Electric Utility History in History

George Bernard Shaw Got His Start with Edison and Insull

Was reading, for fun, “The Memoirs of Samuel Insull.”

Insull wrote the autobiography in the summer of 1934.

As the Depression deepened in 1932, Insull’s extensive utility holding company had collapsed. The press, public and politicians found a scapegoat. After several attempts to extradite him from Europe, U.S. authorities took him off a ship to stand trial in three high-profile cases.

Insull, the man who went from Thomas Edison’s secretary to the inventor of utility regulation, was acquitted on all charges.

In the memoirs, we learn that the great man of literature, George Bernard Shaw, got his first job working for Edison and Insull.

Edison fiercely competed with Alexander Graham Bell in the development and marketing of the telephone. In 1879, Insull worked in the London operations of Edison’s telephone business.

The telephone was still a novelty then. Edison sent to London several young laboratory assistants, “who called themselves electricians.” They set up a demonstration for a lecture by Professor Barrett of Trinity College.

The Professor’s nephew? George Bernard Shaw. The Professor asked Edison if young Shaw could have a job at the Edison Telephone Company.

At the age of twenty-three, Shaw came with little but a letter of introduction. Insull interviewed him, then put him to work. In the battery room, in the basement of #11 Queen Victoria Street, in the city.

Shaw refers to this incident in the preface of his 1905 novel, The Irrational Knot.

Shaw stayed with the Edison Telephone Company for two years. When it merged with Bell Telephone Company, Shaw left for his literary career.

He won the Nobel Prize for Liter­ature in 1925, for writing the plays Man and Superman, Pygmalion, Saint Joan, and much more. Pygmalion was further popularized much later in the form of the musical My Fair Lady.

President McKinley Collapsed in His Arms, Later He Founded EEI

You can read it in the February 16, 1933 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly.

This was a great issue. The lead article was written by U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson (Republican – California). He had been the Vice Presidential candidate in 1912 for Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose party.

Another article discussed the founding of a new organization, the Edison Electric Institute. EEI is today’s association of investor-owned electric utilities.

The National Electric Light Association had been the organization for the industry. But NELA lost credibility with much of the public amid the Depression-fueled business failures and scandals of that time.

EEI’s founding was lauded by the press. Especially the new organization’s professional and ethical ideals. The article in PUF, “A New Deal in Kilowatts,” quotes the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and others.

The July 6, 1933 issue of PUF followed up. An article discussed EEI’s founding convention in Chicago during the week of June 5.

Its founding president, George Cortelyou, stated EEI’s goals. Exchange information and experience. Formulate standards based on best practices. Represent the industry to other national bodies.

George Cortelyou was also president of Consolidated Gas Company, which is now Consolidated Edison. But he was one of the most famous Americans in that period.

At age thirty-three, he went to the White House as chief clerk to President Grover Cleveland. Then Cortelyou continued there as personal secretary to President William McKinley. But his life and career soon changed.

On September 6, 1901, while in Buffalo, President McKinley was shot twice at close range by an assassin. The President collapsed into Cortelyou’s arms and whispered “My wife… be careful, Cortelyou, how you tell her. Oh, be careful.”

The new President, Teddy Roosevelt, gave Cortelyou the responsibility to organize the White House. The Office of the President to this day continues many of the procedures Cortelyou developed. Particularly for press access.

Cortelyou went on to become Secretary of the Treasury. It was Cortelyou that advocated the reforms in monetary policy, after the searing Panic of 1907, that led to currency flexibility and ultimately formation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

He then came to our industry. And eventually founded EEI.

And that is how George Cortelyou found his name in the pages of PUF.

Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Child Care Book, and Reddy Kilowatt

Reddy Kilowatt, our industry’s adorable mascot for ninety years, appears in a different spot in every issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly.

Many of you know Reddy was developed and promoted by Ash Collins, Sr. Collins had been a manager at Alabama Power. He felt our industry needed to engage the public more positively.

Alabama Power copyrighted Collins’ cartoon in 1926. Then, the Edison Electric Institute was founded in 1933. Collins left Alabama Power and joined EEI.

Collins devoted the remainder of his career to popularizing the little man with the light bulb nose and wall socket ears.

He had a young artist and family friend redraw the “electrical servant” for the 1933 trademark. This young woman, who went on to become one of the top illustrators of the twentieth century, was Dorothea Warren.

She was just nineteen years of age. Warren used her pay for drawing Reddy to move to New York City.

At first, she drew pictures of children getting haircuts. Soon Warren was illustrating the top ads such as for Heinz, Arrow Shirts and Ivory Soap. And the top magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Esquire and Colliers.

Her big break came in 1946. Dr. Benjamin Spock revolutionized parenting by publishing “The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.” Illustrated by Warren. Spock’s bestseller, that eventually sold fifty million copies, emphasized flexibility over rigidity and affection over toughness.

From drawing Reddy Kilowatt to drawing Dr. Spock’s babies. Dorothea Warren certainly left her mark on our world.

Scarface Al Capone Thwarted by Utilities’ Sam Insull

February 14, 1929. The day of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Scarface Al Capone eliminated the rival Chicago gang of Bugs Moran.

How did federal agent Eliot Ness and the Untouchables bring down Capone? It turns out the utilities industry, Sam Insull particularly, was the key.

Capone was feared by all. Chicago’s mayor and the Illinois attorney general would or could do little.

But Capone made the mistake of murdering a contractor superintendent. Chicago’s Chamber of Commerce was outraged. So the Secret Six was formed.

The Secret Six were courageous business leaders who knew they were endangering themselves and everyone around them. They included none other than Samuel Insull. Insull was arguably the father of utility regulation, the system we use to this day to restrain rates and attract capital.

The Secret Six hired the brother-in-law of federal agent Eliot Ness. Ness was soon immersed in taking down Capone.

Insull and the others set up the speakeasy Garage Café to gather information. They funded the decisive tax evasion case against Capone. And they paid to send an informant to safety in South America.

The Secret Six eventually handled 595 cases, with 55 convictions, and 428 years of jail time.

Al Capone later said: "The Secret Six has licked the rackets. They’ve licked me. They’ve made it so there’s no money in the game."