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ACT I, SCENE TEN (Cost Comparison: 1913-1926)
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CHARACTERS
- LOUDSPEAKER
MR. LANE, Utilities Official
WOMAN — MRS. LANE — 1913(Right)
WOMAN — MRS. LANE — 1926(Left)
CLERK First Pair (Right)
CLERK Fruit Counters (Left)
CLERK Second Pair (Right)
CLERK Hardware (Left)
CLERK Third Pair (Right)
CLERK Dry Goods (Left)
FIRST MAN Fourth Pair (Right)
SECOND MAN Rent Collectors (Left)
CLERK Fifth Pair (Right)
CLERK Electric Company Office (Left)
LOUDSPEAKER: In the United States the average domestic rate per kilowatt hour in 1926 was 7.4 cents. [Electrical World, January 7, 1928.] In the province of Ontario, Canada, where the system is publicly owned and operated, the average cost per kilowatt hour is 1.66 cents. [What Price Electricity to Our Homes, Morris L. Cooke.] This represents a saving to the consumer of...
(LANE enters, right, picked up by spotlight from front. Crosses to center as he talks to LOUDSPEAKER.)
LANE: [This character is fictional.] Just a minute, you! Seems to me you've been having a pretty good time showing up us utilities, lettin' everybody see just what you want 'em to see and no more! Now I'm goin' to have my say and some people are goin' to be just a little bit surprised! (Waves his arms) Come here, girls.
(Spotlights pick up two women who enter from left and right. One is about twenty-two, dressed in the period of 1913. The other, about thirty-five, is dressed in the period of 1926. A projected dotted line divides the rear curtain, with "1913" blazoned on the right, and "1926" on the left.)
LANE: Now this is my wife as she looked in 1913, when we got married, and this is my wife today in 1926. (He takes money from pocket and hands some to each) All right, girls. Go out and do your shopping.
(General lighting comes up on entire stage. At right, running to center, are three separate counters, selling respectively, fruit, household furnishings and clothing. At center is a cage marked ELECTRIC COMPANY — CASHIER. This cage has two compartments. At left are three more counters selling the same articles. Behind the three stalls at right, and right half of cage, are clerks dressed in the period of 1913. At left, and left half of cage, clerks are dressed in manner of 1926. During the above LANE sits in chair, right, and smilingly looks on. The women stand undecided before fruit counters, left and right.)
LANE (from seat): How about some oranges, dear? We didn't have any for breakfast. (Both WOMEN pick up oranges.)
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CLERK [right]: Oranges, madam? Twenty-five cents a dozen. [Journal of Commerce, March 1, 1913 and 1926.]
CLERK [left]: Oranges, madam? Forty-two cents a dozen.
WOMAN [right]: I'll take a dozen.
WOMAN [left]: I'll take a dozen.
LANE (as CLERKS wrap oranges, turns to audience): Observe, ladies and gentlemen. From 1913 to 1926, an increase of seventeen cents or sixty-six per cent. (The WOMEN move to next counter) Why not get that new frying pan you've been talking about for months now? (Both WOMEN pick up frying pans.)
CLERK [right]: That's an excellent frying pan, madam. Fifty cents.
CLERK [left]: That's an excellent frying pan, madam, ninety-eight cents.
WOMAN [right]: I'll take it.
WOMAN [left]: I'll take it.
LANE (to audience): From fifty to ninety-eight cents—an increase of ninety-six per cent. (The WOMEN move to next counter.)
LANE (to WOMEN): You may as well get me some socks while you're at it. (Rises. WOMEN examine socks.)
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CLERK [right]: Those are lisle, madam. Thirty-five cents a pair.
CLERK [left]: Those are lisle, madam. Fifty-nine cents a pair.
WOMAN [right]: I'll take three pairs.
WOMAN [left]: I'll take three pairs.
LANE (to audience as WOMEN take the package): Fifty-nine over thirty-five. An increase of almost seventy per cent.
(WOMEN remain at dry goods counters, left and right center respectively; two MEN enter left and right. They cross to WOMEN.)
FIRST MAN (to WOMAN [right]): Good morning, Mrs. Lane.
SECOND MAN (to WOMAN [left]): Good morning, Mrs. Lane.
FIRST MAN: Everything all right with the apartment? We had an awful time getting that color you wanted on the walls.
SECOND MAN: Everything all right with the apartment? We had an awful time getting that color you wanted on the walls.
LANE (as WOMEN stand immobile): Go on, dear. He's waiting for the rent. (WOMAN [right] takes bills from purse and hands them to man. WOMAN [left] does the same.)
MAN [right] (counting bills): Fifty-five dollars. Thank you, Mrs. Lane.
MAN [left]: Ninety dollars. Thank you, Mrs. Lane.
MAN [right]: Good day, Mrs. Lane.
MAN [left]: Good day, Mrs. Lane. (MEN exit right and left. LANE crosses to center and addresses audience.)
LANE: Sixty-two per cent increase in rent for the same apartment. Now watch this carefully, everybody. (To LOUDSPEAKER) And you, too, up there. Don't anyone miss a word. (Turns to WOMEN) Pay your electric bills, dear. (WOMEN go to cashier windows, center.)
CLERK [right] (as WOMAN pays): That's right, four-dollars and thirty-five cents.
CLERK [left] (as WOMAN pays): That's right, three dollars and seventy cents.
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LANE (to audience, excitedly): Did you hear that? Three seventy over four-thirty-five, showing, in the face of increases of from sixty-two to ninety-eight per cent in essentials like food, household goods, clothing and rent, [World Almanac, 1936, p. 364.] a decrease in the cost of electricity of almost fifteen per cent. [Based on figures from Electrical World, January 7, 1928.] Fifteen per cent! (To LOUDSPEAKER) Put that in your pipe and smoke it! (He starts off) Come on, girls, we're going home.
LOUDSPEAKER: Just a moment, Mr. Lane. Aren't you forgetting something?
LANE (not quite hearing): What's that?
LOUDSPEAKER: I said, didn't you forget something?
LANE: Not that I can think of.
LOUDSPEAKER: Isn't it true that the more electricity you sell, the cheaper its cost? And isn't it true that the domestic consumption of electricity has gone up something like four hundred and thirty-five per cent since 1913? [Ibid.]
LANE: Well, yes, only...
LOUDSPEAKER: And isn't it true that engineering advances from 1913 to 1926 have reduced the operating expenses for one domestic kilowatt hour forty-one per cent? [Ibid.]
LANE: Yes, but...
LOUDSPEAKER: And isn't it true that the gross domestic revenues went up two hundred and seventy-five per cent? [Ibid.]
LANE: Yes, yes, yes.
LOUDSPEAKER: And that is why, Mr. Lane, we say that, judging from your cost sheets, though your rates have gone down, they have not gone down nearly enough! Good day, Mr. Lane.
(LANE takes the WOMEN by the arm and starts off, left.)
Blackout
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