POWERGRAMS

22 2 In the same inaugural issue published three months before his death, company founder James Mitchell wrote an editorial endorsing Powergrams. Martin would use the pages of the past magazines to help him write "The Story of Electricity in Alabama," which was published in 1952. Leah Rawls Atkins would later mine the magazine's pages to help write "Developed for the Service of Alabama," her prize-winning centennial history of Alabama Power published in 2006. Before the first issue was printed, the company promoted a contest to name it. A.H. Salter, a cashier in the Birmingham Office, won by incorporating the company name with the Greek word for written: Grams. Powergrams for a century has told the business aspects of the company in minute detail, continually urging safety first and, often, sales second. It has chronicled the arrival of new workers, and the retirement and deaths of older ones. Its pages have been graced by pictures of babies and grandkids, groundbreakings, big snakes killed on the job, generation plants rising from the ground, dam foundations being dug in solid rock, anniversary celebrations and ceremonies of accomplishments. The July 26, 1926, issue showed Electra being raised to the top of the new Corporate Headquarters, as a worker stood on a shoulder of the 26-foot-tall statue. In April 1933, Powergrams proclaimed that APC workers had broken an "all-time system record" by going 71 days without a lost-time accident. A year later, Vice President and General Manager James Barry said accidents must be reduced. In July 1938, Barry's popular safety creed was printed on the inside cover of the magazine. Perhaps the most poignant pages in Powergrams history were during World War II, when more than 800 Alabama Power workers left the company to serve their country. Issue after issue, the names of former employees were listed as they headed abroad. The magazine was mailed around the globe to men and women fighting for freedom. Letters from soldiers filled page after page. "The Powergrams is the best medium of keeping in contact with the Company and the folks back home," wrote Pharmacist's Mate 3rd Class R.C. Wilhite, a former land agent. "I truly enjoy reading every issue, so please keep it coming." Unfortunately, often adjacent to the names of the newly enlisted soldiers in each magazine were the names of deceased former Alabama Power employees who had made the ultimate sacrifice. The June 1944 issue told of a single memorial service for three men: 100 YEARS OF POWERGRAMS Powergrams' pages in the 1920s included photos of Electra being hoisted to the top of the new Corporate Headquarters.

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