Henderson daily dispatch., May 03, 1934, Page PAGE TWO, Image 2

About Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995

Image provided by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC

                
PAGE TWO
Samuel Insull Brings Electricity And Power To Chicago,
Gains Control Os Every Public Utility , Makes Millions
LIFE STORY OF SAMUEL INSULL
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S&muel Insull arrives
in Chicago
(This is the third of five articles
on how Insull rose and fell. This
article tells of his Chicago begin
nings.)
By CENTRAL PRESS
Chicago, May 2. —In 1892 the electric
light and power industry, which was
destined to revolutionize the world,
was in its infancy in Chicago.
Horses still pulled street cars, kero
sene gas lamps were still in evidence
on street corners.
The city had a number of small and
struggling electric companies none of
which seemed to be getting anywhere.
There numerous little generating sta
tions were widely scattered, serving
only nearby offices and stores.
Insull at 33
Into this picture marched Samuel
Insull, 33 years old and fresh from his
experience as business manager for
Thomas A. Edison and vice president
of Wh&t is now the General Electric
company. Taving been asked by tne
troubled directors of the Chicago Edi
son company to recommend a good
man to run their concern Insull rec
ommended himself and thus became
president of it in June, 1892.
Forty years later this same Samuel
Insull controlled every public utility
in Chicago, in addition to others serv
ing 5,000 other communities in the
United States, and had amassed a
personal fortune of $100,000,000.
How he did it is one of the most
interesting stories in the annals of
American promotion and high finance.
It >is equally as spectacular as the
story of his sudden downfall which
today finds the former Napoleon of
public utilities facing trial for the col
lapse of his $3,000,000,000 industrial
empire in the world’s largest business
allure.
No Time ost
Perhaps with the uream of the Chi
cago utilities monopoly that was to be
his, Insull lost no time in his efforts
to gobble up his weaker competitors.
By 1907 he had consolidated 17 Chi
cago electric companies of various
sizes into his own Chicago Edison
company and in the same year he took
overh is biggest rival, the Common
wealth Electric company, thus pav
ing thew ay for the gigantic Common
wealth-Edison company of today, a
$400,000,0000 concern which now has
slipped from hisg rasp.
With his engineering training, Insull
pioneered in the development of al
ternating current, thus making pos
sible the transmission of power over
greater distances and cheapening the
cost. Similarlyy.y he developed the
steam turbine with its more economi
cal production.
An interesting story is told of In
sull’s first steam turbine, installed av
the old Fisk Street power house in
Chicago. Insull had invested nearry
everything he could command in the
experiment that, if successful, was to
do so much for -the power industry.
When jthe steam was turned on for
the flrsljtlme, the machine started witn
sufeh r ah bwful clatter that Insull asa
ed installation experts whether
there wlli any-rdanger of it blowing
up.
“I don’t think so, but to play safe
you’d better get out,” he was tola.
“No,” replied Insull. “If it blows up.
the company will blow up, too, so I
might as well stay here and blow up
with It/*
Immense Mergers
Immensely successful with his Com
monwealth-Edison company Insull ex
panded in 1910 by taking over public
utility companies around Chicago and
linking them together as tne Public
Service Company of Northern Illinois.
This brought ui der his control a large
PHOTOPLAYS
Stevenson
LAST TIMES TODAY
Zasu Pitts
Slim Summerville
—IN—,
“The Love Birds”
Winners In The
BABY CONTEST
Will Be Announced
TONIGHT
At 8:80 O’clock on the Stage
' TOMORROW
John Barrymore
—IN—
“LONG LOST FATHER 0
———
Moon Theatre
“Sensation Hunters”
11c To All
Addfed Charlie Chaplin Comedy
Viewing his first steam
turbine
number of gas and electric plants and
transportation system which, in 1931,
had assets of $210,000,000.
In 1919 he became Chicago’s gas
czar when he took over the Peoples
Gas Company, an $85,000,000 concern
which had fallen into a decrepit state
and was rapidly approaching bank
ruptcy. With his keen business genius
Insull effected a drastic reorganiza
tion, scrapped antiquated plants for
modern and more economical ones, put
in an improved system of accounting,
bettered the service to the public ana
soon had the company in a prosperous
condition.
