Mexico weekly ledger., 1904-12-22
MANUFACTURERS DUTIES
AND THEIR DUES
Fart Of an Address Delivered b,
.. Graham, Of Mszisa' "

y. D.. Graham, of Mexico, delivered
splendid address before the inter
state meeting Of independent IT,
pnOne managers in Chicago last weaI
In part said. Week
uentlemen:-When I receivoa
invitation to read a paper before tb as
oooy' The subject Of which is nMarn'
lacturers' Duties and Their Duos ,, T
uia not nave the slightest idea Of nm.
taxing TO say anything. In fact. Ida
no .nlnk | could say anything that
mouiu entertain, instruct or interest
anybody, but after being urged and
encouraged by your committee VI 7
anaily concluded to tackle the s,h-
ject. '"' Sdo-
MY only excuse for this is | feel s,,re
thefe Will be much talk on this line
and If can direct the discussIon and
exchange OF views to the right course
ed. piiSn
In the first place let It be under.
Stood that | know absolutely nothina
ABOUT the telephone business. 7
ouVUed into 1t in a small way about
zen years ago, when all OF us tbouuht
IL was a get-rlch.quick proposition
we many Of US, thought VIC had
eoou APPARATUS i am free to confess
'nat 1 thought SO. We had the same
opinion that some Of our farmer
friends have now, that all that was
needed was a fence wire and a hoon
pole and we could do all the TALKING
we pleased and make plenty of money,
But In my Judgment the telephone
business is rapidly approaching the
point where efficiency in service is
wnat will count. We cannot have
elhclent service without good construc.
lion and the best Of apparatus.
In the last few years there have
sprung up quite a number of concerns
tnat manufacture independent tele.
phone apparatus, In fact, it is nv
opinion that some of the apparatus
made by some Of these independent
factories are the best that we have. 7
believe it to be our duty to keep it SO.
and to hold up the hands Of those
That make good apparatus and in some
manner encourage the independent
factories as far as possible.
Ii our opponents should get possess
ION OF the factories that have the best
apparatus and should get possession of
the patents that they have on those
appliances, we, the independent oper-
ators, would be the sufferers, because
while we are able to, and do at this
time, furnish as good service as Others
do, both local and long distance, yet it
will be impossible for US to make the
ARRANGEMENTS and be in the process.
sion as we should unless we have access
to equally as good apparatus.
A great many Of the independent
manufacturers Of telephone apparatus
have been handicapped because of
their shortness Of capital. At one
time-in the early days OF the indie
pendents-factories were started and
maintained on a small outlay. Those
days have passed, To maintain a fac
tory now that manufactures all Of the
present up-tV-date apparatus, and one
that will be able TO ill orders prompt
ly, requires, | would think, a large
outlay Of money.
IL would certainly be a relief to
know Just where TO send TO get GER
tain things in a hurry, know that your
order would be filled promptly, and
know that your goods were going to
be exactly what you ordered, that you
might produce results that you tx
pected. That, to my mind, would be
a great benefit to the operators Then
things would be so uniform that you
would not see, as | have, telephone
exchanges OF three to seven hundred
subscribers, with twenty different
makes Of apparatus at work.
Uniformity Of good apparatus would,
10 my judgment, most assuredly add
to the good service Of any telephone
exchange,
In conclusion-the duties of manu-
facturers involve their protecting
their customers 10 the production
and sale to them Of the very best APP
paratus, and their 10! atty to the bus
mess and the interests of the men TO
whom they sell their products, in
some instances In my judgement, has
not been properly recognized by them.
1t is certainly their duty to protect
the people to whom they sell appar-
atus, rather than to undertake TO or
ganize mutual concerns or other con-
Germs in order to sell their stuff, which
concerns do undertake TO compete and
drive out of existence the companies
to which they had already sold their
apparatus
II all of the manufacturers had rec
ognized the importance Of perform
ing their duties toward the operator
and had Loyalty and faithfully per-
formed them, they would have gotten
their Just dues in addition to the vast
amount Of money they have received
as profits on their business.
They would to-day have had tne
support, confidence and backing OF all
Generators in the independent field
ssor0oS 1sScsSSrsSSS SaF1610doS 6'SDDs