The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-12-05

lar for dollar, in cash, at par into the treasury of our company, for every share they hold, and they have simply come into our company because they believed it to be safe investment.
 There is, too, upon the part Of the public, 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. cer- tain corporations were almost com tpelled 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 foolish thing and entirely unnecessary. This is, therefore, to state emphatfcally that we are not, either directly or in- directly, 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 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 it is not so much the question of what our telephone rates are as it is that when we make a statement regard ing them and show our true financing, hot ch ha fhof he 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 scriber 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 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 in herent difficulties of giving universal letters are not to be a piece of spe- cial pleading or adroit use of words, but a clear, busineSs-like setting forth 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. It seems to us that every corporation has the right of self defense, 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 prob lem 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 large part of the problem will be solved, if we can only bring the pub lie, through education, to full under standing that there is a mutual de- pendence between the public service corporations and the public, and that public prosperity depends largely upon