The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1913-09-03
MUTUAL RELATIONS and INTERESTS
Of The BELL SYSTEM and the PUBLIC

The suit brought by the United
States questioning; the purchase OF GER
tain telephone properties In the north
west, -as-well as ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Commerce Commission talAnAone.inves-
tigation. have caused many Inquiries.
Without taking up anything-going to
the merits OF these proceedings, 1t has
seemed to us proper to- states generally
what has.been o~urSpolicy and purpose in,
the conduct Of u business.
We have found or thought that we
had. that our interests were best aeryed
when the public interests were best
served; and-we-believe that such suc4
cess as we have had has been because
our,.business has gSbeen conducted on
these lines.
We believe that our company has an
interest as,rvital AS that Of the public
in the proper administration Of the
problems of electrical inter-communi-
cation. This success, and, prosperity ct
our company depend upon The solution
Of these problems which shall be sound
from both the standpoint Of the COM
pany and, the public which it. serves.
Following our, own best Judgment,
supplemented by the best obtainable adj
vice, W. have underworld to do what
would best serve the public interest;
wherever possible our plans nave been
disclosed to the public in advance and
what has been done in carrying them
out has been along ordinary business
lines, with the implied, andsg generally,
with the expressed approval, authori-
zation or consent of the municipal and
state authorities directly Interested Our
effort has been not only to obey the
law, but to avoid everything which
might eve have the appearance of an
attempt at evasion.
Our business methods and policy, and
practically all Of the details, as tosithe
transaction of our business. are matters
of common knowledge and are, and for
many years have been, well known to
the government. We will willingly fur
nish the government any additional in
formation which is in our possession or
under our control, and will cordially CO.
operate with it in obtaining such. further
information Is it may require. Every
possible assistance will be given by us
to the courts in their effort to deter
mine whether our policy is or has been
inimical to the public interest. We de-
sire that anything wrong be corrected;
we will voluntarily. rectifyl any wrong
that nay be pointed out to u.s. and. Sc
far as it may be determined; that our
the public interest, we, will promptly
conform to such. determination.
We believe that if each Of our ex.
! Dho u,oro xoo1o * - - fnao-o~a.-
unit and If each connecting line were put
undr a separate control, the effect upor
the telephone : service, of the, country
would be a condition so intolerable tina,
the public would refuse to submit to il
and would Immediately require .suct
physical connection and common con
troll of these various units, as wouIi
amalgamate them into a. single system
Physical connection in the case of tele.
phone or telegraph does not NEAR
transfer of messages from one line t.
the other. 1t e. such a. connection
as will permit one person to&have thu
actual possession of the particular line
Of communication from one end of it t
the other and this a onlyfsbe %giver
efficiently by exchange systemssandzcona
Meeting lines under a common control
and that is what the Bell System is.
In this connection, and for general in,
formation. we will restate the policy
which controlled the building up Of thu
Bell System, and our belief as to wha,
a telephone system should be. and whar
are its relations to the public,
We believe in and were the first t
advocate state or government contro
| and roo,I1o fi0n ~ rnh1io ,,fi1itiAo. thu
this control or regulation should be- b,
permanent yquasi-judicia1 bodies, acting
after thorough investigation and gov.
erned' by the equities Of each case; ani
that this control or regulation, beyond
requiring the greatest efficiency anl
economy, should not interfere with man.
agement or operation. We believe tina,
these bodies. it. they. are to be, perman.
ent, effective n of public benefit
should be-~-theroughly representative
they should be Of such character .anl
should so conduct their investigations
and deliberations as to command sucf
respect from both the public. and the
corporations that both will without
Question accept their conclusions.
We believe that the public would II
this way ugetlUall the advantages and
avoid all the. manifest. disadvantages OF
public ownership.
We believe that centers of business
and population existsforithe convenience
of the public as a wholesi and that NO
such center, q prosper, without sufac-
lent and efficient means of intercourse
with other centers and tributary terri.
tories; that such means canaonly be at
~fordedhby prosperous utility and serv-
ice companies and that fair, rates are
essential to prosperous companies. We
do not believe that any public either
desires or can obtain,Hnor can 8
ice or utility furnish pesmanents and
efficient service at less than cost, i, in
Guiding capital charges. We believe
that ultimately the public either direct
.ly or indirectly pays 'theslosses involved
lin the: efforts to furnish such-servicezat
less than its fair cost, either through
the loss of the capital involved. the
losses incident to poor service or the
necessary increase in charges required
to pay for duplication of capital.. 4
We believe that the highest CONNER.
cial value Of the telephone service de-
ponds on it's comprehension the ex.
tent and comprehensiveness of the Ia
clllties for INSTRUMENTATION, not only
between individuals but betweens centers
OF population; that no isolated section
can be considered independently Of any
other section or of the whole; that rates
tmust9beasO adjusted as to- make. itspos-
sfble to obtain the. maximum develop
ment by making it possible for every
one to be- connected who will a6d ~ INA