The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-09-10

| be SO large as to warrant or tempt
complete duplication OF plant and or
ganization, with its duphsAtion of It's
capital charges and its organization,
Operating, maintenance and deprecia-
| ton expenses; and we do aot believe
| that utilities giving at fair rates an
efficient service should be subject to
limited competition, not giving such
service Competition which ignores
! the obligation to furnish complete
and comprehensive service is not
competition, is not for the benefit of
the public in that 1t does not reach
the whole public interested.
| If, therefore, complete duplication,
with its dual exchange connection and
| dual bills for service, is a prerequisite
| to complete competition, government
control and regulation cannot go hand
| in hand with competition.
| We believe that the record Of the
Bell System will be accepted by the
public as fully In accoi,A with these
declarations. Consistent adherence to
this policy has given the public of the
United States the best, most compre-
hensive and cheapest telephone ser
vice in the world and made the Bell
standards the standards of all nations.
To remove any possible excuse for
misrepresentation on account of the
many misleading statements which
unnecessary and overcapitalization
| tenn, the following statistics are CIV
en-, Except where stated. the figures
are for the Bell System; that is, the
=, a nn<fz IL u.
and its Associated Companies.
i The entire Bell System on June 80,
i 1918, had outstanding In the hands Of
the public obligations q. e., notes,
open accounts, bonds and shares) to
the par value of s776,000.000.
/ The book value of the total tangible
.Iassets, which is considerably less than
their replacement value, amounted to
i $500, 600 900. Many appraisals OF
property included in these assets have
been made, and most of them under
1.-THE direction of public authorities. In
mo case has the value as 1t stands on
the books failed to be sustained, and
I in most cases ii has been very largely
Exceeded.
The total dividends and interest
paid during the year 1Sis amounted
4 to only 61 per cent on the average OF
its outstanding obligations, and to
less than per cent on the average
value Of its assets.
4 The actual cash which has been paid
Into the treasury of the American
Il Telephone and Telegraph company on
account of the capital obligations
4 now outstanding amounts to $22,000,-
900 more than the par OF such out
standing obligations.
4 The Associated Companies collect
ed from the public and paid back In
taxes over 100000 during the year
1912.
4 The steadily increasing necessities
of the public not only for additional
but for new telephone service can only
be met by new construction. involy-
ing capital outlay. To meet these der
mands during the six and one-half
I years from 1907 to June, 1913, In
elusive, the increase in telephone
plant was as follows: Toll line wire
!, increased from 1,460.000 miles to q
242,000 miles; exchange wire increas-
; ed from 100000 miles to 10000, 900;
the number of exchange stations in
creased from 2,73O,000 to $500 900;
the number of stations of independent
: companies connected with the Bell
System increased from $4,000 to q
! 100000. The number of independent
: companies connected with the Bell
System is about $4,000. The number
, of employees in the Bell System, not
. including the employees of connected
companies, on December 81, 1912, was
al 900
/ During this same period the num-
her of shareholders Of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company.
! not including either the associated or
connected companies, increased from
g 1900 to about $4,000. About $4,000
9 shareholders hold less than 100 shares
each; $500 shareholders hold from
!, 100 to 1000 shares each; BAT share.
! holders hold from 1000 to 5000 shares
each, while there are only 16 share.
J, holders Of 5000 shares or over In
their own right. A majority Of the
shareholders are women
Z American Telephone and Telegraph
e Co.
n THBO N. VAIL, President.
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