The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1897-06-11

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avail ourselves of this opportunity
to call it.
AMONG men and in business cir
cles, the Bell Telephone Company
is whipped in this county. They
may not know it, and it may take
them year or two to discover it,
being as how while they are fleeing
other communities, their losses here
will not Inconvenience them. But
they are whipped just the same, and
sooner or later they will find it out;
for among business men and in
business circles, they are practically
shut out, and for eight long losing
years, at that. The men of Maury
have stood shoulder to shoulder like
band of brothers in this fight, and
the only weakness in our line the
Bell invaders have found to success
full play upon, is the propensity
among the ladies for cheap talk.
The Bells padded list of something
like hundred names, consists, in
the main, of ladies who are willing
to pay 80 cents month for adj
ditional talking facilities. Not that
/ they need the services of a phone;
not that they expect to use it for
any business purpose; but because
it is offered them at bargain counter
prices, and because day or night, it
is an ever ready and always willing
listener. They are suddenly re-
minded, when the bargain counter
rate is offered them, that they have
a sister or a cousin or an aunt, some
where, with whom they must con-
verse and from whom they must
hear, every day; and that is as far
as they think, but Immediately they
subscribe for Bell. They really
do not think the matter out. They
are entirely innocent of any in
territorial wrong doing; and yet they
are doing wrong. They are giving
the Bell the only prop it has left ;
they are giving it the only strength
it has; they are lending it the use
of their names, and the Bell is max
ing a proud boast and the best use
possible Of this loan. The ladies think
they have done no harm, that their 80
cents month is not much, and that
their name will not influence others
But they are mistaken. Every
name counts for one side and against
the other; and every individual,
whether man or woman, who sub
scribes for the Bell, is helping to
break down the Citizens; helping a
greedy, grasping, invading, insolent
enemy, to manacle its only COM
petitor and the peoples only friend {;
helping foreign corporation to
starve out, to break down, to render
Improbable and utterly useless, a
property their kindred, friends and
neighbOrs, have spent their money
for. They are INDUCING them
selves at the expense of their friends.
They are enjoying the privilege of
talking with friends or kindred in
other neighborhoods, where letter
would reach them in day, and
rather than sacrifice this purely
selfish pleasure, they are giving the
use of their names, the influence of
their names and their mite of money,
to the support of a corporation whose
wicked purpose is to break down
and starve out its competitor, that
it may thereafter fleece and rob a
helpless public. That is not right.
Everybody, rich or poor, large or
small, male or female, owe some
loyalty and if need be some sacrifice
Cat least of pleasure or convenience
to the community in which they
live. Those who are taking the Bell
(the most of them at LEAST have not
thought of the harm they are doing
they have not meant purposely to
aid the enemy. Women are as
patriotic as men, when they are
once aroused and made to think. 1t
is not the purpose of this article,
therefore, to scold; certainly not to
abuse; but to present the question
as it is, with the hope that some
may reason the matter and deter
mine either to hands off in the fight,
or else to help their own people. 1t
may require some little sacrifice of
pleasure or convenience, but this
sacrifice, we submit, is due from the
individual to the community, and,
we believe, when thought about
and properly understood, is a duty
that will be done.