The Coconino sun. (Flagstaff, Ariz.) 1898-1978, 1913-12-05
An Open Letter to the
Telephone Using Public

dollar tor dollar, in cash, at par,
into the treasury of our company,
for every share they hold, and they
have simply come into our COM
pany because they believed it to
be safe investment.
There is, too, upon the part OF
the public, a belief that the com.
pany is largely engaged in politics.
We imagine this feeling is caused
by the fact that in the past, simply
from the standpoint of self preser-
vation, certain corporations were
almost compelled to be in politics;
but in these days, when the ten
dency is to place all corporations
and trust affairs into the hands of
a central body, such as the Inter-
state 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 unneces-
sary. This is, therefore, to state
emphatically that we are not, either
directly or indirectly, in politics,
in any way, shape or manner, and
shall not be.
We are going to attempt to give
you the entire story as to our rates.
We have been told, when stating
to some of the public that we pro-
posed starting campaign like
this, that our efforts would be fut-
lie; that our subscribers would
turn out to be selfish and only look
toward the end of getting as cheap
telephone rates as possible. We
do not believe this. We believe
that the great majority Of the pu-
bile are inclined to be fair, and that
it is not so much the question of
what our telephone rates are as it
is that when we make 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
statement as to our profits and
earnings, showing just where the
dollar that our subscriber pays us
goes, the PUBLIC may know that we
are not trying to deceive them or
to 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
inherent difficulties of getting un-
iversal telephone service. These
articles and letters are not to be a
piece of special pleading or adroit
use of words, but clear, business
like setting forth of facts. We
hope, before we get through, both
ourselves and the public will un-
derstand each other better. There
is at least no harm to be done in
trying to accomplish this desired
result.
1t 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-detense, the same as
an individual. The public has the
same right. Listen to our 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 problem
was ever more important to both.
If we really can make you feel that
you are a partner in our business,
we shall have accomplished much.
A larger part of the problem will
be solved, if we can only bring the
public, through education, to a
full understanding that there is a
mutual dependence between the
public service corporations and
the public, and that public pros
perity depends largely upon the
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