Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-10-06
Publicity and Public Service


olcy of secrecy or indifference to any general curl
osity az in how il runs it's business. The cOmpan!
does not consider it's business to be telling peopl
how il runs it's affairs II gives the results and con
siders that sufficient
SO if is that when the corporation falls INTO al
argument on the other side of the question with tn
public utilities commission it is surprised II
cares at all that the people whom II serves are eith
er antagOnistic or indifferent
Another result is that when the Interlsand ant
anyone Of the other public service corporations
states that il is not making money. the people smile
they do not believe it.
This condition is not new one. nor Is II one o.
the peculiarties of Hawaii. 1t is condition grow
ing out of a wrong conception of business methou'
when handling large enterprises
T.. All this ground over which the lnter-lsland II
travelling at the present time has been passed over
br larger and smaller corporations of the MAINLAND
time and again.
Average citizens know that there is usually some
RIGHT and some wrong on all sides of every contro
yprsy But before the publ can make up it's mine
iuteIlicently il must know tie facts. After tolo"
ing a policv of indifference until they became III
yolyed in various kinds of hot water with Doafus
representing the people intelligent corporations o
the mainland headed by progressive aders Wakeo
up TO a realization that the public had not only
right to know, but it the part of good business
to keep the public informed the methods OF opera
top, the business ideals and the more serious PROB
lens that must be dealt with.
Therefore these corporation leaders turned to
publicity
They fold their own story in businesslike way
they stated their case to the public through the
medium of prepared controlled signed and paid fol
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. advertising.
Examples in point are the Bethlehem Steel cor
poration, probably the most notable instance and
pioneer Another is the American Telegraph q
Telephone company. The Union Pacific Railway
has published educational publicity to the same pur
pose. The most elaborate campaign was probably
that of the railways of the country when dealing
witt the threatened nationwide strike.
The usual answer of the old.fashioned corpora
fion has been that it didn't care much what the
publc thought Sooner or later the corporation OF
This type has come to care because it has found
such policy good business. II.
As to the technicalities involved in the Inter
Island controversy, they are largely matter OF
bookkeepng and a local determination of what a
corporation under the rules of law and common de-
cency is privileged to do. This privilege can vary
materially in different jurisdictions so that what
is right in one section of the country may be de
clared to be wrong in another
not exact parallel but close enough to illustrate
the point is found in the variance of the laws OF the
federal and territorial governments in the allow
ances that may be made by corporations in tax re
turns Our territorial government Will allow nc
such thing as depreciation in computing tie ex
pense of operation during the year. Where this
brilliant idea came from one seems to know, but
il got through the legislature and was upheld by
the supreik nv x Every man except "bedroon
printer d lands that depreciation is very
definite cost Of operation The i federal gov ;on
but also in estimating incomes recognizes the right
n the business corporation to six per cent interest
ON invested capital.
When STRIVING to reach a conclusion on the points
at issue the average and many above the aver
aoe are often lost i'm maze of differences OF opin
ions where even the courts do not agree. Yet the
differences are such that only the courts can make
the final Interpretation.
Concerning the position of the corporation, ex.
cent AS it is tangled in the legal yerbage of long
and wandering documents. the public knows moth
ing. Popular opinion, therefore, considers that in
any controversy it is ''safe bet to take the side
against the corporation because the government is
the spokesman for and agent of the people.
The modern businessman takes steps to let the
publc know his side of it. And he does not do it
by ndrection. He tells his story through expertly
prepared brief truthful and easily understood pub
licity displayed effectively and repeated frequent
" SO that the information is widely distributed and
the people understand. ".a. -