The Atlantian (Atlanta, Ga.) 19??-current, December 01, 1911, Image 13
THE ATL ANTI AN
13
WILLIAM THOMAS GENTRY
Made Vice-President Association
Telephone Pioneers
SOMETHING ABOUT HIM
No man in all our section lias built up a greater reputation, nor
one based upon a more solid foundation, than lias Colonel W. T.
Gentry, president of the Southern Hell Telephone Company, and a
leading citizen of Atlanta.
Colonel Gentry was horn in the little Virginia town of Gordons-
ville—was a keen, wiry, active hoy, very much interested in all
boyish sports, hut not blessed with great physical strength; early
in life he had the misfortune to lose an arm—so in addition to his
lack of physical strength, he was handicapped by that casualty.
lie became a telegraph operator, and drifted to the little town of
Alexandria, Virginia, where, while performing his duties as an
operator, he came in touch, some thirty years ago, with the telephone
business. He took the management of a small exchange, in what
was then an infant business and, in a brief space of time, so thor
oughly grasped the merits of the proposition and so well handled
his little district, that he was sent to Atlanta and put in charge of
the little station which then—something more than twenty-five years
ago—was a very small affair.
Colonel Gentry possesses the ability to make friends, both for
himself and his company, and he rapidly popularized his service in
Atlanta. The town grew like Jonah’s gourd, and the telephone ex
change grew with it—indeed, it may be said that the telephone
exchange grew faster than the town, for Colonel Gentry did not
overlook any point in the game. Within eight years after he came
to Atlanta he was made assistant district superintendent of the
division, which included Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and
Florida. In 1897 he was promoted to general superintendent of
construction of all the work covering seven states. In 1899 he
was appointed district superintendent for the territory, embracing
Georgia, Florida and Alabama, with headquarters in Atlanta. In
1901 he was elected general manager. In 190.3 lie was made a mem
ber of the board of directors, elected vice president of the company
and continued to discharge the duties of general manager. In 1907,
owing to the tremendous increase of business, a new arrangement
became necessary, and J. Epps Brown became general manager of
the company—Colonel Gentry remaining as vice president. Two
years later Colonel Gentry was elected president of the company.
He has, therefore, literally worked up from the ranks, and owes
nothing to favoritism or influence. He was one of the first men in
tin business to see the tremendous possibilities of it, and to predict
for it a great future.
As some evidence of their appreciation of his work, the Associa
tion of Telephone Pioneers, a national organization, has recently
made him vice president of that society.
It is simply justice to say that he has had more to do with the
building up of this tremendous Southern enterprise than any other
one man, and the Southern Hell Telephone Company has never been
open to the charge, which lies against so many public service cor
porations, of watering its stocks in order to hide the amount ot its
earnings.
Colonel Gentry has seen the little struggling company grow into
a gigantic corporation with $30,000,000 capital and 6,000 employees.
In the Atlanta office alone, some six or seven hundred people are
employed, and their pay-roll in Atlanta will probably reach a million
dollars yearly. Every city of any importance, within his district,
has a handsome exchange building which belongs to the company.
The number of its subscribers runs into colossal figures—their lines
penetrate into every nook and corner of the South, and today the
1 fWWWWWWVWWA/WVWWWUWftJVWWWW/VWWWXA/WtA/WA*
I Something Real For Christmas!
W HEN it is really Christmas time, you will be glad
that you remembered. It is—of course—because
you will be glad, that we remind you that we
have more beautiful things that fit in with the giving
spirit than you would guess.
For instance, you have not imagined the complete
charm of
THE MARK CROSS LEATHER NOVELTIES
The real charm produced by this combination of beauty
and service.
BATHROBES, SMOKING JACKETS AND
DRESSING GOWNS
CHRISTMAS SLIPPERS, ^ e e n \ W eZTe, 23
what about handsome ties and silk sox for the men on
your list ?
Give us a Christmas visit—real soon. You’ll be glad
—we’ll be glad too.
GEO. MUSE CLOTHING COMPANY |
fWWWVWWX/WVWWUVWWmAIWWWWWWX/VX/WWVN/VWXJ I
man in Atlanta can sit down in his office and talk over the telephone
line with the man in Washington.
The farm business has not been overlooked, and in every direction
throughout Colonel Gentry’s territory, farmers are no longer iso
lated, but are kept in close touch with the world and its markets
by reason of their telephone lines. Colonel Gentry’s ambition is to
have a telephone in every farm house in the seven Southern States
where his company operates.
Under his kindly but masterly hand the company has always
kept in close touch with the public, and maintained with it the
most friendly relations. 11c is a believer in the widest publicity.
The Southern Hell Telephone Company is one of the great public
s. rvice corporations which never has undertaken to do business in
a secretive way—it is ready to respond at any time to any proper
demand for information; indeed, it may be said that it seeks
publicity.
The ideal to which Colonel Gentry has always worked is perfect
service. Naturally, in this world of imperfect people, he will never
attain his ideal—but, at least, he does all that any man can do in
that direction, and no employee of his great company is allowed to
be other than absolutely courteous to everyone coming in contact
with the business.
It does not make any difference from what angle he is judged,
W T. Gentry has made a success of his life; the business entrusted
to him has been served with fidelity and has prospered. In his
personal relations, lie is one of the most kindly of men; he has an
army of friends, measured—it may be said—by bis acquaintance.
Ilis employees are loyal to a man, recognizing that their superior,
though just, knows how to temper justice with mercy, and leans
always in the direction of mercy. As a citizen, Colonel Gentry sets
an example of good citizenship—he stands for good morals, for
I honest public service, for justice as between man and man and in
governmental affairs. Commencing life with a frail physique, lie
has worked out results that would be creditable to both a physical
and mental giant.