The Prescott daily news., 1913-10-11
MUTUAL RELATIONS AND INTERESTS
 of the BELL SYSTEM and the PUBLIC

should be, and what are its relations to the public.
 We believe in and were the first to advocate state or government control and regulation of public utilities; that this control or regulation should :; by permanent quasi-judicial bodies. acting after thorough investigatio and governed by the equities of each case; and that this control or regu- lation, beyond requiring the greatest efficiency and economy, should not in terfere with management or opera ton. We believe that these bodies, if they are to be permanent, effective and of public benefit, should be thor oughly representive; they should be os such character and should so con- duct their investigations and deliber- 3tions as to command such respect from both the public and the corpo- rations that both will without ques- tion accept their conclusions.
 We believe that the public would in this way get all the advantages and avoid all the manifest disadvantages of public ownership.
 We believe that the centers of busi- ness and population exist for the con- venience of the public as a whole, and that no such center can prosper with out sufficient means of intercourse with other centers and tributary ter ritories; that such means can only be afforded by prosperous utility and service companies and that fair rates are essential to prosperous companies. We do not believe that any public ei- hnr oh any service or utility furnish, perma- nent and efficient service at less than cost, including capital charges. We believe that ultimately the public ei- ther directly or indirectly pays the losses involved in the efforts to fur nish such service at less than it's fair cost, either through the loss of the capital involved, the losses incident to poor service or the necessary in crease in charges required to pay for duplication of capital.
 We believe that the highest com mercial value of the telephone service depends upon it's completeness on the extent and mprehensiveness of the facilities for intercommunication not only between individuals but be- tween centers of population; that no isolated section can be considered in- dependently of any other section or of the whole; that rates must be so adjusted as to make it possible to ob- tain the maximum development by making it possible for every one to be connected who will add to the val ue of the system, thus giving the greatest value to the greatest num- Der; that the interdependence of the telephone service and the value of complete and universal intercommu- nication justify and require some ser vices partly at the expense of the whole for the benefit of the whole. We believe that this highest com mercial value can only be attained by one system under one common control and that it cannot be given by inde- pendent systems unless they are oper- ated under agreements which result in one common control and one com mon interest, in effect making them a single system.
 We believe that rates should be so adjusted as to afford the company sufficient revenue to pay such wages and compensation as will secure the most efficient service; to maintain the ! dards of plant and apparatus, to car " on such scientific and eXperimen- 1 tai research and inventions as to ap- i paratus and methods as to insure the ] highest standards, and to carry to re serve and depreciation such amounts as will enable the company at any time to replace old plant and old me thods as fast as they may be devel- oped and found to be to the advant- 1 age of the service. We believe that in addition, such fair charges should be paid upon the investment in plant as will enable the company at any time to obtain money necessary to provide the plant required to meet the continuing demands of the public; and in order that waste and duplica- tion of effort may be avoided and un- iformity of purpose and common con- trol be enforced, that there should be a centralized general administration in close communication with and hay ing general authority over the whole on matters common to all or matters of general policy.
 We believe that any surplus be- yond that necessary to equalize divi-