Arizona republican., 1909-05-23
PROPOSAL L0F CONSOLIDATED
It Was Rejectedt Yesterday After Two Sessions For Its Consideration --- Stock In the Home Will Be Offered to Local Investors.

The Independent Telephone com
 pany for which franchise %Gs se-
 cured by Dr. John w. Foss, Dwight
 B. Heard and E. S. Wakelin, has
 been incorporated under the name of
 The Home Telephone company. di-
 rectOrs and officers have been elected
 a proposition for consolidation made
 by the president of the Consolidated
 Telephone company has been rejected
 and the stock of the Home Telephone
 company will in a few days be of
 fered to the Phoenix investors That
 is the substance or this story and
 what follows is a recital of the de-
 tails.
 Something over a week ago there
 was a preliminary meeting of the
 local business men, at which the
 general features of the corporation
 were discussed and the names of the
 directors tentatively decided upon
 Friday another meeting was held in
 the office of Walter Bennett, at
 which the articles of incorporation
 were adopted and the document was
 filed. The articles name the follow
 ing gentlemen as directors: Walter
 Bennett, c. H. Pratt, P. T. Hurley.
 Charles Goldman, Dr. E. O. Plath.
 B. M. Goldwater Frank T. Alkire. E.
 s. Wakelin, Dwight B. Heard, pr.
 John A. Lentz, Walter Talbot c. D.
 Doris, Charles KOrrick, C. H. David
 son, Dr. John w. Foss The capital
 stock of the company is fixed at
 S1O0000 par value S10 per share, and
 the stock when disposed of will be
 sold at par, or at least not below par.
 Yesterday the directors met in the same place and elected the following officers: Dr. John w Foss, pres ident; Charles Goldman, vice presi- dent: Frank T. Alkire secretary and treasurer; Walter Bennett, counsel.
 The holders of the independent fran chise, Dr. Foss, Dwight B. Heard and
 E. s. Wakelin, then turned over to the new company the franchise re- gently voted by the city council and the people of the city. It was also voted that as soon as the books could be prepared and all was in readiness the stock would be offered to the peo- pie of Phoenix at par under a limit ed individual subscription, which lim- itation has not been decided upon yet, but will be announced as soon as the books are opened for sub scriptions. The purpose of the limi- tation is to prevent any one person or interest from securing control of the corporation, and keeping it as it has been planned from the beginning, a peoples corporation, the primary purpose of which is not to make money, but to provide the best possi- ble telephone service and secure from it revenue that meets all expenses of the company. If that can be done and there is still sufficient profit to declare dividends, it is likely the stockholders will not be sorry, though dividends are an after consideration If they get the service and avoid deficit they figure that they will be indirectly making money by having established cheaper rates. Regarding the other feature of the story, thet negotiations with the Consolidated | company and it's proposition which 1 was rejected yesterday, the following | review of the situation is presented | That the old corporation opposed | the for nation of the new one is d matter of public knowledge and was | a natural condition. It insisted that i it planned to perfect its service as | fast as possible, that the field would | not be a profitable one for two com panies, and emphasized one fact that | was generally admitted, that a double | service would at least be undesirable | for patrons and while it lasted doubly | expensive Having it's own invest ment already made it sought by all | available means to discourage the | building of another line, and through | it's representative, l.. H. Chalmers, | conferences were held with the projectors of the new company, but to no purpose. Yesterday morn ing at the request of MT. Chalmers a of citizens, mostly inter ested in the new company, assembled in the board of trade room for a MT. Chalmers recited to them what in his opinion were the moral and business rights of the old company. and what also would be the burdens and disadvantages of two companies. He recited the efforts he had made to bring the two inter- csts together, how he had first spoken against the move before the clly counciif BiNiHS HIS redSonS, ana then read to them a copy of a letter sent on May F by President Epes of the Consolidated, to the holders of the new franchise. This letter announced the purchase by the of the entire interest in the Phoenix system and the majority of all systems in the territory and that henceforth its business was to be conducted entirely free and in- dependent of the Sunset or any other company, that it was in a position to make improvements it could not have made before and that 1t was prepared to make such im- without delay. It then re- cited the proposed improvements. the of underground conduits, .l,.a Inc. aaf na,-i.. lines ta Q loast