The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-04-27

aiiiouHt, Slice 1t does represent Ina
which gives to the Southern New Eng
land Telephone company it's connection
with the outside world, and which, as q
matter of fact, is worth more than the
amount of this franchise account.
Moreover, as Mr.. Tyler shows in his
testimony, a. the present day the Amer
lean Bell Telephone Co. furnishe us tel
ephones far cheaper than the indepen-
dent companies can get their tele-
phones. We buy no telephones: we
have no capital invested in them; they
are furnished to us on rental so low
as to defy competition In the matter of
cost to us. A telephone which will cost
an independent company S1750, as
testified to by Mr.. Rutherford
calls for an investment of $17.50 capital,
the interest on which is at least 81;
calls for an allowance for annual depre-
citation of at least Is per cent, which
is $2.5 calls for an allowance to make
good any accident to the telephone, or
it's happening to be unfit for use Clear
ly, this large investment by the indie
pendent telephone company in tele-
phones, costs them far more than the
privilege Of making no investment at
all on our part, and Of paying only a
slight sum per annum for the use Of the
instruments. The committee will re-
member that, though the telephone roy
atty last year to our company was $3.50,
this year it will be so reduced as that
the telephone will cost us far less than
it will cost our would-be competitors.
So we say that our franchise account
is worth far more than S147,000.
Yet if we look more closely at the
problem, it must be remembered that,
in the 80 months that we went without
dividends, suspending what had been a
6 per cent. dividend, over 100000 of net
earnings, with $685. 900 cash contributions
from the American Bell Telephone COM
pany were applied in the construction
of the plant. Nothing was given for it
to the stockholders or the American
Bell Telephone Conc bond, or scrip,
or certificate. All this was charged off
to expense. and any candid mind must
admit that these sums far overbalanc-
ed the small remnant of the franchise
account
Therefore we gay that the Southern
New England Telephone Co. stands be-
| lolc lIilo CoillIllllGe lO-udy Will uOl OIle
dollar of stock, but what is represented
by more than a dollar in cash.
Our construction account is not made
up of rotten material. We have not
kept our accounts upon the basis of
making book surplus. What has
become worthless in our construction
account has been written off.
| Indeed. "our friends the enemy" crti-
else us by the statement that we have
accounted for earnings in the expense
account, which ought, as they say, to
have been distributed to stockholders-a
criticism which ought to meet with very
little favor before the committee of this
general assembly, because it only shows
that the management Of the company
has been such as to put us in the pos
session Of power to serve the public, and
that we have not awaited ourselves of
opportunities to enrich the stockholders
at the expense of the public. Solvent
companies, well managed, carry small
construction accounts and large expense
accounts. Speculative companies, SOL
vent or insolvent, carry large CONSTITUTE
ton accounts and small expense ac-
counts.
THE AVERAGE RATE OF DIvI-
DEND IN THE SOUTHERN NEW
ENGLAND TELEPHONE COMPANY
HAS BEEN Az PER CENT. FOR THE
ENTIRE PERIOD OF ITS EXIST
ENCE. The number Of our stock
holders is $50. The number resid-
ing in Connecticut ia 523. The num-
Der of stockholders whose holdings are
rs shares or less is Ala, and the average
holding of these 414 stockholders is ten
shares. The number Of women who are
stockholders is 275
8. The Southern New England Tele-
phone company has learned through its
long experience and it's able manage |
ment, all there is to be known and |
learned of the telephone business. 1t
has found that the public does not want |
cheap or poor service. 1t has found |
that what the public insists upon is good |
service. 1t has furnished and is fur
nishing to the people Of this state, |
throughout its entire length and |
breadth, and In almost every one Of it's
towns a telephone service; each tele-
phone, in any house or office, is Of the
very best, and as good as any other; and |
each subscriber, from his Office or house,
can talk all over the state and over the
larger part of the United States. The
Southern New England Telephone COM
pany has established the standard tele-
phonic service in the United States, and
its rates are lower than any other of the
Bell telephone companies. I
I have been so long a stakeholder, d.
rector and counsel of the company that
cannot wholly, In my argument sepa-
rate my personal knowledge from what
has been said here by President Tyler
] well remember, as he has testified,
prior to 1888, how inferior the telephone
equipment of our company was. 1t was
as good as any in the United States, but,
as compared with it's present standard
of service, it was nowhere. Up to 1888,
we had, so to speak, catered to the idea
that what the public wanted was some
kind of a telephone service, within its
IDEAS of what 1t could afford to pay for
It, Rates were low and the service was
poor, and the company became well
1igh bankrupt.
remember very well, prior to 1888,
low we used to tremble when heavy
storm struck the country. The great
blizzard Of 1888 brought this condition
If things to a head. The company then
oOlS an entirely different cnurSa IT.