y actual comparison of lamp-hours. One day, on making out a
customer's bill, his confidence received a severe shock, for the meter
reading showed a consumption calling for a charge of over $200,
whereas he knew that the light actually used should not cost more than
one-quarter of that amount. He weighed and reweighed the meter plates,
and pursued every line of investigation imaginable, but all in vain. He
felt he was up against it, and that perhaps another kind of a job would
suit him better. Once again he went to the customer's meter to look
around, when a small piece of thick wire on the floor caught his eye.
The problem was solved. He suddenly remembered that after weighing
the plates he went and put them in the customer's meter; but the wire
attached to one of the plates was too long to go in the meter, and he
had cut it off. He picked up the piece of wire, took it to the station,
weighed it carefully, and found that it accounted for about $150 worth
of electricity, which was the amount of the difference."

Edison himself is, however, the best repertory of stories when it comes
to the difficulties of that early period, in connection with metering
the current and charging for it. He may be quoted at length as follows:
"When we started the station at Pearl Street, in September, 1882, we
were not very commercial. We put many customers on, but did not make out
many bills. We were more interested in the technical condition of the
station than in the commercial part. We had meters in which there were
two bottles of liquid. To prevent these electrolytes from freezing we
had in each meter a strip of metal. When it got very cold the metal
would contract and close a circuit, and throw a lamp into circuit
inside the meter. The heat from this lamp would prevent the liquid from
freezing, so that the meter could go on doing its duty. The first cold
day after starting the station, people began to come in from their
offices, especially down in Front Street and Water Street, saying the
meter was on fire. We received numerous telephone messages about it.
Some had poured water on it, and others said: 'Send a man right up to
put it out.'

"After the station had been running several months and was technically
a success, we began to look after the financial part. We started to
collect some bills; but we found that our books were kept badly, and
that the person in charge, who was no business man, had neglected that
part of it. In fact, h