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Samuel Insull's heart was primarily in Chicago with the three giant operating companies which he had brought up from childhood. He issued a statement that they were unaffected by the gyrations of the holding company securities. Their earnings were nearly as good as ever. The credit of Commonwealth Edison and Peoples Gas still stands high—have money in the bank, can easily refinance the millions of notes coming due. Public Service of Northern Illinois has less money in the bank but no one doubted its ability to get whatever money it needed at a reasonable price.
Thus, in the home town, the Insull achievement stood firm as billions of bulbs twinkled and millions of suppers were cooked. Squarely Samuel Insull faced his crisis late in life and at a time when he was preparing to take a large part in Chicago's Exposition celebrating 50 years of electric light. "My greatest ambition in life is to hand down my name as clean as I received it," he said. "It's just that. It isn't a question of money or anything else."