The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1922-10-30
TELEPHONE
OFFICIAL
IN ADDRESS

4
superlntendent of the Illinois Bell
Telephone company, and one OF the
most prominent utilities men in the
country. brought romance and
poetry Into his talk before the
Whiting Commercial Club when he
spoke about the trend of the teIe-
phone and his own quarter of a cen
tury's experience,
He dwelt on the four Cs. princi-
pies, of successful utilities growth.
These are Contact Courtesy, Coop
GRAFTON. Confidence,
Mr.. Bones address before the club
follows:
The United States IS certainix a
talkative BY telephone nation. Two
hundred calls are made for every
man. woman and child each year.
Just think OF IT. twenty billion tele-
phone calls in a year. The United
States IS also a street car riding
nation, fourteen billion rides on
street cars each year. Let US just
stop a second and think what con
st1tutes a billion-one hundred thou
sand million, There have only been
about one billion minutes since the
birth Of Christ 1t seems to me that
II would be desirable and fine and
advantageous both for the users Of
public utility service as well Is TO
the utilities themselves II the gen
eral public could be induced to give
a little more thought to the service
which It receives from the various
utilities II they would stop and
think something about the value of
the service 10 them. about the hard
ships that would ensle II they were
deprived OF the service and IL they
would try and think more of the
good points Of the service or. al
least give 1t credit for some of the
things Il does for them and think
at least a part of the time along
these channels, instead of over-em-
pha the little unavoidable
happenings which tend to make the
service less than 100 per cent per
feet 1 think II Is true that prac-
tically all of the utilities are try
ing hard to co things better touor-
row. than they were done today and
such endeavor Is certainly worthy
of our very best thought and effort
We are striving all the time to get
each and every employee through
out the entire system to always do
with his mi yht whatsoever his hand
findeth 10 do in a happy. cheerful,
loyal, friendly. helpful. cooperative
manner so that all Glasses of pa
irons, the rich and the poor, ~the
prominent and the obscure, the edu
Gated and >he ignorant will be
pleased with the contact with US
and feel that we are serving them
not because we are paid to do it but
because we love to do it We be-
lieve that satisfactory public rela-
tons, which are synonymous with
a good name are rather TO be
chosen than great riches and look
forward to the time when every
transaction with any member of the
public by n employees of ours Will
be so well handled that the custo-
ner will in no way have cause for
believing that any other motive
guided our actions than that in
sTired by a desire to serve we'll in
all little things as well as in big
ones and to believe that the employe
is really and truly a friend I also
look forward to the time when we
ccive Communication for acts and
services we'll performed I look for
ward TO the time when every tele-
phone subscriber will be a. stock
holder in the company which serves
him. I believe the telephone com
paaies in general possess IN a large
measure the good will and support
Of the people. This confidence and
cooperation has been built up and
strengthened through years OF close
business relations. fair dealings and
franlness Mr. E. X. Hall. vice
president OF the American Telephone
and Telegraph company recently
well said: -Four C's, contact. cour-
tesv. cooperation and confidence
are thu essential qualities neces-
sary for satisfactory public rela-
tons We believe that the sue
cess Of our business depends upon
the measure of good will of the
community which we can get and
hold. We must give the best and
broadest service possible. We must
nrovide a service which Will not
only keep pace with the growth q
the state but also with the growth
Of the nation. With the constantly
Increasing use OF the telephone we
must make or charges low enough
"a enable every person who ought
10 have a telephone to have one and
A. the same time we must earn
enough to attract capital to take
care of this growth.
Lose Money on whiting Phones
I'm Whiting we have not ever
earned a fair return on our invest
ncnt and the present rates, on the
vatue Of the property prior to the
bir expenditure OF thousands OIL
dollars which is now being mace 10
r~ovide your citizens with more
modern service. are only producing
revenue sufficient to pay the run
ming expenses without any return
whatever. With the additional in
vestmcnt now being made our loss
~ connection with our operation uh-
acr the present rates will be very
,.a+erial. but cur first concern mas
- been to exert our best efforts
!, he direction Of getting a slight
incres Sc in rates. "hlch none
,.ou would feel much. in order that
1vc might turn the loss into profit
IN, first of all we desire the very
best Of your good will and CONT
5,nre and SUI port and WREN the
.gr,o does come that we must pet-
+ion the public service commission
4c,~ IN investigation. looking toward
= moderate increase in our rates
u lave YOU hack Of US in