The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1913-12-02
An Open Letter to the
Telephone Using Public

Denver, Colo, November 80, 1913
The Mountain States Telephone and
Telegraph Company, in the consider
atlon OF its future development, recog-
niZes that its highest interests as a
public utility lie in establishing the
closest and most friendly relationship
with the public generally, and with
its patrons in particular; therefore it
is the purpose of The Mountain States
Telephone and Telegraph Company,
through this announcement, to inau-
gurate what may be termed an adver-
Using educational series of articles,
both in the newspapers and in the
form OF letters to its customers. 1t is
our hope that this campaign may mark
new era in the relation of public
utility corporations to the public they
serve. We want this education to
work both ways-that the public may
learn the truth about us, and that we
may learn how the public regard us,
and how we may fairly and efficiently
serve the public--in other words, what
is just right to us and to the peo-
pie, and to convince the public that
we will voluntarily remedy any wrongs
we are doing, if pointed out to us.
We shall show you our financial at
fairs, frankly and freely. 1t so hap
pens that our financing has been of
such nature that it is easy for us to
clearly show to you this side of our
affairs. What we mean by this is, that
we have absolutely no water in our
stock; we have no bonds, nor any pre-
ferred stock, and no mortgage of any
kind upon which to pay fixed charges.
We have more invested in our plant
at it's present replacement value than
our issue of common stock, and we
have no other stock issued than the
common stock. There are no wheels
within wheels, nor companies within
companies, to absorb profits. We
finance ourselves from year to year
by selling our common stock to the
people, at not less than par, in the
states in which we operate.
When we tell you the story of our
financing, we will prove to you that
there never have been any fortunes,
large or small, made out of the manip-
ulation of our stock--in other words,
no high financing has ever been done
in connection with The Mountain
States Telephone and Telegraph Com
pany, or its predecessors. The stock
never has had any speculative value:
it has been, and is now, simply safe
investment.
There is a great misunderstanding
upon the part of the public as to this
side of our business. Persons with
Interior motives, striving for office,
and newspapers wishing to give star
Ting news (see note below frequently
publish stories of how rich certain
officials of our company are. Right |
now, this is being done in connection
with the new revenue tax. We sup !
pose these stories grow out of the ;
belief of certain of the public that the |
executive officials of our company own
the entire plant 1t is absurd, for
these executive officials of our COM
pany are merly trustees of the prop
erty, for the stockholders. and none
of them are rich men. nor have they
very heavy holding of the stock. 1t
Is true that certain reputed rich men
have large holdings of the stock of our
'ompany-some of them being on our
Board of Directors-but not one of /
hem has made any money whatsoever
out of dealing in our stock. They have
all paid dollar for dollar, in cash, at