The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-20
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF TELEPHONESN NOT
 WISE, SAYS VAIL
President of Bell Company Shows How Service Is Most Efficient in
 World

earnings and expenses and general finan- cial prosperity, it's attitude as to govern ment ownership, it's agreement with the department of justice. the sale of it's 1 Western Union holdings and its relation with the general public are all set forth in detail in the annual report of the American Telephone and Telegraph com peny, just issued.
 President Theodore N. Vail has some thing very definite to say in regard to the government ownership of telephones and his frank discussion of this question is perhaps the most interesting feature of the report
 In summing up the attitude of the com pany towards this subject Mir. Vail says: l Our opposition to government opera ton and ownership is not based on pecu- niary, partisan, prejudiced or personal | reasons. It is because of our interest In l the upbuilding of a great public utility l and its preservation
 We are opposed to government own- l ership because we know that no govern ment-owned telephone system in the world l is giving as cheap and efficient service as the American public is getting from all its telephone companies. We do not l believe that our government would be any | exception to the rtlle.'
 | He states that the common impression 1 that the Postmaster General has made report favoring the acquisition of the | wire lines is erroneous. It is not de- partmentai report, he says but merely | the conclusions of three officials of the postoHice department, transmitted with out comment by the Postmaster General 1 As to possible government purchase | MT. Vail quotes Congressman Lewis the congressional exponent of government ownership to the effect that there is no water in the Bell capitalization and urges the stockholders not to be induced to part with their holdings through fear l of confiscation.
 | He shows that there Is a deficit in all , goVernment-owned systems and says that every telephone system in the world adopts the Bell system a standard, used the Bell operating methods and either uses Bell apparatus or copies it. And yet there is not one, he continues, that gives an approximatio ton to the facil- ties that the Bell system gives or gives as good or as cheap service, all past prophecies to the contrary notwithstand- ing
 These deficits are not the result of definite policy to give a cheap service to individuals at the cost of all, but are due to errors in management such as un- derestimates of values and cost of new construction; disregard of maintenance, depreciation and particularly of obsoles- cence; impossible theories of operation and mistaken policy founded on prom ises, prophecies and assertions exactly the same in character as those now beings 1 used to bring about government owner- ship in this country, and upon a failure to understand and appreciate the advan- tages of private distinguished from government organization
  | says the report, ''or real advantages promised for government ownership and 1 operation which do not apply to or cannot be secured by government regulation. Private initiative, invention, enter prise, risk, spurred on by the incentive | of the world, and the resulting unearned | increment largely constitutes the wealth of nations; without it many of the great scientific industrial developments would | have remained scientific curiosities, even if they had been evolved at all"
 The advantages of one telephone sys- | tenn are clearly set forth, as are the diff ferences between the exact technical knowledge required for operation and the | judicial ability necessary for regulation
 "Government administration" the re- port says lis more or less a game of politics. and while with government oper- ation it may sometimes be possible to have efficiency. it will always be impos- sible to have economy.'
 The government-owned European tele- phone plants, notwithstanding the low price of foreign labor, are carried at a much higher cost than those of the Bell system, and yet every one of them uses the Bell system as a model The book value of the plant of the Bell system per station is less than 60 per cent that of l Belgium; less than 75 per cent that of Austria; about 80 per cent that of Ger many, Great Britain and Switzerland; and all of them government-owned.'
 MT. Vail brings out the fact that Americans are better supplied with tel . ephone facilities than any other peo- lple, having six times as many tele- phones per capita as Great Britain and l3 times ase many as France. and that the rates here are as popular as those of any government owned plant
 In showing the inability of the most office to operate ,he telephone business efficiently he says
 The success of tine parcel post has been set up as d reason for the gov ernment operation of the telephone and telegraph Why it should be is hard to understand The two services have nothing in common and are in no way comparable. The parcel post is not in any sense new service it has mere ly increased the volume of the mails by removing some Limitations as to size and weight of packages mailed ana illdkluS SOn2 reduction In rates of postage for merchandise.
 "It would not be a question of ca Ipacity; the experiment would be dis astrous principally because the post masters are not fitted by eXperienc ce or training for the telegraph or tele- phone bueiness, but also because ii would be secondary to their grocery dry gooda-notion shop. their principal business.
 Another reason is that the telephone already reaches moro places than there are postoffices.
 He concludes his remarks on this subject by saying that.
 ''The American public has been edu- cated to depend on the most efficient most extended telephone service in the world. The relative number of the people reached is the largest and the any importance service in the world
 "Government ownership would he an unregulated monopoly"
 "Regulation by commissions of high standing composed of individuals of ability and integrity, and good impar- tial judgment is the greatest protec- tion to the public interests as against private exactions that ever was de- vised its effectiveness depends upon
 the standing with the public of the commission as whole and the com missioners as individuals"
 |
 Lee to Lead Republicans
 Minneapolis. Minn., March 19.--Willian
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