 Utilities looked into every possible alternative to meet demand, short of constructing major new baseload stations, resulting in "one of the severest drop-offs in building in the history of the engineering-construction industry," according to former Stone & Webster president William Allen in "Public Utilities Fortnightly" (July 20, 1989).An equally severe, simultaneous downturn in international construction compounded the problem.The investment banking affiliate, Stone & Webster Securities, had attempted to grow by acquiring two smaller, regional brokerage houses in 1968