Arizona sentinel., 1917-11-29
Yuma Daily Examiner.)

That governmental requirement. have recently been of such magnitud' as to render it practically impossible to give more than passing attention | to commercial demands is the eXpla nation given to the Examiner las evening, by Mr. Greenawalt for the apparent neglect of the Bell Tele- 1 phone spstem in general and the Mountain States Telephone & Tele graph Company in particular, to i'm prove the service and carry out bet | terments.
 1 MT. Greenawalt is the publicity manager of the Mountain States Com 1 pany, with headquarters in Denver He is just now engaged in making tour of the southwestern section ant giving to the public such facts as vii serve to acquaint those using tele- phones of the true state of affairs Without such presentation of facts | MT. Greenawalt believes the public is certain to form incorrect opinions and to criticize where criticism is un warranted. In company with Mana ger Buntin, MT. Greenawalt made Q trip of inspection of this section yes terday.
 ''The difficulties confronting the telephone company just now are very serious on account of the imperative and numerous demands for increased facilities for the use of the govern ment," said Mr. Greenewalt yester- day. Tn addition there are unusua! demands for commercial service due to the extraordinary business and manufacturing activities, created turnout the country on account of the war, and with this is combined a shortage of material and the difficulty of obtaining labor and transportation.
 More than 1000 miles of wire have already been taken from com mercial use and devoted exclusively to the service of the war, navy, and other departments of the government. Efficient telephone service is now be- ing furnished to the government be- tween Washington and the headquar- ters of every army department and naval district in the United States.
 "The Bell system has furnished ap- proximately 5000 men for active ser vice in the army, the national coast defense, officers training camps and the naval militia, including 25 com 1 panies or 25OO men, all technically trained for the signal corps. Of this number the Mountain States Tele- 1 phone & Telegraph Company has fur nished it's full quota. At the request of the governmental authorities the Bell system has undertaken the en- largement of the United States coast guard telephone system on the Allan tic. Gulf of Mexico and Pacific coasts furnishing connections of approxl, mately 100 lighthouses and 200 cOas' guard stations, requiring the laylng of about 300 miles of submarine cable the construction of $50 miles of pole | line and the stringing of over 120e miles of wire. The long line facilt- ties in and out of Washington have been doubled since the declaration Of war.
 From these figures it is obvious that governmental requirements have kept the telephone factories employed and that it is utterly impossible 10, I telephone companies to secure ma terial with which to meet commercial demands until the government ha'
 been fully supplied And these are the conditions responsible for the gray hairs in the heads of telephone officials, who are being importuned by their patrons for more adequate and better service, but who are help less to remedy conditions until new men can be trained and more mater1a. obtained.
 Meanwhile the public, realizing these conditions, will undoubtedly be patient and tolerant, hoping for the end of war which must result in un- qualified victory for democracy anG liberty. and commercial activities can then go forward to unlimited develop ment'"