Electricitizens

Preston S. Arkwright, Atlanta lawyer, went into the office of President Henry Morrell Atkinson of the Georgia Railway & Power Co., asked him to sign certain securities. "Sign them yourself," said President Atkinson, and went on working. Politely Lawyer Arkwright insisted, "I am

sorry, Mr. Atkinson, but they must be signed by the president of the company." Casually President Atkinson said: "That's all right. You sign them. You're the president now." That was in 1912.

Last week on the Million Dollar Pier at Atlantic City, N. J., before 10,000 utility-men, and with more formality, Preston S. Arkwright (now president of the Georgia Power Co.) was installed as president of the National Electric Light Association.

Did he believe his inauguration to occur at an awkward time, and his responsibility onerous, he must have been reassured by the valedictory of the retiring N. E. L. A. president, Howard T. Sands of Manhattan: "Human frailty exists in our industry as in all others. In an investigation like this [by the Federal Trade Commission], involving every act of thousands of companies, hundreds of thousands of separate transactions ... for the last quarter of a century, it would be miraculous if there should not be found some instances of bad judgment, of the influence of greed, even perhaps of actual wrongdoing. Such instances, if any be found, will, I am sure, represent a very minute percentage of the transactions under investigation."