The chronicle-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1920-1941, 1920-10-22


New Orleans, La
Dear Sir
Your letter of October 18th asks very nat
ural question and one which demands iuh anu
frank reply, which | am glad to make
While the prices of a great many Things nave
anparently been reduced, these reductions in
prices do not apply to articles used by the 'e'e'
phone company, OF affect the expenditures neces'
sary in the construction, maintenance anu opei"
ton of the telephone plant
The following classes of expenses constitute
more than ninety-fve per cent of the cost of fur
nishing telephone service:
LABOR
Moro than ffty-fye per cent of the total eX-
penditures of the Company in rendering service
are for wages and salaries less than one-tenth or
one per cent of this being for executive and
general salaries.
The wages paid to employees cannot. and
should not. be reduced On the contrary they
must be increased, in many cases, to bring our
wage scale on level with wages paid by un.
regulated businesses, that we may retain our
skilled employees necessary to give you efficient
service.
MATERIAL AND APPARATUS
Many items of material and apparatus are in
yolved in the current maintenance of the prop
erty entirely apart from the enormous quantities
involved in the construction of new property, and
this represents large item of expense There
has been reduction, nor any indication of re-
duction in the price of these essential articles, in
practically all of which the labor, freight and haul.
ing cost is by far the largest proportion of the
total cost
We know that the manufacturers of telephone
equipment and material have orders booked for
two years in advance, with constantly increas-
ing demand, and which in turn makes a reduction
in price in the near future most improbable.
FREIGHT AND PASSENGER COSTS
Our annual expense for the transportation of
freight and passengers is more than one million
dollars No one expects the Railroads to reduce
their charges under the level of costs in rendering
their service.
Except in the larger centers central offices
and stocks of material housed in rented build
ngs and even in the larger centers we rent
varying amounts of properties.
Like every one else, our rents have been great
ly increased, with no prospect of any reduction
Even in prewar days all leases for property oc-
cupied by us were renewed only at higher charges
than for the previous rental period.
HOTELS
The board and lodging bill for our men, who
must travel in connection with the operation and
maintenance of the property costs many thous-
ands of dollars every year, and we can see no
prospect of the hotels lowering their charges I'm.
til they do we must pay the present high charges
ELECTRIC POWER AND LlGHT-sTREET
CAR FARE
We spend many thousands of dollars every
year for these services rendered to employees en-.
gagged in the maintenance of the property Prac.
tcally every year the rates charged by these com.
panies have been substantially increased, and
there is no thought of any reduction The Tele.
phone Company, like all Others must pay these in.
creased rates
PAPER, PRINTING AND STATIONERY
we consume tons of paper for bookkeeping cor.
respondence and directory purposes and nav
many thousands of dollars for printing annually
ms Item OF expense has Increased in percentage
more than the others, and no one has suggested
that any reduction in these costs is probable
COAL BILL
The Telephone Company purchases coal in ,arga
quantities to heat the buildings occupied NV IFS
employees in rendering the service.
We OF course must pay whatever price is nee.
essary to secure the coal for this purpose
INSURANCE.
Even where the actual rate per one tbousa,j
dolars mas not been increased we are comne,,sd
W carry larger amount of insurance than in
pre-war days in order to protect ourselves in tho
reproduction of any of the property which NAV no
destroyed by fire, and this is reflected in 4. yor,,
large increase in the total insurance hill