The Mankato free press., 1913-03-14

The automatic telephone has had no
competition in it's manufacture This
is due to the fact that it is covered
by patents. From what / have seen
OF the apparatus. it does not seem
to be as substantial as it ought to
be. / am informed that the patents
covering this wonderful invention
are about to expire, and that all of
the large manufacturers are ready to
put automatic telephones on the mar
ket soon thereafter. Therefore I be-
lieve it would be advisable to wait un-
til this condition is brought about, be-
fore purchasing, as I believe a better
quality of apparatus can be bought
cheaper than it now can. The cost
of installing an automatic system in
the city of Mankato would now be
in the neighborhood of $4,000,
against approximately $4,000 for a
modern manual switchboard. OF
course with the automatic, we could
effect saving i'll operators salaries
alone Of approximately $4,000. Pro
viding the maintenance and deprecia.
ton of an automatic system were no
greater proportionally than the man
ual system, the difference in cost
would not mean so much. However,
it is the intention OF the manage
ment TO go into this question very
thoroughly before deciding to pur-
chase.
."The fact that operators are be-
coming more scarce each year and
that the salary paid them is increas-
ing each year, behooves the tele-
phone manager to consider the auto.
matte very seriously, then too, we
have the additional assurance, that
Dan Cupid can not interfere with
our businessp
Election of Directors.
After the managers report had
been read, accepted and applauded
the business of electing the new
directors for the coming year was
taken up. Each share entitled the
stakeholder to one vote. Ballots
were distributed on one side of
which was printed the names of the
present stockholders in office The
voter was required to write his name
on the back of the ticket and then
his number of votes was ascertained
from the records. Ed. Naylor and
A. ]. Veigel acted as tellers.
Message to Senator Works.
Judge LOrin Cray moved that the
secretary of the company be author
lied on behalf of the company to
communicate with Senator Works and
ask him to support the Minett bill
by all reasonable means. The Judge
asked that a standing vote be taken
so that if the vote was unanimous
for the motion, this fact could be
stated to the senator The standing
vote was taken and was unanimous.
By this time the votes for directors
had been counted and the results of
the balloting was given Mr.. Veigel
announced that all the former di-
rectors had been elected to succeed
themselves. They are H. E. Hance,
J. r. Snow, Fl. c. Hotaling, S. B.
Wilson and William Just. The di-
rectors are elected in three sets of
five men each. Each set serves
three years, and a new set is elected
every year All but Mr.. Just was
elected unanimously. He received a..
021 votes and Mr. Sl1rivnek received
seventy-siX.
In closing President Patterson com.
mented upon the success of the
meeting and said that the question of
where to hold the next annual meet
ing now rose. He said, that from
the appearance of the turnout, il
seems that unless the new armory
is built, no place in Mankato will be
large enough in which to hold next
years banquet. He thanked Conner
Fl. Jones, on behalf of the company
for the excellent music furnished by
his victrola during the banquet
A. J. Veigel's motion that an an
nual meeting be held next year was
carried.
An excellent banquet was served
before the business session. The
menu was as follows:
Tomato Bouillon
Roast Beef Mashed Potatoes
French Peas
Baked Chicken Dressing
Olives
Apple Pie Alamode
Coffee
The tables were profusely decorat-
ed with red. white and pink carna-
tions, most of which were appropri-
ated by the stockholders before the
close of the meeting. While the feast
was in progress, Conner III. Cones,
''the man behind the victrola" kept
his machine playing continuously and
number of beautiful selections were