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ACT I, SCENE FOUR (Expansion)
CHARACTERS
- LOUDSPEAKER
T. COMMERFORD MARTIN
LOUDSPEAKER: New York, June 6, 1905. T. Commerford Martin, Chairman of the Progress Committee of the National Electric Light Association, reports to the convention. [NELA Convention Proceedings, 1905, Vol. I, p. 17.]
(Front spotlight comes up on MARTIN, center, standing behind lectern. Behind him is projected a cartoon of a convention banquet.)
MARTIN: And, gentlemen, enough is not being done to cultivate and create the small consumer. The figures of the New York Edison Company show, roughly, thirty-five thousand customers. Now, that is a good number, but do you believe for one moment that such a figure is the limit of possibilities on Manhattan Island? Electric light and power are falling far short of the ideal in reaching only one-sixth of the population of any given territory. It is to be feared that the public and too many utility companies still regard electric light as a luxury, and the electric motor as costly, and electric heat quite out of reach. This was true once, gentlemen, but is true no longer!
Blackout
Introduction | Essay | Script | Lessons | Resources