Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1917-03-31
TELEPHONE FORCE
VERY PATRIOTIC;
WILL VOLUNTEER
OF 1900 EMPLOYEES ONLY ABOUT
10 REFUSE TO SIGN THE
DECLARATION.
LARGE NUMBER OF C. G. p. PEG
PIE PLEDGE LOYALTY TO
PRESIDENT.
COMPANY CONTINUES PREPARA-
TIoNS TO FURNISH QUOTA
FOR SERVICE.

BALTIMORE, Md, March 90
Employees of the Chesapeake and
Potomac Telephone Company have a
batting average in the big league" of
patriotism of 1893 out of a possible
1000. The percentage of the sigma
lures to declaration of loyalty which
recently was circulated among the
company's employees shows that all
but an almost invisible minority were
firmly behind the President.
The declaration, addressed to the
President, read as follows:
AS an American, faithful to
American ideals of justice, 1iber-
ty and humanity, and confident
that the government has exerted
its most earnest efforts to keep us
at peace with the world, I hereby
declare my absolute and uncondi-
tional loyalty to the government
of the United States and pledge
my support to you in protecting
American rights against unlawful
violence upon land and sea. in
guarding the nation against hos
tile attacks and in upholding in
ternational right.
Only Ten Refuse to sign.
1t was submitted entirely without
coercion to every employee of the com.
pany in the state, not as a matter
of policy, but to enable all the men
and women working for the company
to express their confidence in the gov
eminent. Copies also were placed
on the desks and in the company Of
fees in order that patrons might sign
if they desired. OF the $500 en-
ployes about 10 refused to sign and
the majority of these were women.
The reasons of the 10, for the most
part, however, were not essentially
unpatriotic, but rather were based on
personal beliefs. One man refused to
sign because he said it was an insult
to any American citizen to ask him
to sign an affirmation of his patriot
ism. He has a wife and two small
children, and it is believed that he
thought signing the declaration might
make him liable for service in the
case of call to arms.
The girls didn't sign, most of them,
because they didn't think the Presi-
dent had done all he should do to
keep us out of war" The idea that
the nations Chief Executive had very
complete sources of information doubt
less did not occur to them.
To Furnish Signal Corps.
These few discordant notes, how
ever, are almost unheard in the gen
eral chorus of preparedness" that is
being sung, not only by the employees,
but by the company itself. Prepare
tions for the signal corps which is to
be organized by the local company as
part of its quota of the $500 men
who will be furnished from the en-
tire country are progressing rapidly
The men will begin their course of
instruction in the company school
rooms in the near future.
The American Telephone and Tele-
graph Company will furnish 25 signal
corps companies, and the Western
Union, Postal and a few smaller COM
panies will supply 10 more. Every
man will not only be schooled in the
flag signals of the army and navy,
but will be a trained electrician, able
to install a field telephone or tele-
graph in the shorest possible time.
They will be members of the reserve
and will enlist in the regular army
as soon as called by the government.
| The officers for Baltimore's quota of
100 men have been selected and will
be announced soon.
Plans to Meet All Situations.
In other ways the Telephone Com
pany is preparing to serve the state
and government in time of need. A
canvass was taken a short time ago,
on the initiative of the company, of
all situations that might arise in
which the services of the company
might be needed. From Washington
and from Adjutant-General Warfeld's
Office came statistics as to what
might be expected, and plans to meet
every situation have been worked out
and are on file in the office of the
Telephone Company.
q venture to predict" said an off
cial Of the company yesterday, that
no government in time of war ever
has received the efficient telephone
service that we are prepared to offer
rs soon as it is needed Everything