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Song o' the Day-"Philip the Jar"
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New Orleans JAZZ NHP’s Song o’ the Day:
“Philip the Jar”
Do you know what Thomas Alva Edison’s very first patented device was? On this day (June 1st) in year 1869, T.A.E. was issued copyright #90,646 for, of all things, a voting machine! At age 22, shortly after he was fired from his Western Union telegrapher job (for fiddling around with the batteries!), Edison’s "electrographic vote-recorder" was designed to alleviate the onerous burden of recording uttered “Yeas” and “Nays” via a Clerk’s quill. This little device was destined to enhance efficiency in Congressional deliberation and decision-making… Until it wasn’t! Our U.S. Congress never gave it a chance once they realized that votes cast by pushing a button to electrically stimulate a mechanical marking device would preclude any possibility to perform what politicians prefer most – speechifying! Representatives of the time were loathe to lose that forum for philibustering wherein the vocalized vote could be preceded by pleasantries and embellished by, well, whatever might be on their minds at that moment. They never adopted Edison’s invention.
Thomas Edison NHP’s website welcomes visitors with the past-tense declaration “Where Modern America Was Invented”. Assessing Congressional motivation for refusal of that first ballot tabulator along with current legislative efforts to modify voting process time and place surely suggests giving access to the Voices of the People is their only objective in this modern era.
Meanwhile, we’ll listen to Richard & Christina’s homage to many a musician’s very favorite version of ballot casting in approval of performance: “Phillip” the Tip Jar.
From: Jambalaya Town
Written by: Richard Scott Obenschain (BMI)
Performed by: Richard “Piano” Scott and his New Orleans Jazz Band featuring: Christina Perez Edmunds (vocals), Alan Broome (bass &vocals), Bryan Besse (drums), Lee Floyd (banjo), Michael Fulton (trumpet), Tom Fischer (clarinet), Tim Stambaugh (tuba).
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Library of Congress, Harris & Ewing Collection
Photo: Eugenia Uhl, design by Mark Fowler