 Edison comes along at a time when all this machinery, patents, corporations, banks, is in place. There were consequences to growth. I mean, those first power plants burned coal, and pollution was pretty bad. Edison built a huge power plant on the east side of Manhattan, and at some point the city health department got involved, and this is according to the New York Times, quote, "...when it was found health department men were trying to photograph the smokestacks, scouts were put on the company's roof, who ordered the feeding of coal stopped whenever photographers appeared."