Fact · Dictation
A May 1878 Chicago Tribune report of Edison's article said that phonograph dictation would let business people dispense with the clerk.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“they are required to do no more by the phonographic method, and do thereby dispense with the clerk”
The Future of the Phonograph (Chicago Tribune, 1 May 1878, reprinted by the Phonozoic Text Archive), Chicago Tribune; Phonozoic Text Archive, Document 059, 1878, Report on the North American Review article.
Open the original- What it measures
- The report describes business people who dictate communications to clerks, who then write them out. Edison's proposal would remove the written-out step.
- What it does not show
- This is the newspaper's account of Edison's article, not Edison's words. It describes a proposal, not a measured saving.