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The

National Electric Light Association
Forty-fourth Convention

The Drake,
Chicago, Illinois,

May 31 to June 3, 1921.

MINUTES OF THE CONVENTION

First General and Executive Session
Tuesday, May 31, 1921

The Forty-fourth Convention of the National
Electric Light Association was held at The Drake,
Chicago, Ill., May 31 to June 3, 1921. Mr. Martin
J. Insull, the retiring President, occupied the chair.
The President read a message from Honorable
William Hale Thompson, Mayor of the City of
Chicago, regretting his inability to personally ad-
dress the convention and requesting Mr. James W.
Breen, First Assistant Corporation Counsel, to rep-
resent him and deliver the address of welcome.
Whereupon, after introduction by the President, Mr.
Breen read, in the name of the Mayor, the follow-
ing address:

Address of Welcome by Mayor Thompson

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: As Mayor of the City of Chicago, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to speak the welcome of our people of Chicago to the strangers within our gate who are here in attendance upon the sessions of the Fortyfourth Convention of the National Electric Light Association. I am informed that the membership of this Association comprises a very large proportion of the electric light and power companies of the United States and, in addition, many manufacturers of electrical machinery and appliances used in the lighting industry.

The welcome which I extend to you on this occasion is not perfunctory upon my part, but expresses exactly the meaning of the old Anglo-Saxon word which was used originally to denote that the person or persons being received had done well in coming, or, in the phrase which was later reduced to the one word, were "well come" to the place of meeting or entertainment.

So it is that you delegates representing the electric light industry of the United States are "well come" to our great city, which boasts, among the many other things for which we are famous, the largest electrical plant in the world. You are indeed "well come" to a community in which you will find the industry in which you are all interested occupying such a commanding place in our business and commercial life.

The Commonwealth Edison Company, which

operates this utility in Chicago, has in commission 253 boilers, consuming nearly two and one-half million tons of coal per year, making steam to run the machinery used for producing electrical current, which is carried to 71 substations over 832 miles of high-tension lines, representing approximately 5,000 tons of copper wire, and from these substations is distributed to the consumers over more than 10,000 miles of low-pressure lines. This company serves 459,000 customers with electric light and nearly 16,000 with electrical energy, while the connected load of both the lighting and the power customers represents 1,760,000 horsepower.

I cite the magnitude of this industry in Chicago as an index of commerce and industry in our city because I know that you people, who are interested primarily in the electric lighting and energy business, will read in those statistics something of the greatness of the community which supports such an institution. We have here the largest young city and the youngest large city in the world.

I desire to take advantage of this opportunity to invite you delegates and your friends to come back to Chicago to our Pageant of Progress Exposition, which will be held on our Five-Million-Dollar Municipal Pier from July 30 to August 14. This exposition will not be local in character, but will show to the world, through three and one-half miles of exhibits, the arts and crafts of our present civilization. Every man and woman will find something inspiring and educational in it. Here will be shown trades, industries, machines, inventions and achievements. With its beautiful setting in Lake Michigan, there will be no more enchanting, no more alluring spot during the hot weather of early August, and no better place in the world to spend a vacation this summer than at our Pageant of Progress Exposition; and you are all invited.

In conclusion, permit me to extend the hearty good wish that the sessions of your Convention will be pleasant and result in great good for each of you, and that you will enjoy this visit to Chicago so much that you will want to come back and see us again. I welcome you to Chicago, and I assure you that for the members of your Association the latch string will be found always on the outside.

THE PRESIDENT: Gentlemen, we are favored this morning with having some distinguished guests present, who come from Italy. Past-President John W. Lieb, of New York, who spoke some eleven years ago in Italy in the early days of the industry, will introduce these distinguished gentlemen.

JOHN W. LIEB: I have the honor to present to you a delegation of distinguished visitors from Italy, a commission appointed to study our hydro-electric developments and railroad electrification. These gentlemen are, first, Mr. Guido Semenza, Chairman of the Delegation. Many of you gentlemen know Mr. Semenza, as he has visited this country several times and met many of you on your visits abroad. He is the Consulting Engineer and a Past President of the Associazione Elettrotecnica Italiana, and he was formerly the Consulting Engineer of the Italian Edison Company; Professor G. G. Ponti, who was Professor in the Royal Polytechnic Institute at Turin, and who is General Manager of Societa Idroelettrica Piemonte & Elettricita Alta Italia, a power generating and distributing company which covers Northern Italy-particularly the Province of Piemonte-with a network of transmission and distribution wires; Col. Cesare Scarelli, who represents the Italian Government officially as a delegate of the Italian War Office. He was on the Italian General Staff during the late war, and he had charge of all the troop transportations for the Italian Government during the war. The fourth member is the Secretary of the Commission, Marquis F. Cusani, who represents important industrial interests. He is here representing the Italo-American Company, to obtain co-operation for the development of the waterpower resources of Italy, which, as we all know, is particularly rich in waterpower. The ItaloAmerican Company represents an aggregation of companies with a capital of two billions of lire,

which, at normal rates of exchange, is about four hundred million dollars, and controls altogether about two million horsepower.

These gentlemen all speak English, and I am sure it will be a pleasure to welcome them and assist them as far as possible in the consummation of their commission. Gentlemen, I have the honor, and you, Mr. President, to present these gentlemen to this Convention of the National Electric Light Association.

THE PRESIDENT: I am sure the Convention will be pleased, indeed, Mr. Lieb, to have a few words. from one of the gentlemen you mention.

