TVA AND THE CASE OF THE CRIBBED NOTES

McMillin, Miles

TVA And The Case Of The Cribbed Notes By MILES McMILLIN THIS is a story of some crib notes and the shame of a book publisher. But before we get into it there is need of a little brush-up in some...

...No one except eight-ply idiots, bewhiskered bolsheviks, callow youths, and crack-pot college professors who are also draft dodgers support TVA...
...Collins puts Vennard's ideas into the mouths of a group of some of the most fantastic people ever imagined...
...And everybody seems to have a bottomless wallet in which he carries clippings about everything that was ever written or said about TVA...
...Now and then he realizes that he has slobbered too much and he puts a kind word in some nincompoop's mouth concerning TVA or those connected with it...
...But before we get into it there is need of a little brush-up in some recent history regarding our self-sacrificing buddies in the power trust...
...The job of printing and distributing was merely put down as "cost of operation" and added to your light bill...
...He wants to show a 'profit...
...Vennard dreamed up during those lonely nights at 20 N. Wacker Drive...
...It should have been anticipated . .." On page 102 of his book Collins echoes: " 'Perhaps not...
...In this demagoguery he makes Vennard's writing sound like the Lord's Prayer by comparison...
...This is only about 1.5% of a monthly income of $200.00...
...Here's Ed: "I know you have those demands and I know that you meet them...
...They were free, of course, because they cost the utilities nothing...
...It was at this address, which during the great travail was as well known as 10 Downing Street, that Old Sam and those he left behind when he lit out for Greece two steps ahead of the law, used to plot their frauds...
...The average household monthly electric bill is slightly more than three dollars...
...The $2.50 Collins version is amazingly like the free Vennard version...
...Drouths occur on the Tennessee River...
...John will be talking to his wife about spillways when suddenly Ed climbs out of the woodwork and cracks, "Yes and Dave Lilienthal beats his wife...
...And remember, why buy the book when you'll soon be able to get it for nothing...
...NOW we come to the story of the crib notes and the shame of a publisher...
...To be sure, there was a drought, but that is a condition that must be taken into consideration in the electric power business...
...The man in charge doesn't want to 'waste' any water...
...You're the guy that usually passes the plate—but with a good fat contribution from the electric company, I will admit, to start the collection...
...You never fail to come through...
...Prophecy being our long suit we guessed that the heirs of the old master would aim at the Tennessee Valley Authority whose phenomenally successful record was something that something just had to be done about...
...The average household monthly electric bill is slightly more than $3.00...
...Hansen is a book reviewer whose political views are best judged by the blast he recently issued against Henry Wallace's Sixty Million Jobs...
...They were written by Edwin Vennard, whose talents as an official of one of the old Insull companies were devoted to carrying forward the task Old Sam so nobly advanced...
...About a year ago The Progressive reported to you that tilings were stirring about and weird noises were emanating from 20 N. Wacker Drive in Chicago...
...Good old John Tait, who is supposed to be an open minded citizen (save the mark) is having good old Ed Anderson, the manager of the local Wall Street owned utility, explain TVA's dastardly bookkeeping system to him...
...Out of fairness to whatever self-respect an author like Collins may have, it should be said that there are a few differences...
...They were free for the asking...
...one in 1925 and another in 1931.' " * * * Mr...
...Writing of Collins' book, Hansen said: "Mr...
...For this book is nothing more than Mr...
...Soon pamphlets with a fine Goebbelsesque touch were popping up around the country, issued from 20 N. Wacker Drive...
...That's only about one and a half per cent of a monthly income of two hundred dollars a month...
...Droughts occur in the region of the Tennessee River...
...But in the next paragraph he flows back to his own level...
...So he sits tight until it's too late, then opens the gates and gives the valley below a double overflow— the water from the reservoir plus the water from the flood...
...But he can't tell whether the rain up the valley is to be of long or short duration...
...I have a sneaking hunch that John wouldn't be so gushy if he knew that contribution was tacked on to his light bill...