Those three operating companies—
as distinguished from Insull’s great
holding companies—were not directly
affected by the collapse of Insull’s
hollow financial pyramid and are do
ing as well today as other operating
companies of their kind, although
they suffered great losses because of
Insull’s manipulations. Those losses
probably precented rate reductions so
the public pays there, too.
It was Insull’s holding companies,
having no assets except paper securi
ties, that failed; not the operating
companies that are actually produc
ing.
The Fatal Year
It was in 1912, when hes ormed the
Middle West Utilities company, that
Insull began his chain of financial
holding companies that ultimately
brought about hisd ownfall. And hav
ing started this financial monstrosity
he began to stack holding company
on top of holding company until, in
somec ases at least, there were as
many as seven intermediate holding
companies between the topmost one
and the operating company at the
bottom.
On a tremendous scale, Insull be
gan buying up utilities throughout 32
states and Canada, financing their
purchase by means of his constantly
increasing holding companies and of
ten paying fancy prices in order to
get control of esired plants. Thus, the
Middle West Utilities company whose
electric light, gas, water and other
plants had served 355 communities m
1917 and 772 communities in 1923, was
at the peak in 1929, serving 5,300 com
munities from Maine to Texas.
There were other Insull holding
companies, of course, but Middle West
Utilities was the most important of
the lot. And on top of this, in 1928,
Insull piled two large super-holding
companies, Insull Utility Investments
and Corporation Securities company
of Chicago. All of them sold stock to
the public and in the hectic days or
the boom period millions poured into
the Insull coffers each month.
A Broad Network
The Insull domain covered every
state east o r the Rocky mountains ex
cept one. In Ukraine you could run your
factory with Insull power; in Texas,
you could irrigate your land with in
sull water; in Illinois, you could ride
on Insull electric trains; in ouisiana,
you could buy ices rom an Insull ice
plant; in Indiana, you could cooh
your mealsw ith Insull gas- such
examples might be cited without num
ber.
Samuel Insull, who had come to
Chicago 40 years before, virtually pen
niless, now was ruler of a mighty
domain —a ruthless and shrewd ruler.
(Tomorrow—The halcyon days
of Insull and how he “ran” Chi
cago.)
™S$439
40 Cases Tried in April,
With 37 Convictions;
Fines Are slßl
Fines and fees collected from de
fendants who were hailed into re
corder’s court during the month of
April amounted to $620.38, and 40 cases
were tried, it was announced today at
the office of Clerk of Superior Court
E. O. Falkner, who is clerk to the re
corder’s court.
Fines for the month were slßl and
fees $439.38. Convictions were obtain
ed in all of the 40 cases tried except
three, who were discharged. Seven
were sent to the roads and 30 were lei
off with suspended judgments or
merely the payment of the costs.
The $620.38 was the biggest aggre
gate amount of money handled in that
court in any one pionth in almost
three years, or since June, 1931. The
fines were the most for any one month
since last September and the fees
more than for any month in consider
ably more than six years.
In March this year 48 defendants
were tried, and the fines were slo9>4p
with fees $157.57, while in April last
year there were 47 cases and fines
amounted to $67.10 and fees to $136.
Mrs. Jenkins HI
Mrs. W. H. Jenkins was reported ill
today at the home of Mrs. Jt. E.
Pry an. ( ;
HENDEKSON, fN. CJ DAILY DISPATCH, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1934
He buys up many
utility plants
CHILD GUIDANCE
By Frank Howard Richardson, M. D., F. A. C. P.
Driving the Family’s Car
There is considerable heater, not to
say acrimonious discussion in the Ros
coe family over the question of the
moment. Shall sixteen-year-old Ed be
permitted to drive the car; and if so,
shall he do so only when acting as
the family chauffeur, or shall he feel
free to use it whenever he likes? And
if whenever he likes, how late may he
“like”? And who is going to pay for
the gas—not to mention oil, and tires,
and repairs?
E says that "ail the other fellows
do”; and that to him is an argument
that should crush all opposition.
