Look at the August 2, 1945 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly. Our issue before the Japanese surrender and the ending of World War II.
Not a word about the dramatic developments to come in days. The bomb at Hiroshima, then at Nagasaki. Finally, the surrender. And the welcoming (and uncertainty) of peacetime.
The lead article was entitled: “Effect of Recent Population Trends on Utilities.” It was impossible to foresee the approaching boom:
“As a nation our population increase has diminished and, according to the Bureau of the Census, our total population will approach a stationary figure some time after 1980.”
The article, reflecting contemporary thinking, predicted that U.S. population in 2000 would be 150 million. Slight miss. The 2000 Census counted 282 million Americans.
What would peacetime bring? The article asks:
“The problem facing the utilities now is how much of this recent change [during the war] will hold and how much will return to prewar status?”
The next issue of PUF is dated August 16, 1945, the day after V-J Day (victory over Japan). It also shows no sign that the world was now very different.
In the “What Others Think” feature, though, we find:
“Announcements are appearing, since V-E Day [victory in Europe], of comprehensive plans by business-managed utilities for extending their facilities to serve more people when these war days are ended.”
The next issue, dated August 30, 1945, however, was markedly different. For instance, the “Government Utility Happenings” feature opens with these words:
“The impact of the release of atomic energy on proposed public power projects had already commanded some attention before the recent and sudden end of the conflict with Japan. The New York Times of August 8th, in an article discussing the possible effect of applying atomic energy to the generation of electricity, quoted ‘one representative of the electric companies’ as asking, ‘What’s the use of the government embarking on further expensive hydroelectric projects when the future of power production is about to be revolutionized?’”
The “Financial News and Comment” feature started with a commentary entitled “Potential Financial Effects of Atomic Fission on Utilities.”
And a cartoon, reprinted courtesy of the New York Tribune, is called “The Atom is on the Loose.”
The next issue of PUF, dated September 13, 1945, led with an article by Francis Welch entitled: “An ‘Atomic Era’ for Utilities?’
The magazine for commentary, opinion and debate on utility regulation and policy in peacetime and during war, Public Utilities Fortnightly.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
