The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1922-03-17

is as its name implies, extraordinary
and should be provided for in The
rates charged for service
I'm my opinion the company made
a good showing during the last year
in spite OF the business depression.
We had net gain of thirty three
telephones to the system which is far
better than many companies OF our
| size. .r
We judge the service we deliver
from the number of complaints we re-
ceive, and judging from the NUMBER
received last year and the good words
OF encouragement, | have had from
the public, think j am safe in say
ing that the Company has delivered a
very satisfactory service to its pat
| rons. ...a .fE.- .,
Il feel more pleased about this fea-
ture than any other we may have &C
complished, and l unhesitatingiy pass
| on to the employees working with me
the credit for the quality OF the serv-
ice delivered.
1T may interest you to know that
we handle between thirty five and
| forty thousand calls each day. The
| day preceding Chritmas we broke all
records with forty five thousand calls
handled. This means that during the
! busy hour between and10 A. NJ. eacn
| operator on duty averaged three hun
dred seventy five calls in the hour.
! Our operating force is second to
none in the State, and the same can
be said Of the commercial and plant
department. The organization as a
| whole are a faithful lot of employees
with the interest of the company at
heart and / consider it pleasure to
work with them
| 'In conclusion let me assure the
| stockholders, the directors and Off
GERS and the subscribers that ] appre-
| ciate the cooperation accorded me
this last year and may l ask that its
continuous"
Address BY Mr.. Bowen
| Mr.. Patterson then introduced Ivan
Bowen, a member of the state railway
and warehouse commission, and a
resident of this city. Mr.. Bowen stat
ed in the beginning his talk, that the
telephone company is vitality connect
ed with this commission for 1t comes
under the regulation of the commits
sion. Mr.. Bowen's object was to make
clear to people the work and duties
of the commission
He stated that all public service
corporations come directly under the
regulation of the commission. Com
works gas companies, telephones and
others which vitality affect the public
in general.
1T is very doubtful" said Mr.. Bow
en-, whether there is any business
which we can designate public or
private which cannot be regulated.
This was shown very plainly in sew
eral instances where companies
thinking that they did not have to be
| ,1ofa al Ityf he icci iaA
the case to the United States Su
preme court. In the case Of Laun-
! dry company in New York, the Su-
preme court reversed the state court
decision, stating that the Laundry
, company was a public utility and
therefore comes under the regulation
Of, the state.
All regulation of the state com
mission must comply with the four
teenth amendment of the United
States which provides that no person
shall be deprived of life, liberty or
the pursuit Of happiness without due
process of the law. For this reason
the commission when regulating a
business must allow certain amount
for rightful profit and over a certain
amount, according to the money in
vested, ii regulates the rates at which
that business shall be conducted. A
l
continually confronts the commission
They first see what that company is
furnishing the public service.
Must Raise Money.
A company when it starts must
either raise money from the public
at large as from the stock holders or
go to the banks and borrow 1t. When
the commission determines what is
a fair rate then it must find out how
roh ic cd nd "a rot -
return and provide this Utility
with enough money to run the bust
ness and make a fair rate of profit.
These are just the general principles
| which govern public utilities. The
| question sometimes arises why
public utility must be governed in
this manner. The reason for this is
because there are INSCRIPTIONS men
who might take advantage of the
public If there was not some way OF
regulating the business.
Mr.. Bowen then spoke briefly of
public. ownership. He said that in
the large cities there is still much
talk in favor Of it, but people have
only to look at the way the railroad
was run during the war to see the dis
asterous results it has. Mr.. Bowen
cited the case of the city of Seattle
where the public bought the street
SaL SOLupduS LUZ ulIcSu luullOu UOl
lars. 1t operated for six months and
found that they were going behind.
They raised the rates to ten cents.
Today they have before the people of
Seattle franchise that provides that
the rate shall be three cents and any
deficit which may occur must be paid
by the Seattle tax payers.
Another thing touched on by Me
Bowen was the tendency of the fed
eral government to regulate things
concerned with the state government
They have lately taken over the reg
ulation of the packers and the stock
yards This has been regulated for
merly by the state commission. The
question is how far will the federal
government go? 1t also stepped ov-
er in fixing the depreciation rates for
the telephone companies which hit
about two thousand independent
companies in the state.
Rate OF Depreciation
The rate of depreciation is not the
same in the different sections of the
country and the people in one part of
the country will not get fair deal.
The federal government is bound to
make the rates the same, so one may
see what the result would be- i
Following Mr.. Bowen's excellent
talk, Mr.. Willard announced the re-
suits of the voting During the re-
ports ballots had been passed with
the names of directors wbosa farm