The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-12-05
Clifton, Arizona, Dec. 5, 1913

Denver, Colo, November 30, 1913
 The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, in the consider ation of it's future development,r ,recog- nizes that it's highest interests as a public utility lie in establishing the closest and most friendly relationship with the public generally, and with it's patrons in particular; therefore, it is the purpose of The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, through this announcement, to inaug- urate what may be termed an adver- Using educational series of articles, both in the newspapers and in the form of letters to it's customers. It is our hope that this campaign may mark new era in the relation of public utility corporations to the pub lie they serve. We want this educa- tion to work both ways-that the pub lie may learn the truth about us, and that we may learn how the public re- gard us, and how we may fairly and efficiently 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 reme- dy any wrongs we are doing, if point ed out to us.
 We shall show you our financial af- fairs, frankly and freely. It so hap pens that our financing has been of such 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 mortgage of any kind upon which to pay fixed charges.
 We have more invested in our plant at its present replacement value than our issue of common stock, and we have no other stock issued than the common stock. There are no wheels within wheels, nor companies within companies, to absorb profits. We finance ourselves from year to year by selling our common stock to the people, at not less than par, in the states in which we operate.
 When we tell you the story of our financing, we will prove to you that there never have been any fortunes, large or small, made out of the man. spulation of our stock-in other words no high financing has ever been done fin connection with The Mountain States. Telephone and Telegraph Con- pany, or it's predecessors. The stock never has had any speculative value; it has been, and is now, simply a safe investment.
 There is great misunderstanding upon the part or the puDl1c- as to NnlS side of our business. Persons with ulterior motives, striving for office, and newspapers wishing to give star ting news (see note below) frequently publish stories of how rich certain officials of our company are. Right now, this is being done in connection with the new revenue tax. We SUD- pose these stories grow out of the belief of certain of the public that the executive officials of our company own the entire plant. It 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 a very heavy holding of the stock. It is true tht certain reput- ed rich men have large holdings of the stock of our company-some of them being on our Board of Direct ors-but not one of them has made any money whatsoever out of dealing in our stock. They have all paid dol