Engineering and Invention, 1934
You will see that this house everywhere is generously supplied with these outlets. They give life to a variety of electric devices, and make it possible for them to be used wherever and whenever they are needed. They are the source of much pleasure and convenience.
But today, with the electricity cut off, they might as well not exist...
If we listen to the talk of the people we shall hear them say over and over again: "Never did we realize before that electricity played such an important part in our lives."
The people go about the house quite at a loss. We see them pressing buttons and turning on switches just from the force of habit. They are surprised anew each time electricity does not answer their summons.
Pyramids of Power, 1937
The utility employees [in Wisconsin] sang:
Mr. Farmer, we've been thinking,
What a grand State this will be,
When the farms in 1940,
All have e-lec-tric-i-tee.
[Another song to the tune of Yes, We Have No Bananas] went this way:
Yes, we've NO excess profits,
No overgrown surplus today,
We've interest increasing,
And taxes increasing,
And all of the help to pay;
We have an old-fashioned Commission,
That holds rates down with precision,
But yes, we've NO excess profits,
No overgrown surplus today.
The Electrical Appliance Sales Handbook, 1947
We of the electrical industry are inclined to take very much for granted this mysterious source of energy that we generate, distribute, and sell. We think of it daily in terms of kilowatts and capacity and load, as the grocer thinks in terms of pounds and quarts and barrels of the commodities he deals in.
We, too, are selling a commodity, susceptible of measurement; but we are also selling a way of life, a new standard of living, and, for the millions of families living on farms and in small towns throughout the country, we are bringing a release from the backbreaking burdens of our grandparents.
An institution of the utilities industry since 1929, Public Utilities Fortnightly has a unique responsibility to remind us of our past particularly when the past informs us about our future.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
