Evening journal., 1915-03-15
Telephone Business Has Good Year Financially,
Although Growth Has Been Retarded

|; Been Retarded
2O,915 cases of disability or death,
and at the end OF the year 211 former
employees. were being carried on the
pension rolls. The total amount ex-
pended for all classes of benefits was
Sl.33S,26l, most of il among the lower
salaried employees 10 whom the loss
of wages. even for a short period.
would have been a hardship. The re-
cent offer of stock at a low price on
installments was intended as an en-
couragement TO saving and over 30.-
OO0 employees availed themselves Of
this offer
This has been termed by some
profit sharing. 1t should not be. II
Is an investment by which the em-
ploye becomes also proprietor, and
he occupies the dual relation cf pro-
prietor and employe, which If it can
be worked out 10 its fullest possibili-
ties will be ideal"
In this connection II is shown that
for each employe there is an average
investment in plant of s5.33S, which
gives a gross revenue per omploye Of
Sl,40S, of which $3.50 is distributed in
wages. $40 in taxes. 337 in supplies
and expenses. S271 as charges for
capital, and SOS reserved for contin-
! gencies.
1T takes an investment Of nearly
! four dollars to earn one dollar in
/ gross revenue. This dollar of gross
revenue is divided. Forty-six and
one-half cents are paid in wages to
employees, five and one-half cents go
for taxes and twenty-four cents go
for material and other expenses. a
! very considerable part of which ulti-
mately goes for wages, leaving as a
net operating revenue twenty-four
cents, of which about twenty cents
pays for the use of the surplus dol
lar capital invested. The remaining
four cents OF surplus revenue are
actually expended for plant additions,
OF which about One-half is for wages.
In any enterprise even OF small
magnitude. capital is as necessary as
arc employees. Without capital there
can be no employment of workers.
Without workers there can be no en-
ployment OF capital"
The report shows how soundly the
Bell System is financed. even as COM
pared to government undertakings.
Administration.
An interesting description Is given
of the delcyopment OF the Bell organi-
zation from the time when electrical
science was in its laboratory
swaddling clothes and the telephone
was called a Yankee toy" for which
I ....f 4 l..
obtained.
It is shown how the local companies
we're organized and how the need o
a common remedy for a common trou-
bic, resulting in a central clearing
house and finally in the centralized
general administration with its enor
nous economies. its wonderful con
tributions to the perfection OF tn,
art and the value of the service. nov
the premier service of the world.
Control and Regulation.
AS far as Mr. Vail can forecast tn
future, regulation and control b.
commissions or business courts hav
become a permanent feature of ou
economic laws. He points out tina
these processes could not be perfeC
from the start but are being improved
1T is for the public to combine, {
4 encourage. support and sustain a
4 these courts and commissions and IN
a judges and members of commission
3 and above all to abandon condemns
tion of all conclusions when they dii
4 fer from selfish desires or opinion
based on one-sided and insufficient in
formation. It is for the public &
realize that any particular gain, if a
the expense of other interests, is N
permanent gain at all. that all bust
ness or public prosperity is basei
upon each party TO any transaction
getting some benefit from il.
And above all. If there are TO b.
courts of commerce or commission
then the settlement OF all matter
which have been referred to sucl
courts by the legislature should b.
left to them"
Telephone Conditions.
An increase Of 515,976 telephone sta
tions has been added to the Bell sys
! TEN during the year, despite the re
tardation of growth. Also 1, 364, 5S
miles of wire for exchange and tol
i service were added during the year, il
\ the Bell system alone, not includin
the additions by connecting companies
4 In traffic the number of message
y shows the small gain of slightly owe
per cent.
Most of this retardatiOn OF growt
occurred in the latter half of the yea
Z and steps we're at once taken to re
) duce the expenditures for new con
struction by postponing such exten
sions as were not Immediately neces
sary, with the result that the addition
U to the plant which at the beginning q
4 the year we're estimated to aggregat
S56.OOO,O0O, were only $5O,OOO,OOO,
For the year 1915 it is estimate
q the current additions to plant will sc
\ gregate about s35,00O,00O and con
: structicn work is now proceeding o
that basis. The general business cor
{ ditions, particularly as they effect IN
4 demands for telephone service. ar
Z being carefully studied and watche
aud should they improve as is hope,
8 the construction program can b
promptly increased to whatever exte1
it seems justified.
"The gross revenue in 1914 OF th
D Bell system-not including the cor
\ nected Independent companies-wa
4 1926, 100000; an increase of over $40
= 100000 over last year. OF this. opera
\ ton consumed SS1 100000; taxes, S12
100000, or 1.54 per cent. on the out
standing capital obligations; currer
maintenance, 31.600,O00: and provi,