Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1913-12-06
An Open Letter to the
Telephone Using Public

Denver, COl0., november ~, 1910
The Mountain States Telephone
and Telegraph Company, in the con-
sideration of it's future development,
recognizes that its highest interests
as a public utility lie in establishing
the closest and most friendly rela-
tionship with the public generally,
and with it's patrons in particular;
therefore, it is the purpose of The
Mountain States Telephone and Tele-
graph Company, through this an
nouncement, to inaugurate what may
be termed an advertising education.
al series of articles, both in the news
its customers. 1t Is our hope that
this campaign may mark q new era
in the relation of public utility cor
porations to the public they serve.
We want this education to work
both ways-that the public may learn
the truth about us, and that we
may learn how the public regard US,
and how We may fairly and effici-
emily serve the public-in other
words, what Is just and right to us
and to the people, and to convince
the public that we will voluntarily
remedy any wrongs We are doing, II
pointed out to us.
We shall show you our financial
affairs, frankly and freely. 1t so
happens that our financing has been
of such a nature that it is easy for
us to clearly show to you this side
of our affairs. What we mean by
this is, that we have absolutely no
water in our stock; we have no bonds
nor any preferred stock, and no mort
gage of any kind upon which to
pay fixed charges. We have more in
vested In our plant at it's present re-
placement value than our issue of
common stock, and we have no other
stock issued than the common stock.
There are no wheels, nor companies
within companies, to absorb profits.
We finance ourselves from year to-
year by selling our common stock to-
the people, at no less than par, in
the states in which We operate.
When We tell you the story of cur
financing, we will prove to you that
there never have been any fortunes,
large or small, made out of the ma
nipulation of our stock-in other
words, no high financing has ever
been done in connection with The
Mountain States Telephone and Tele-
graph Company, or its predeee ssors.
The stock never has had any speeula-
tive value; it has been, and is now,
simply safe investment.
There is great misunderstanding
upon the part of the public as to this
side of our business. Persons with
Interior motives, striving for office,
blHu uCWopdPOlb Nlohlu6 w 6ANV oedl
thing news (see note below frequent
ly publish stories of how rich GER
tain officials of our company are.
Right now, this is being done in
connection with the new revenue tax.
We suppose these stories grow out
of the belief of certain of the public
that the executive officials of our
company own the entire plant. 1t
is absurd, for these executive officials
of our company are merely trustees
of the property, for the stockholders,
and none of them are rich men, nor
have they very heavy holding of
the stock 1t is true that certain re-
puted rich men have large holdings
of the stock of our company-some
of them being on our Board of Di-
rectors-but not one of them has
made any money whatsoever out of
dealing in our stock They have all
paid dollar for dollar, in cash, at
par, into the treasury, of our COM
The Maintain 81