Ad from Consumers Power Company,
"Herbert Hoover, Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce, says:"
From Five Hundred Representative Public Utility Advertisements, 1928
Public Utilities Advertising Association

The print reads:

"We are in the midst of a great transformation in the development of electric power -- it is reducing the burden of human toil; it is increasing productivity; it is bringing increased comfort to our people." [Quote from Hoover]

"Right here in Michigan -- these facts are realities. Electric light and power advantages of the highest order are yours.

"Workmen in this Company's territory have at hand 192% more electric power than was available in 1915 -- and consider what adequate power has meant in Michigan's industrial growth!

"Today -- 290 cities and towns are served from this system, each backed up by the vast reservoir of power created through interconnection of power plants -- each sharing in fullest measure in its economy, reliability and the means to progress. In 1915, there were but 65 towns enjoying these benefits.

"Today -- a quarter-million Michigan homes have, at the touch of a finger, the convenience, health and comfort of Consumers Power Service. At any hour -- in any amount -- it is yours. And work goes ever on, to make electricity ever more useful -- in more ways.

"To you and your community -- these are the fruits of the efficiency, economy and enterprise of private management -- the true American principle. United in these purposes of public service are 40,000 of your fellow-citizens, owners in the business .... and the number is steadily growing."

     Electrification, in the early part of this century, represented a state-of-the-art, high-technology. The number of homes and businesses receiving power was tracked by trade associations much as numbers of those connected to the Internet are tracked today. Nor are politicians who try to make points by extolling the virtues of technology practicing anything new.

     A more subtle point to notice in this ad is the reference to the virtues of "private management" in the final paragraph. Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs in the trade-jargon), have traditionally been very strong in their opposition to public-power utilities and rural cooperatives for philosophical reasons (the latter typically operate on an at-cost or not-for-profit basis). Some IOU advertisements of the 1950s quite explicitly equated public-power with socialism and communism, and this theme can sometimes still be seen occasionally today.