Word: giantism
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Dates: during 1932-1932
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...Giantism". Sharpest and most studious of criticisms were voiced in Manhattan where a Round Table Conference on Utility Regulation was being held by almost 100 commission members and regulation students. Finance Professor James Cummings Bonbright of Columbia University, Secretary of the Power Authority of the State of New York, spoke on "The Breakdown of the Public Utility Holding Company." Utilitymen read his speech with keen interest for they knew Professor Bonbright to be a cousin of the late William Prescott Bonbright and of Irving W. Bonbright, co-founders of Bonbright & Co., utility bankers...
While Professor Bonbright conceded that a holding company is essential to consolidate small, competing plants, he averred it has been carried "to a point far beyond that of maximum economy. . . . Normal growth has given away to giantism with a result that a system such as Electric Bond & Share or the Insull System must be regarded as an economic disease." He claimed that geographical "diversification," a prime selling-point for holding company securities, is not rational. He roundly criticized holding companies for borrowing (as many have done) from the companies they control. Heartily in accord with these sentiments was Harvard...