The semi-weekly messenger., 1906-07-24
The Books of the Bell TELEPHONE
Company Produced
III WAS NOT A MONEY MAKER
All the Workings OF the System E
piaines1-Receipts and Expenses I'm
Different Cities Shown-Opiniop i.
mat Colonel Grimes Has Failed i'm
Ills ContcntiOn-Trustet. OF Wake
forest Accept Offer of Educational
Association.
SPECIAL to The MESSENGER j

Raleigh, \. c., July 20.-Erudition
IN telephony was exemplified At the
afternoon session Of the hearing of the
corporation commission in the matter
OF the Secretary OF State Grimes
against the Southern Bell Telephone
Company
Inc chlefest witnes son the stand
was j. VI. B. Hoxsey auditor of the de-
Iendant company, who knows the bus
mess from figure to figure. and who is
IN closest touch with the officers of the
company, basing rates and other fea
lures OF activity by actual results.
Stated plainly Colonel Grimes asa man
and as state officer, has instituted a
complaint that he has fallen down on
ana the public looks on interestedly.
Ihe Bell company today opened wide
Its books under oath and there was
shown the difference between the SPEC
natlng investigator and the informed
expert. Auditor Hoxsey was for a long
Tune On the stand. He presented IN
the company. Gains and losses in rev.
enue were developed in the investiga-
tlon and it is safe to assert that when
all the facts are known after publica-
ton by the corporation commission
that the monopoly cry will have been
stllled for long while
Mr.. HOxsey announced the capitali-
zatlon of his company. The fact that
there was no bonded Indebtedness.
failure to pay dividends for a, number
OF years, as will appear in a full story
not handled by this wire and that
only recently has such q dividend been
declared
The figures are as follows as per
the report submitted under oath be-
fore the commission:
Wilmington exchange revenue, $685.
2SO.S3. Toll revenue, $9,9140S. Total
$48, ,194.91. General expenses, $5,785.46
Operating expenses, $S,74O63 Main
tenance, $15,353.44. Total expenses,
$26,Sz9.53. Net revenue $1S,315.3S 1t
was proven that if the charges for ex-
change and toll service had been OBJ
served the company would have ope-
rated at a considerable loss in all par
ticularS. Profits were in Charlotte
nine and eight tenths per cent, Will
mingtOn, nine and two tenths per
cent, Mt. Olive, eight and nine tenths
/ per cent, Winston-Salem, seven and
four tenthS per cent. The largest
losses were in Concord, fourteen and
eight tenths per cent, Spencer, four
/ teen and eighth per cent, Davidson,
two and seven tenth per cent, Green's
borO, two and five tenths per cent.
Raleigh, one and five tenths per cent
With profits must be considered large
! additions to equipments and deprecia-
! tiOn in many essentials. Mr.. HOxsey
was for a lons time on the stand and
was-cross examined by Colonel Grimes.
Salaries of all officers was given and
details without number and the cry of
monopoly must for a while be stilled
at least in North Carolina. This state
ment is made advisedly and after hear
| ing such facts and figures as have new
er before been made public in the state
! from or in connection with any pub
, lie institution. The details which are
now in preparation by your cOrrespon-
dent are too lengthy for wire tolls
| will be given in fulD. Figures of
| sworn value prove that If rates as
prayed DV the secretary Ol Stdle "ouIu
! have brought to the defendant COM
! pany loss Of one half of one per
! cent actually and entirely.
A slight fire at the wasteroom OF the
Raleigh cotton mills. occasiOned Lose
of two hundred dollars today. Build
/ ing was Of uninsurable class.
J Trustees of Wake Forest college this
afternoon decided TO accept the offer
! O fthe educational association to do
nate to the college thirty seven thou
sand five hundred dollars conditional
with the raising by the educational en-
! dOwment funds committee OF hundred
and twelve thousand five hundred dol
lars by December l, 1907. The trus-
| tees elected DR.. J. D. Ives instructor IN
/ biology and instructed the faculty TO
selecr an assistant in Engllsh.