Overload by Arthur Hailey Page B

favor of
    it. But it isn't enough, not nearly enough to achieve what we want, and
    here's the reason."
    Van Buren paused. Reaching down beside her seat, she produced two
    newspapers and spread them on the conference room table. "This is this
    afternoon's California Examiner-an early edition I had sent inand this one,
    this morning's Chronicle-West, which you've undoubtedly all seen. I've been
    through both papers carefully and there's not a word in either about last
    week's power outage. For one day, as we know, the subject was big news, the
    next day minor news; after that it disappeared. And what's true of the
    press is true of other media."
    "So what?" Ray Paulsen said. "There's been other news. People lose
    interest."
    "They lose interest because no one keeps them interested. Out there" -Van
    Buren waved an arm in the general direction of the world beyond the
    conference room-"out there the press and public think of an electric power
    shortage as a here-today-gone-tomorrow, short-term problem. Almost no one
    is considering the long-term effects of power shortages which we know are
    getting closer-drastically lower living standards, dislocation of industry,
    catastrophic unemployment. And nothing will change that outside, uninformed
    thinking unless we make it change."
    Sharlett Underhill, executive vice president of finance and the other woman
    at the table, asked, "How do you make anybody think anything?"
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"I'll answer that," Nim Goldman said. He snapped down his pencil. "One
    way is to start shouting the trutb-tbe way things real1v are, not holding
    back-and to go on shouting loud and clear and often
    Ray Paulsen said sardonically, "In other words, you'd like to be on TV
    four times a week instead of twice?"
    Nim ignored the interruption. He went on, "We should, as company policy,
    keep on proclaiming what everyone at this table knows: That last week our
    peak load was twenty-two million kilowatts, and demand is growing by a
    million kilowatts a year. That, assuming the same growth rate, in three
    years Nve'll be short on reserves, in four years we'll have none. So bow
    will we manage? The answer is: we won't. Any fool can see what's
    coming-three years from now, blackouts every time It's hot; and in six
    years, blackouts every summer day. We have got to get some new generators
    built and we have to tell the public the consequences of not building
    them."
    There was a silence which Van Buren broke. "We all know every word of
    that is true, so why not say so? There's even an opportunity next week.
    Nim has been booked for Tuesday on The Good Evening Show, which has a big
    following."
    Paulsen grunted. "Too bad I'll be out that night."
    "I'm not at all sure we should be that forthright," Sharlett Underhill
    said. "I need hardly remind everyone we have an application in process
    for a rate increase and we desperately need that extra revenue. I don't
    want to see our chances of getting it jeopardized."
    "Frankness is likely to improve our chances," Van Buren said, "not
    diminish them."
    The finance vice president shook her bead. "I'm not so sure. And
    something else I believe is that the kind of statements we're talking
    about, if made at all, should come from the chairman."
    "For the record," Eric Humphrey put in mildly, "I was asked to appear on
    The Good Evening Show and I deputed Nim. He seems to do that kind of
    thing quite well."
    "He'd do a whole lot better," the p.r. vice president said, "if we gave
    him carte blanche to issue some plain, ugly warnings instead of insisting
    on the 'moderate line' we always do."
    "I'm still in favor of a moderate line." This time the speaker was Fraser
    Fenton, who held the title of president, though his main responsibility
    was for the utility's gas operations. Fenton, thin, balding and ascetic,
    was another veteran.
    "Not all of us," he continued, "accept your gloomy view, Tess, of what's
    ahead. I've been tbirty-four years with this utility and I've seen
    problems come and