The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1948-04-01
MPL Company Marks
Continued From Page One)
PAGE FOUR

welfare of its people. Representing
old Man Mississippi" he opened a:
tattered and tired citizen, unre
spected by his fellow states.
Subsequent scenes showed hin
evolving as an important part of the
American scene, and in the end he
was married to Miss Prosperity by
Reddy Kilowatt, the mythical char
acter symbolic of electric current Of
the Mississippi Power & Light Com
pany.
Miss Frances Fortenberry, home
service director, played the part Of
Miss Prosperity. R. B. Wilson, vice
president, took part in the play as
Governor Henry L. Whitfield, who
was the states chief executive when
the company was founded. Others
in the skit included c. E. Jones, per-
sonnet director; J. D. Stietenroth
treasurer; R. w. Braswell, manager
of operating and engineering, and l.
Hayden Smith.
The 3-act play was written and
produced by Tom Ethridge, advertis-
ing supervisor.
to 402 Towns
The pageant showed MP 81 start
ing in 1923 in three Mississippi towns
-Vicksburg, Jackson and Greenville.
Today, it serves 400 localities blan-
keting almost the entire western
half of the state. 1t started with TO-
200 residential customers Now it SER
yes 100000 with a rate that is seven
ty-six per cent lower than the origi-
e nal cost of electricity.
Over az Million Taxes
During its early days, Mississippi
Power & Light Company paid $82,-
600 taxes in Mississippi. Last year, it
contributed $2,578,O00 to city, county,
state and federal governments. 1t
had no rural lines in 1923, today A.
SOB miles of wires span its territory
in Mississippi, with $4,000 rural Gus
toners.
Mississippi has grown in relative
strides during the years of the Mis-
sissippi Power & Light Company
Having no state system of paved
roads in 1923, it. now boasts a net
work of over $4,000 miles, its motor
vehicles have increased ZIG per cent
and telephones 1856 per cent. Manu-
featured goods, manufacturing. pay
rolls, farm income, per capita in
come-all barometers of general well
fare, have risen an average of almost
300 per cent.
Bank deposits have climbed the
staggering total of 1920 per cent, and
from state government which was
"broke" in 1923, Mississippi has &C.
cumulated $25-million surplus.
Mr.. Tom w. Crockett, vice presi-
dent and central division manager
opened the meeting with a brief
speech of welcome to visiting execu-
tives and guests on behalf of local
and district employees.
Mr.. Hex l. Brown, president of the
company, addressed the meeting fol-
lowing the pageant, discussing i'm
portant phases of operations.
Our $40,000,000 expansion pro-
gram is evidence that our company
has deep and abiding faith in the
future of Mississippi" Mr. Brown
declared in speaking at Mondays
meeting.
In this era of high prices and in
flationary conditions" he continued
1t would be difficult to imagine a
more lnopportune time for launch
ing such a costly program. Yet, in
the electric utility business, we can
not choose ideal conditions in which
10 expand our services, because our
actlonS must be governed entirely
by the demands of the area we serve.
loday, we find ourselves faced
with a situation in which the mar
gin between our company's general
ing capacity and our peak load is
perilously SLIM" Mr.. Brown pointed
out. "This unusual condition was
brought about by the wartime gap
in generating deliveries and, to keep
mace with the indicated growth of
this area during coming months, we
must expand our service system fur
Their.
"To finance such expansion, we
must borrow new money! the speak
er continued. an l948 alone, our
company will borrow more than SILL
OoO.0o0 with which to defray current
costs of building new capacity and
extending our services as needed"
R. B. Wilson, president, fol
lowing his discussion Of the overall
detectives for 1948. In addition tc
Rex /. Brown, president, other speak
ers included Les M. Taylor, vice-pre
sident, who discussed selective sell
ing; R. w. Braswell, operating ane
engineering manager, who spoke OF
selective operation and coordination
of effort; J. D. Stietenroth, treasur
er, discussed the responsibilities o
his department; A. H. Forman, Jr
assistant to the vice president, spok
on budgets; and c. E. Jones, pei
sonnet director, discussed employe
relations.
The dinner was held at the Robel
E. Lee Hotel roof.
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