[PRCo] Re: Power Company fights government in 1935

[Dwight Long]

John

A detailed answer is probably not appropriate for this site.

Dwight

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Swindler 
  To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org 
  Sent: Friday, 24 September, 2010 23:09
  Subject: [PRCo] Re: Power Company fights government in 1935




  15 years ago we were not spending time on the internet.

  60 years ago we were not spending time in front of a TV set

  100 years ago we were not spending time listening to the radio.

  The options of things to do today are so much more extensive then our parents or grandparents generation.  They came home from work, and what options did they have for the evening? 

  Cheers
  John








  > Subject: [PRCo] Re: Power Company fights government in 1935
  > From: fwschneider at comcast.net
  > Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:51:29 -0400
  > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
  > 
  > I am making a jab that most people today do not read; they watch sound bites.   A few seconds on television instead of reading ten column inch story in the paper.   Pittsburgh lost the Press and the Sun Telegraph and in its place has gained Dick Scaife's Tribune Review but no one has the newspaper circulation we had years ago, not just because the population is down but also because we simply do not read.   Even here in Lancaster where the population is double what it was, the circulation is down and has reduced sales from two papers to one.    We have also lost all our county weekly papers.    
  > 
  > And they probably don't even watch television news.   I suspect you have millions more watching some idiot getting voted off an island than watching news.  
  > 
  > Remember when a 12-year-old could make a decent income from a first job delivering papers?   I got a penny and a quarter a paper and had to tote over a 125 weekday papers plus almost as many Sunday papers.   I had the evening paper.   About 70 percent of the homes got it.   The rest got the morning paper.   Today they are motor carrier routes because so few homes get it that you get a neighborhood kid to carry them.   (And the kids are lazy.)   I can only think of one neighbor around us who gets the paper!   
  > 
  > Sad too because as the circulation drops, the quality of the reporting goes down.   It has simply become a summary of press releases and police reports.  There is almost no real reporting in our paper any longer and very limited national or international news.   Why bother to print that.  No one cares about a flood in Pakistan or a Israel blocking deliveries by ship to the Gaza or wind generation in Denmark.   Hell, the fools do even know where Iraq is (you might recall one of the late shows where some idiot pointed to Australia and said, "There it is") and don't ask them to spell Afghanistan.   
  > 
  > Sorry, Dwight but you push my buttons.
  > 
  > On Sep 22, 2010, at 10:32 PM, Dwight Long wrote:
  > 
  > > Fred
  > > 
  > > So what do residents of da Burgh read?  Since there is no more Press,  do the read the Cleveland Plain Dealer?
  > > 
  > > And, what other papers are there in Pgh other than the Post Gazette?  The Press and Sun Tele are gone.  I suppose there is the usual plethora of freebie sheets geared primarily to the entertainment industry, but what else?
  > > 
  > > Surely they don't all import the New York Times?
  > > 
  > > Dwight
  > > 
  > >  ----- Original Message ----- 
  > >  From: Fred Schneider 
  > >  To: Pittsburgh-Railways at Dementia.Org 
  > >  Cc: Ed Lybarger 
  > >  Sent: Wednesday, 22 September, 2010 22:01
  > >  Subject: [PRCo] Power Company fights government in 1935
  > > 
  > > 
  > >  This item is priceless because it shows two things....
  > > 
  > >  1)  It is a utility company fighting the government attempts in the Depression to break up utility holding companies and to take away their profits.   In this same week utility stock values crashed to an all-time low. 
  > > 
  > >  2)  It's an advertisement against the government by Associated Gas and Electric holding company in the Pittsburgh Press.  Their nearest operations were in Johnstown and Altoona.  You don't advertise in Pittsburgh unless that paper is sold in your market area!   Imagine Johnstown and Altoona people reading the Pittsburgh papers.   Today Pittsburgh people don't even read Pittsburgh papers.  
  > > 
  > >  The rest of the story will follow in a few days including the fight to force Duquesne Light into a 30% rate reduction.
  > > 
  > >  http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AXEbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kUsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5725%2C3425979
  > > 
  > > 
  > > 
  > 
  > 
  >