...If you will wait until the utilities start passing around these books as freely as they do Mr...
...Vennard says: "The authority or ageney gets its principal income from the sale of electricity...
...The new noises, we said then, had a familiar ring and we voiced an uneasy feeling that the hypodermic syringe was being dusted off to inject some more propaganda into the body politic...
...FINALLY I would like to present the testimony of a non-partisan witness, Harry Hansen...
...In some cases the operator opens the gates too late, thus giving the valley below a double flood—the water from the reservoir plus the normal flood...
...Collins parrots: "So, since the amount of power he can generate depends on the amount of water that is available, he doesn't want to 'waste' any of it . . . He will take a chance...
...REPEATING the old discredited bunkum that TVA is socialism, that it pays no taxes, that its bookkeeping is alchemy, etc., the pamphlets were distributed about the country...
...But he can't tell whether the rain up the valley is to be of short or long duration...
...But I think you will agree that it was an ironical commentary that the only power shortage during the war emergency occurred in the region influenced by the TVA...
...THIS, however, is not the worst part of it for any reader with more than a soap opera mind...
...Collins is in this cribbing business...
...This can go on for hours but I still haven't shown you how really accurate Mr...
...Take Page 44...
...And again Vennard: "The cost of electricity to industry is of about the same consequence as it is in a home...
...The arguments are the same...
...In his pamphlet Vennard writes: "It was an ironical commentary on Government-in-business that the country's first and only power shortage during the war occurred in 1941 in the Southeast where TVA is located...
...Collins ought to present a documented attack, free from innuendo and appeals to bias...
...If TVA ought to give a real report to the stockholders, Mr...
...There, was...
...It was there that the plans for debasing public education were dreamed up and financed...
...They ignored truth, twisted meaning, exalted contextomy, and in general did about as nice a smear job on TVA as anyone without conscience could do...
...This book is written by someone by the name of Frederick L. Collins...
...Rains and floods, as we have seen, are notoriously unpredictable...
...Collins' book is campaign literature...
...I obtained several copies and have clung to them for reference whenever I got to wondering how Goeb-bels did it...
...Rains and floods are notoriously unpredictable...
...This drouth was not unusual...
...Good old Ed is comparing charitable contributions by some reasoning that I couldn't follow, to TVA's allocation of costs to its multiple functions...
...You wouldn't move away from your own home for that, would you, Lovina...
...A book has recently appeared on the market called Uncle Sam's Billion Dollar Baby or A Taxpayer Looks At The TVA...
...Not to be out-gushed, John replies: "You ought to know...
...Ven-nard's free pamphlet jazzed up a little so that the boobs out in the sticks won't be discouraged by all the statistical data Mr...
...True, there was a drouth, but that is a condition that must be taken into account in the electric power business...
...What is hard to explain is that a reputable book company like G. P. Putnam's Sons should publish such a book and try to sell it to the American people for $2.50...
...He will take a chance...
...Vennard depends on his own exposition...
...Vennard's pamphlets, you might look through the both of them and see how many you find...
...He will keep the level of the reservoir dangerously high...
...He will keep the level of the reservoir dangerously high...
...This drought was not unusual...
...You are a good citizen, John Tait, and the company you manage is a public spirited company...
...And Collins: "The cost of electricity to businessmen is of about the same consequence as it is to housewives...
...Indeed I will defy anyone with mature mentality, be he friend or foe of TVA, to read some of this drivel and not feel foolish all over inside...
...It is not a documented work, such as we have a right to expect from critics of TVA...
...Then there is the weird way the characters keep popping in and out of John's house...
...So here are a few samples...
...It is not true that Collins has copied Vennard verbatim—at least not completely...
...There was one in 1925 and another in 1931...
...This address will be familiar to you if you were one of the "widows and orphans" who had your feathers plucked back in the great Insull boom of the '20s...

Vol. 9 • October 1945 • No. 39


 
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