Cross-examined, Ed admits that auite
a number of his friends’ families do
not own cars; that some of those that
do, have them occupied all day oy
the head of the family in his business
or profession; and that most of the
boys who do drive the family’s car,
do so with very definite restrictions
• i ooHOO#** {
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] Aickies are always
in All-Ways kind to your throat
Jo round, so firm, so fully packed-no loose ends
that.s why you ll find Luckies do not dry out
Jtmßj We like to tell about the liner tobaccos are made. They’re so round and firm so
mrnmjgfKKSKW in Luckies—the choicest Turkish and free from loose ends. That’s why Luckies
Wr domestic, and only the mild, dean center “keep in condition”-that’s why you’U
leaves they taste better-then “It’s find that Luckies do not dry out-** im-
toasted”—for throat protection. But portantpoint to every smoker. Luckies are
"ifipP «j t , g toaste d” WC 16 JUSt 88 Pr ° Ud ° f Way L “ CkieS always—in all-wijrs!—kind to your throat.
VLuckies are all-ways kind to your throat Ass
H Only the Center Leaves-these are the Mildest Leaves -t£.„ -rTst ~f L
I XI ftw^ww.n.i-1- >s>..n "" f «• ~ .1, , [
\ Insull, the shrewd
executive
His first financial
holding company ■
as to time, place, gasoline consump
tion, and associates. Ed means to be
truthful; but his statements are some
times reminiscent f the little boy who
tld his mother that there were a mil
lion cats on th backyard fence.
“Are you sure there are one whole
million?” inquired his mother in the
interests of strict accuracy.
‘‘Well anyway, I saw" ours, and the
Morgans’, and another old cat,” testi
fied the witness, thus cross-examined.
“But aren’t you going to tell Ros
c-oes whether Ed should drive their
ear?” asks a tmzzled reader.
Os course I’m not. They wouldn’t do
V/hat I said; and it’s none of my busi
ness. anyway. Let them settle their
own difficulties; tout let them get all
thef acts straight, first.
Questions and Answers
Question —Dear Dr. Richardson: I
am planning to have my child go to
Insult’s domain becomes
nationwide
camp this summer; and I should like
to know something about camps and
camping. J don’t think they had sum
mer camps when I was a girl, like
those they have now. Where can I
’earn something about them?
Answer—ls you will send a stamped
ar.d addressed envelope, I shall be
glad to send you a reprint of an ar
ticle on the history and present set-up
of the summer camp, that will answer
'many of your questions. And if you
will give me the age and set of the
youngster in question, as well as a
little idea of the part of the country
names of some camps that I can rec
ommend.
DANIELS INVITED
Chapel Hill, May 3. Honorable
Josephus Daniels, distinguished alum
nus of the university and war-time
secretary of the navy, has been invited
to be the guest of honor at the Caro
lina-Navy track meet here e>anirilay
afternoon.
It is not yet definitely known
whether Mr. Daniels, who is now am
bassador to Mexico, but who is spend
ing a vacation at his home in Ralergii,
will toe able to be present.
Insull power . . . utiltie*
... fuel
WHAT GASOLINE HAS 1
|H 99 MILLION FOOT-POUNDS I
RED CROSS TO HOLD
COUPLE INSTITUTES
Washington May 3R ed
chapter® all over the state r ° Ss
represented at disaster institutp?! l be
held in Winston-Salem May 7 b -
Bern May 9. Maurice R R e J\ dNe *
sistantd irector of disaster relief **
ice American Red Cross will Serv "
addresses at each of these p, make
ness schools and will assist th P P \ red "
ttr representative in perfect-no- i'
machinery for coping with fj l
emergencies. ua den
These two schools like many oth.
conducted this year in the east
and southern states, are held i n .
cipation of tornadoes, floods t - nti '
droughts and other cataatmU* 8,
Members of disaster
be shown how disaster victims m
be fed, sheltered given medical atte?
tion and hospitalization; how sudd’
should be handled and records kepi***
.To these institutes have been in
vito ie. in addition to Red Cross cha
ter workers, city and county authorT
ties, public health experts, police anri
fire officials, civic leaders, weltar
workers, and others occupying k '
positions ■