Graham guardian., 1914-03-27
Operation

Operation
In summing up the attitude of the
company towards this subject. Mr..
Vail says:
Our opposition to Government
operation and ownership is not based
on pecuniary, partisan. prejudiced
or personal reasons. 1t is because
Of our interest in the upbuilding of
a great public utility and its pre-
servation.
we are opposed to government
ownership because we know that no
government.owned telephone system
in The world is giving rs cheap and
efficient service az the American
public is getting from all its tele-
phone compsnies. We do not be-
lieve that our government would be
any exception to the rule"
He states that the common i'm
preston that the Postmaster General
has made report favoring the ac-
QUESTION of the wire lines is erro-
neous. 1t is not departmental re-
port, he says, but merely the con-
c!usions of three officials Of the Post
Office Department, transmitted with,
out comment by the Postmaster
General.
As to possible government pur-
chase, MIR. Vail quotes Congressman
Lewis. the Congresslona! exp"nent
~ government ownership, to the
effect that there is no water in the
Bell capitalization; and urges the
stockholders nat To be innucrd to
part with their holdings through
fear OF confiscation. H..
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 as
a standard. uses the Bell operating
methods and either uses Bell appara-
tus or copies it. And yet there is
rot one, he continues, that gives an
approximation TO the facilities that
the Bell System gives or gives Ms
good or as cheap service. all past
prophecies to the contrary notwith-
standing.
These deficits are not the result
of a definite policy to give a cheap
service 20 individuals at the cost of
all, but are due to errors in manage
ment such as underestimates of
values and cost of new construction;
disregard of maintenance, deprecia-
tion and particularly of obsolescence;
impossible theories of operation, and
a mistaken policy founded on prom
ises, prophecies and assertions ex-
actly the same in character MS those
now being used to bring about gov
ernment ownership in this country.
and upon a failure to understand
and appreciate the advantages of
private as distinguished from gov
ernment organization"
There are no sound reasons CIV
en-" says the report, or real ad-
vantages promised for government
ownership and operation which do
not apply to or cannot be secured
by government regulation.
Private initiative, invention, en-
terprise. risk, spurred on by the in
centive Of reward have changed the
face Of the world, and the resulting
unearned increment largely consti-
tutes the wealth of nations; with
out it many of the great scientific
industrial developments would have
remained scientific curiosities, even
II they had been evolved at all"
The advantages of one telephone
system are clearly set forth, as are
the differences between the exact
technical knowledge required for
operation and the judicial ability
necessary for regulation.
Government administration" the
report says, is more or less a game
Of politics. and while with govern
ment operation it may sometimes be
possible to have efficiency, it will al
waysbe impossible to have economy"
The government-owned European
telephone 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 Belgium; less than rs per cent. |
that of Austria; about So per cent.
that of Germany, Great Britain and
Switzerland; and all of them govern
"
Mr.. Vail brings out the fact that
are better supplied with
telephone facilities than any other
people, having six times as many |
telephones per capita as Great Britain |
and thirteen times as many as France,
and that the rates here are as popular |
as those of any government-owned
plant.
Ip showing the Inability of thcj
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