The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1913-12-03

at par. into the treasury of our com
pany, for every share they hold, and
they have simply come into our com
pany because they believed it to be a
safe investment.
There Is, too, upon the part of the
public, a belief that the company is
largely engaged in politics. We imag.
Inc this feeling is caused by the fact
that in the past, simply from the
standpoint of self preservation, Ger.
tain corporations were almost com
PEELED to be in politics; but in these
days when the tendency is to place
all corporations and trust affairs into
the hands of a central body, such as
the Interstate Commerce Commission
and local state commissions, etc., to
deal with the conduct of business such
as ours, being in politics, as believed
by the public, would be a foolish thing
and entirely unnecessary. This is,
therefore, to state emphatically that
we are not, either directly or indirect.
ly, In politics, In any way, shape or
manner, and shall not be.
W. are going to attempt to give
you the entire story as to u rates.
We have been told, when stating to
some Of the public that we proposed
starting a campaign like this, that our
efforts would be futile; that our sub
scribers would turn out to be selfish
and only look toward the end of get
ting as cheap telephone rates as pos
sible. We do not believe this. We
believe that the great majority of the
public are inclined to be fair, and that
1t Is not SO much the question Of what
our telephone rates are as it is that
when we make a statement regarding
them, and show our true financing,
that we shall be honest, and that the
public shall know that we are honest.
That when we make a statement as
to our profits and earnings, showing
just where the dollar that our sub
scr1ber pays us goes, the public may
know that we are not trying to de-
ceive them or keep anything back
that should be shown. When we
honestly do this and our position
seems to be just and right, we believe
that the fairness of the public will
sustain us.
We are going to set forth the in.
herent difficulties of giving universal
telephone service. These articles and
letters are not to be a piece Of spe.
cial pleading or adroit use of words.
~ASOAS Ou0AAAO00-AAAO 0OIt4A6 1O1t Ill
of facts. We hope, before we get
through, both ourselves and the pub
lie will understand each other better.
There is at least no harm to be done
in trying to accomplish this desired
result.
It is our aim to educate, please and
satisfy the public and to be educated
ourselves. 1t seems to us that every
corporation has the right of self-de-
tense, the anne as an individual. The
public has the same right. Listen to
u defense and we will listen to
yours. No problem has ever been
harder for us than just how we were
going to let the public know truly
about us, but we believe that no prob
lem was ever more important to both.
If we really a make you feel that
you are a partner in our business, we
shall have accomplished much. A
large part of the problem will be
solved, if we a only bring the pub
lie, through education, to a full under
landing that there is a mutual de-
pendence between the public service
corporation and the public, and that
public prosperity depends largely up