Sixteen candle-power Mazda lamp for five hours
      Six pound flatiron 15 minutes
      Radiant toaster long enough to produce ten slices of toast
      Sewing machine for two hours
      Fan 12 inches in diameter for two hours
      Percolator long enough to make five cups of coffee
      Heating pad from two to four hours
      Domestic buffer for 11/4 hours
      Chafing dish 12 minutes
      Radiant grill for 10 minutes
      Curling iron once a day for two weeks
      Luminous 500 watt radiator for 12 minutes

Hardly as old as a grown man, the electrical industry—­including railways, telephones and telegraphs—­has already invested $8,125,000,000 in the business of America.  Its utility companies alone pay Uncle Sam $200,000,000 every year for taxes—­seven out of every ten use it in some form every day.  It is unmistakably the most vital factor to-day in America’s prosperity.  Its resources are boundless.  As Secretary of the Interior Lane expresses it, there is enough hydro-electric energy running to waste to equal the daily labor of 1,800,000,000 men or 30 times our adult population.

BEGINNING WITH A QUOTATION.  Words enclosed in quotation marks or set off in some distinctive form such as verse, an advertisement, a letter, a menu, or a sign, immediately catch the eye at the beginning of an article.  Every conceivable source may be drawn on for quotations, provided, of course, that what is quoted has close connection with the subject.  If the quotation expresses an extraordinary idea, it possesses an additional source of interest.

Verse quotations may be taken from a well-known poem, a popular song, a nursery rhyme, or even doggerel verse.  Sometimes a whole poem or song prefaces an article.  When the verse is printed in smaller type than the article, it need not be enclosed in quotation marks.  In his typewritten manuscript a writer may indicate this difference in size of type by single-spacing the lines of the quotation.

Prose quotations may be taken from a speech or an interview, or from printed material such as a book, report, or bulletin.  The more significant the quoted statement, the more effective will be the introduction.  When the quotation consists of several sentences or of one long sentence, it may comprise the first paragraph, to be followed in the second paragraph by the necessary explanation.

Popular sayings, slogans, or current phrases are not always enclosed in quotation marks, but are often set off in a separate paragraph as a striking form of beginning.

The most conspicuous quotation beginnings are reproductions of newspaper clippings, advertisements, price lists, menus, telegrams, invitations, or parts of legal documents.  These are not infrequently reproduced as nearly as possible in the original form and may be enclosed in a frame, or “box.”

    QUOTATION BEGINNINGS