GUIDO SEMENZA: I thank you, Mr. President, for the honor you have done us in inviting us to this very interesting Convention. We think it is a great pleasure to come here and hear the interesting papers and discussions which will occur at your Convention during the next few days. I thank Mr. Lieb for the presentation he made, and I may add that we are here to see the beautiful work that you have done in engineering and the other great things you have done.

In the meantime, we all appreciate that there is a very friendly feeling between our country and this, and in coming to your Convention we not only come to hear your papers and your discussion, but also to make more friends amongst you, because we think that the friendship of our American colleagues. is a great thing for us.

THE PRESIDENT: I will ask the Vice-President, Mr. M. R. Bump, to please take the Chair.

(Mr. Milan R. Bump in the Chair.)

THE CHAIRMAN: Gentlemen, the next order of business will be the annual address of our President, Mr. Martin J. Insull.

Address of President

It is not my purpose to discuss the detailed activities of the Association nor of its various sections or committees during the past year. Those more intimately associated with the work at headquarters and elsewhere are better qualified to speak with regard to them, and will do so at the various meetings to be held during the Convention.

In general, the policies inaugurated under the previous administration, with such modifications and additions as seemed advisable, have been carried along during the administrative year. No matter what may or might be said with regard to the Association's activities, their value can be measured only by the beneficial results obtained for the industry. Of these every interested member of the Association will necessarily form his own judgment. I want to take this opportunity of expressing my great appreciation of the assistance received from the head

Martin J. Insull

quarters staff, from the Executive Manager, from the Chairman and members of the Public Policy Committee, from the Chairmen of the various National Sections and Geographic Divisions, and the Committees that have functioned under them, and also from my fellow officers of the Association. To me it has been an honor and a pleasure to serve this great Association as its President, and the work of my administrative year has not been without many compensations.

During the last year a very decided change came over the business conditions of the country. Business as a whole found itself in that period of readjustment which necessarily follows a great economic upheaval. We are to be congratulated that our industry will not be materially damaged, and possibly may be materially helped by this change. The necessity of the greatest possible efficiency in operation

during the previous period of rising costs with fixed rates or with comparatively small and delayed increases in rates stands us now in good stead. Furthermore, our industry is not one that has to stand large losses on inventories due to the falling prices of commodities, as practically all of our investment is a fixed one and the amount of floating investment in materials is comparatively small. In some cases the falling off in demand for electrical energy due to the contraction of business has been beneficial. It has relieved overloaded properties and in others has temporarily deferred enlargements and extensions at what are still comparatively high costs for material and labor. We, therefore, may be thankful that this change in conditions is allowing a breathing spell from the high pressure of the last few years, and giving us time in which to prepare our industry for the large increase in its business that the experience of the last few years indicates will take place as soon as the business conditions of the country become normal. In general, however, the electric light and power business continues its growth. It is estimated that there will be installed 1,000,000 kw. of necessary generating capacity during this calendar year. We, therefore, may look forward to a promising future for our part in working out the increased industrial productivity of the country and in adding to the comfort and happiness of its citizens.

There is much to be done. The innumerable small, uneconomical central stations scattered over the country must be displaced by a very much smaller number of large, economical, modern generating plants, all ultimately feeding into extensive transmission and distribution systems covering large areas. Millions of homes and hundreds of thousands of manufacturing establishments are waiting to receive the benefits of electrical energy. While a considerable portion of this energy necessarily must be transmitted from steam-driven generating stations, a large increase in hydro-electric develop ments may confidently be looked forward to in the future. During the past year necessary laws have been passed making possible the development of the water powers on the public domain and in our navigable streams. In the Federal Power Commission is the machinery for the operation of these laws. A committee of this Association has given freely of its time and energy in working out with the Commission in Washington rules and regulations that will enable these projects to be successfully financed, constructed and operated. The work of this Committee brings another notable achievement to the record of your Association. It is entitled to the

thanks not only of this Association but of the whole electrical industry for its untiring efforts in bringing about a satisfactory conclusion to so difficult a problem. Its work again exemplifies the great advantages gained by member companies in their affiliation with an active National Association, as such results can only be achieved through the co-operation of interests found in such an association. The Federal Power Commission has issued permits so far for the development of 2,000,000 hp. of hydro-electric energy out of total applications on file for 15,000,000 hp. This about equals the total power now estimated to be used by the electric light and power industry. The development of these water powers naturally falls upon our shoulders. We have the knowledge, ability and capacity to plan, finance and construct these developments and transmit their power in the form of electric energy to where it can be profitably and beneficially used. The proper development and the transmission of the energy of the country's water power mean conservation of the country's fuel resources. Not only the present, but the future citizenship will benefit. As an evidence that our industry is willingly doing its part, it is interesting to note that, notwithstanding the difficulties of raising money and its high cost, as well as the high cost of labor and materials, approximately $100,000,000 has been spent on hydro-electric development, with its necessary transmission systems, during the past year.

It is estimated that for the next five years the electric light and power industry will require approximately $1,000,000,000 per year to provide for the demands that will be made upon it by the public. This vast sum will be spent for the necessary steam and hydro-electric generating equipment and transmission and distribution systems with all the appurtenances necessary to give service. To put it into figures that may be more easily appreciated, approximately $3,000,000 every day, or $125,000 every hour, for the next five years must be provided to be used for the public benefit. If it cannot be provided, the public will be the sufferer. Where is it to come from? Under our regulatory laws, after paying all our operating expenses and providing for depreciation, we have left only a fair return upon the actual amount of money invested in our properties for the public use. After paying a return to the people who have invested their money in the industry, there is comparatively little left for further expansion such as we have been contemplating. It, therefore, must come from the investors who are that part of the public that is thrifty and willing to invest in our

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