The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-08-20
MUTUAL RELATIONS AND INTERESTS
OF The BELL SYSTEM AND The PUBLIC

lcdepuOu6 pIOptTlieb Ill the lOi lhWSotB
as we'll as the pending Interstate Com
merce Commission telephone investi'
cation. have caused many inquiries.
Without taking up anything going to
the merits of these proceedings, 1t has
seemed to us proper to state general
ly what has been our policy and
purpose in the conduct of our bust
ness
We have found, or thought we had,
that our interests were best served
when the public interests were best
served; and we believe that such sue
cess as we have had has been because
our business has been conducted on
these lines
We believe that our company has an
interest as vital as that of the public
in the proper administration of the
problems of electrical inter-communi-
cation The success and prosperity OF
our company depends upon a solution
of these problems which shall be
sound from both the standpoint OF the
company and the public which 1t
serves.
Following our own best judgment,
supplemented by the best obtainable
advice, we have endeavored to do what
would best serve the public interest
wherever possible our plans have peen
disclosed to the public in advance
and what has been done in carrying
them out has been along ordinary Dus-
mess lines. with the implied, and gen.
orally with the expressed approval
authorization or consent of the munlcl-
pal and state authorities directly IN
terested. Our effort has been not only
to obey the law, but to avoid every
thing which might even have the ap-
pearance of an attempt at evasion.
Our business methods and polcy'
and practically all of the details as %
the transaction of our business, are
matters of common knowledge ana
are. and for many years have Deen'
well known to the government we
will willingly furnish the government
any additional information when Is III
our possession or under our control
and will cordially cooperate with II III
obtaining such further Information as
it may require. Every possible ASSIST
ance will be given by us to the courts
in their effort to determine whether
our policy is or has been lnlnlcal "
tho nuhlic interest We desire that
ANYTHING wrong be corrected; we VIII
voluntarily rectify any wrong tHat
NAV be pointed out to us; ana SO loi
as il may be determined that our POI
icv or any act under it is against the
nuhlic interest, we will promptly coh'
form to such determination.
we believe that if each OF our eA'
changes were made an Independent
unit and if each connecting line were
nut under a separate control lhe e.
feet upon the telephone service OF the
country would be a condition SO lntor
cradle that the public would refuse 10
submit to it and would immediately
require such physical connection anu
common control of these various UNITS
as would amalgamate them lhIo d
single system. Physical connectiou III
the case of telephone or telegraph uoes
not mean transfer of messages from
one line to the other 1t means such
connection as will permit one person
to have the actual possession OF the
particular line of communication from
one end of it to the other and this can
only be given efficiently by exchange
systems and connecting lines under
common control and that is what tha
Bell System is.
In this connection, and Tor general
information we will restate the poll-
CIV which controlled the building up OF
the Bell System, and our belief as TO
what A telephone system should be-
and what are its relations to the pup
lie.
We believe in and were the first 10
advocate state or government control
and regulation of public utilities; tnaJ
this control or regulation should be by
permanent quasi-judicial bodies, act
ing after thorough investigation and
governed by the equities Of each case;
and that this control or regulation, De-
yond requiring the greatest ethclency
and economy should not interfere
with management or operation. we
believe that these bodies, if they are
to be permanent, effective and OF pub
lie benefit. should be thoroughly rep
resentative; they should be OF such
character and should so conduct their
investigations and deliberations as to
command such respect from both the
public and the corporations that both
will without question accept their con
illusions.
We believe that the public would
in this way get. all the advantages
and avoid all the manifest disadVan-
tages of public ownership.
We believe that centers OF business
and population exist for the convent
ence of the public as whole, and that
no such center can prosper without
sufficient and efficient means of inter
course with other centers and tribu'
tary territories; that such means can
only be afforded by prosperous util-
ity and service companies and that
fair rates are essential to prosperous
companies. We do not believe that any
public either desires or can obtain, nor
can any service utility furnish, per-
manent and efficient service at less
than cost. including capital charges.
We believe that ultimately the public
either directly or indirectly pays the
losses involved in the efforts to furn-
ish such service at less than Its fair
cost. either through the loss OF the
capital involved, the losses incident to
door seyice or the necessary increase
in charges required to pay for duph-
cation OF capital.
We believe that the highest COM