The Prescott daily news., 1913-10-11

l Oy the company TOT tle UeHeHI Ol Jle | public and should be inalienable for | my other purpose, and should be el- ther invested in revenue earning plant which may be inadequate or obsolete, or should be used to make the ser vice cheaper or better.
 We believe that under proper gov ernmental control ond regulation the profits from promotion or operation allowed to be distributed should not be so large as to warrant or tempt complete duplication of plant and or ganization, with its duplication of it's capital charges and it's oragization, operating, maintenance and deprecia- tion expenses; and we do not believe that utilities giving at fair rates an efficient and sufficiently comprehen- sive universal service should be sub- | jected to limited competition, not giv- ing such service Competition which | ignores the obligation to furnish a complete and comprehensive service is not competition, is not for the be- nefit of the public in that it does not reach the whole public interested.
 If, therefore, complete duplication, with it's dual exchange connection and dual bills for service, is a prerequisite to complete competition, government control and regulation cannot go hand in hand with competition.
 l We believe that the record of the Bell System will be accepted by the public as fully in accord with these | declarations. Consistant adherence to this policy has given the public of the United States the best, most con- prehensive and cheapest telephone service in the world and made the Bell standards the standards of all nations.
 To remove any possible excuse for mlsapprehension on account of the many misleading statements which have been circulated as to the alleged unnecessary and overcapitaliZation and excessive charges of the Bell Sys- tenn, the folling statistics are given Except where stated the figures are for the Bell System; that is, the American Telephone and Telegraph and it's Associated Companies.
 The entire Bell System on June 30 1913, had outstanding in the hands of the public obligations (i e., notes open accounts, bonds and shares) to the par value of $776,000,000.
 
 ble assets, which is considerably less than their replacement value, amount ed to $960, 100000. Many appraisals have been made, and most of them under the direction of public authori- ties. In no case has the value as it stands on the books failed to be sus- tained, and in most cases it has been very largely exceeded.
 The total dividends and interest paid during the year 1912 amounted to only 6.1 per cent on the average of it's outstanding obligations and to less than per cent on the average of its assets.
 The actual cash which has been paid into the treasury of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company on account of the capital obligations now outstanding amounts to $22 100000 more than the par of such outstand- ing obligations.
 The Associated Companies collected from the public and paid back in taxes over $10,000,000 during the year 1912.
 The steadily increasing necessities of the public not only for additional but for new telephone service can only he met by new construction. involv- ing capital outlay. To meet these de- mandS during the six and one half years from 1907 to June, 19t3inclu- sive, the increase in telephone plant was as follows: Toll line wire in- creased from ,460,000 miles to 2,242,- 900 miles; exchange wire increased from 6,000,000 miles to 13000,000; the number of exchange stations in- creased from 2,730000 to 5,200.000; the number of stations of independent companies connected with the Bell System increased from 343 ,000 to g. 620,000 The number of independent companies connected with the Bell System is about 25,000. The number of employees in the Bell System, not including the employees of connected companies, on December 31, 1912, was 141,0 ,000.
 During this same period the num- Der of shareholders of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company not including either the associated or connected companies, increased from 1000 to about 54,000. About 47,- 900 shareholders hold less than 100 shares each; 6,500 shareholders hold from 100 to 1000 shares each; 347 shareholders hold from 1 1000 to 5000 shares each, while there are only 16 shareholders of 5000 shares or over in their own right. A majority of the shareholders are women.
 American Telephone and Telegraph Co. THEO. N. VAIL, President