The Arvada enterprise., 1913-12-04

all paid dollar for dollar, in cash, al
par, into the treasury of our company,
for every share they hold, and they
have simply come into our company be
cause they believed it to be safe in.
vestment.
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, certain
corporations were almost compelled
to be in politics. but in these days
when the tendency is to place all cor
porations and trust affairs into the
hands of central body, such as the
Interstate Commerce Commission ant
local state commissions, etc, to deal
with the conduct of business such as
ours, being in politics, as believed by
entirely unnecessary. This is, ther-
fore, to state emphatically that we are
the public, would be foolish thing an6
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 proposed starting a
campaign like this, that our efforts
would be futile; that our subscribers
would turnout 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 people are incluned to
be fair, and that it is not so much the
question OF what our telephone rates
are as 20 that when we make a state
ment 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 earn
ings, showing just where the dollar that
our subscriber pays us goes, the public
may know that we are not trying to
deceive them or keep anything back
that should be known. When we hon
estly 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 inner
ent difficulties of giving universal tele
phone service. These articles and let
| ters are not to be a piece of special
pleading or adroit use of words, but
clear, businesslike setting forth OF
facts. We hope, before we get through
both ourselves and the public will un'
derstand each other. There is at least
no harm to be done in trying to ac-
complish 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-de,
| Tense, 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 part
ner in our business, We shall have ac-
complished much. A large part of the
| problem will be solved, If we can only
bring the public, through education, to
full understanding that there is no
mutual dependence between the public
service corporations and the public, and
that public prosperity depends largely
upon the utilities that bring them In