varied additional equipment of stations and increasing
its business with great rapidity. This was made possible es¬
pecially by the foresight of Mr. Lieb and Mr. Van Vleck, in de¬
veloping the engineering plans in great detail, by the ready co¬
operation of the several members of the Staff in sharing other
portions of the work, and by the admirable organization, within
the Inspection Department, under which Mr. Pope took the
place of Mr, Arthur Williams as head of the Department and in
Staff Council.

High-Tension Company.

In 1891, the Company purchased a controlling interest in
the Manhattan and Harlem high-tension companies, the lines of
which, partly overhead, reached as far north as 125th Street and
complemented the Edison system on the East side of Central
  1898: Page 50