“ Mr. Edison, in turn, assured those in this laboratory that he heard perfectly. Mr. Edison then said:
⁠"It may seem strange to those who know of my work on the telephone carbon transmitter that this is the first time I have ever carried on a conversation over the telephone. Trying to talk 3,400 miles on my first attempt at a telephone conversation seems to be a pretty big undertaking, but the engineers of the Bell System have made it easier to talk 3,400 miles than it used to be to talk thirty-four miles. ”

“ Mr. and Mrs. Tebbetts, also of Mobile; the Rev. Dr. Stephen Joseph Herben, pastor of the Orange Methodist Church supported by the Edisons; Gerrard S. Swope, Vice President of the Western Electric Company ”