The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-02-09

New Haven, February - Although 1888 as q whole showed less satisfactory results than 1932. the last six months brought defi- nite improvement which has con- tinued through the first weeks of 1884, according to the report pre- scented by President Harry c. Knight of The Southern New Eng land Telephone Company at the annual meeting of stockholders here yesterday. Income after fixed charges was $6.01 per share, almost exactly the annual divident rate which was reduced from $S to $6 per share at the beginning of 1888.
 There was a net loss of 9,46O telephones as compared with a loss of 30,750 in 1892 and small. gain the year before. The decrease in toll revenue as compared with 1892 was $276,758 or "a per cent. Net earning on investment in plant was 4.48 per cent, a slight drop from the 1892 earning which was at the rate of 4.93.
 Although construction expen- ditures for 1894 are expected to be somewhat larger than in 1893, MT Knight reports that they will be chiefly for routine and replace ment purposes as the plant is already built for considerably greater volume of business than the company Is now handling. However" declares MT Knight, "our plans include adequate pro- vision for meeting such require ments as can reasonably be antici- aI l.aI1 nc the degree to which general uncer- outlook as hopeful rather than otherwise.'
 Financing needs have been only temporary and were met as usual through loans from the American Telephone and Telegraph Comp any. Notes payable show net reduction of approximately $1,00O,- 900 for the year and some further reduction is expected in 1884. No long term financing is contem- plated for the immediate future.
 Referring to the company's pol icy, MT Knight reports as follows: While we have been active in probing all possibilities for econ- omy in operation, we have held fast to the policy of adopting no rneasure which would impair or jeopardize the quality of service. This policy is not related solely to traffic through our central offices; 1t has to do also with promptness of installation and repairs; with the conduct of our business offices and customer contacts of all kinds; in short, with everything that bears upon public attitude toward our business.
 Traffic studies and inspections indicate that during 1888, 99.4 per cent of the 437.000.000 local calls and 9S.1 per cent of the 20,000,000 toll calls were handled without er- TOT, and that the average time re- quired for completion of all out of-town calls was reduced to 54 seconds; all of which figures rep resent somewhat of an improve ment over previous performance. Similarly, our audits and records on the other above mentioned factors of service give evidence of progress. This does not imply any illusion on our part as to the ade- quacy with which we do our pub lie service job, but 1t does. point the fact that we are constantly en- deavoring, with measurable sue cess, to do 1t better.
 "The degree to which we achieve any of our objectives whether for service efficiency. for economy, for sales or for public understand ing--is dependent In very large measure upon the loyalty and CO., operation of our employees. The extraordinary conditions of the past few years have presented many difficult tasks and problems. to all of which our personnel has responded with ready understand- ing and effective support. The Telephone Employees Association, organized more than dozen years ago, has continued to function ac- lively and helpfully, and frequent conferences with it's elected repre- sentatives have not only served >aeir purpose in connection with working conditions, but have con tributed much to the efficiency of operations. We have every reason to express both our appreciation of the present morale and our con fidence that 1t will be maintained d.'
 Recording tiae death of Dennis A. B1akeslee of New Haven. q d. rector of the company for 10 years MT Knight pays tribute to him as rs1an who broeght to the com pany the values of strong per- sonality, sound judgment and a