Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-09-30
Mr., President, Members Of the AS.

Mr.. President, Members Of the AS
ISOLATION, Ladies and Gentlemen:
l have concluded that when "Lon{
Distance" Richardson suggested tt
our honorable secretary mat be per
mitted to appear before you he wa
merely testing. Being so susceptible
to flattery l of course at the momen
took it all for straight goods" and
you know it is always the unexpected
that happens. Therefore deem it ad
visable to advertise" at the outse
in order that any collection Of ancien
hen-fruit may be 1arbored upon thu
person or persons of any of my audi
tors may be cast in the direction
where due in case your impulsivenes:
gets the best of you.
In keeping with my text it may mo-
be out of order for me to Advertise
to you something with reference tt
my unvarnished: experience in the
telephone business. It started in fur
in the fall of 1906, when my father
and myself got hold of wagonload
of 4-inch 20-foot poles, a few coils Of
structed a party line connecting our
homes and offices. at Napoleon, which
marked the birth of the. Napoleon
Telephone company. I knew nothing
then of the principles of the telephone
and find l have whole lot to learn
yet,, for which l reason that my at
tempt to tell men of experience here
anything of interest or benefit will
prove futile, except, perhaps, to en-
courage advertising.
No, sooner. had we started our lit
tie party line at Napoleon than our
neighbors wanted in on the PROPOSE
ton. We began to reach out and
take them in as polite as consistency
mixed with good business manage
ment would permit. They kept on
coming until we had twenty-five on
the one party line, which proved the
greatest boon to humanity in our
neck Of the woods that had yet come
to US. AS fast as the new subscribers
were taken in the event was heralded
to the world through the medium of
our Weekly Squawk. We advertised
the fact. When Mrs. Smith read in
our great family" journal that her
dear friend Mrs. Jones had a tele-
phone, we secured an immediate or
der from Mrs. s. for one also. OF
course all the subscribers learned
at once about Mrs. Jones getting in
on the line, but advertising the fact
proved a benefit to our company by
getting an additional subscriber and
to the subscriber as well.
The extension of our grand sys-
tenn also brought much needed
business in our overhealthy 10.
cality to our good doctor by creating
for him almost daily jobs of putting
in repairs on broken necks and other
extremities caused by someone on
the line after folks had retired for
the night. wish to impress, as deep
ly as I can, upon you the fact that
there is no limit to the extent of
good that may accrue through adver-
Using. No business will acquire
greater benefits through advertising
than the new telephone system.
Nothing will contribute to the upbuild.
ing and extension of the local system
more rapidly and make greater re-
turns of dollars for the cents ex-
pended than advertising. The greater
the energy Of our publicity depart
ment, the faster it will have to move
in order to keep out Of the way of
the construction gang.
To begin with, do not advertise un'
less you can make good, or else you
will feel the effects of the advertising
In a way not desired by you. If you
are equipped so that you can give
your subscribers good serTice-and
are doing it-that, in my estimation,
Is the foundation stone of the sue
cess of your system. Pitch in and
advertise your good SERVICE fea-
lure and it will prove most valua-
BILE drawing card, for that Is Just
what interests the public today as
we'll as yesterday and will tomorrow
good service. After advertising
good service be sure that you main.
tain such or your patrons will soon
tecome Indifferent about patronizing
t.
When l first became interested IN
the telephone business few short
years ago 1 thought It was the best
graft going, that all I had to do was
to put up the poles and wires and
then sit around and watch the money
roll in-might not have time eh6ugh
10 even count it. l didn't advertise
that. That supposition was all rfght
for a short time, but soon changed
nv mind after a sleet storm came
along and did considerable damage to
our little system. l advertised that
some. l have also experienced one
or two other things I had not thought
of at the beginning. I find there are
many very delicate intricacies arising
almost daily, more especially with the
new subscribers and other patrons,
which l believe could be almost who'll
~ avoided If there was greater public
ity of the telephone business, its rules
and regulations. There should be a
better understanding between the pa
tron and the operating company.
Many have the same false impression
of the telephone business that I did
before getting hold Of the business
end of the stick. They believe that
the telephone company is Just coming