Newspaper Page Text
THE ATLANTIAN
7
gation of acting as policemen in these disturbed coun
tries—this to involve the protection of all foreigners
when a state of anarchy prevails, which is a very com
mon habit in that part of the world.
We have come to that point when we must be prepared
to support our obligations as a policeman, by force of
arms, or else we must renounce the Monroe Doctrine,
and let European nations take care of their own citizens
and subjects. There is no middle ground. We must
either live up to the obligations which we have volun
tarily assumed, or we must decline to do so and give Eu
ropean nations a free hand.
Presuming that we should give the Europeans a free
hand, what could happen that would be detrimental to
us even if France, or Germany, or England sent their
armies into these countries on the South of us to protect
their citizens in their lives and rights? How would that
hurt us? Suppose that such actions on the part of Eu
ropeans resulted in permanent occupation. How would
that hurt us? Is it not true that England, or France or
Germany would be better neighbors for the United
States than Mexico, or Colombia, or Venezuela, or Peru,
as these countries have been heretofore conducted?
Why should we assume the responsibility of protecting
the independence of several millions of half-breeds, who
have proven by a hundred years of continual revolution
their utter incanncitv for establishing stable govern
ment? Is it not time for us to quit a lot of silly theories
and openly recognize the conditions which exist, declin
ing to be further responsible for perpetual anarchy over
seven million square miles of country?
A Giant Company
The annual report of the Bell Telephone System in
the United States, for 1913, is just out. It is hard for
the average mind to grasp the enormous figures, but it
may be of some interest to our readers to make the
effort.
The Company states that the total capitalization is
$1,390,000,000: that $620,000,000 of this is held in the
Treasury and $770,000,000 is held by nearly 56.000 stock
holders. To this they add $26,000,000 of accounts pay
able, making a total of $796,000,000 of outstanding ob
ligations.
They figure their total assets at $980,000,000. leaving
a surplus over and above liabilities of $174,000 000. and
a special Employees Benefit Fund of nearly $9,000,000.
To operate this tremendous system it takes over sixteen
million miles of wire, of whch 92% is copper, and over
half of which is now underground. More than eie-ht mil
lion separate telephones are in use, reaching 70,000 lo
calities. More than 182 000 people draw wages from
the great company. Their gross receipts in 1913 reach
ed the tremendous figures of $215,000,000; the operat
ing expenses were $75,000,000; taxes $11,000,000; cur
rent naintenance $32,000,000; fund for depreciation near
ly $38,000,000, leaving over $58,000,000 of net profit, of
which more than $16,000,000 was paid in interest, $30,-
000,000 in dividends, and over $11,000,000 carried to sur
plus.
It is difficult for the outsider to grasp the exact status
of the companies making up the system, even though
the statement is very full. The report, however, makes
the statement that the property employed earned less
than 6% per annum, and that the dividends and interest
paid were less than 5% upon the value of the property.
There are some very interesting features in the re
port. It is stated that the whole of Europe only does
two-fifths as much business as the Bell System in the
United States. This is indeed a very remarkable state
ment—375,000,000 of people in the highly civilized coun
tries of Europe doing only 40% as much telephone busi
ness as the 95,000,000 of people in the United States.
After all, however, it is the local end of the thing that
interests us mostly. We do not know, here in Atlanta,
the big system—but we do know the Southern Bell Tele
phone Company, which is a part of that system, and to
which we make our little contribution every month.
With the Southern Bell, with which we come in contact,
leaving aside the question of profit, capitalization and
figures generally, our interest centers in service. We
cannot give definite figures like the telephone report
does, but it is a very good guess thateach subscriber
gets mad on an average of once a day over his telephone.
We understand that there are about 28,000 telephones
in and around Atlanta—that would make 28,000 gusts
of temper daily. We have to concede, however, that the
Telephone Company practices, in one respect at least,
the precepts of the Gospel. It certainly believes that “a
soft answer turneth away wrath”—and when we raise
a ruction we get the soft answer. Speaking seriously,
the officials of the system (here at least) cannot be im
proved upon, as we see it. They certainly make the
most strenuous efforts to give to the public good ser
vice, which is the vital thing, both in season and out of
season. They inculcate upon their employees courtesy,
promptness, carefulness, and any little failures of which
we may complain cannot be justly attributed to the men
who are giving the best that is in them to the handling
of a complicated system to the end that the public may
be efficiently served.
Fairfax Harrison, Southerner
I have just been reading a copy of an address deliv
ered before the Chamber of Commerce in Chattanooga,
Tenn., on January 20th last, by Fairfax Harrison, the
new President of the Southern Railway. It is both an
inspiring and a sobering address. It is inspiring to see
how clearly the President of a great railway system
appreciates the relation of that system to the public
which it serves. It is inspiring also because there crops
out the intense patriotism of the man towards his. home
land, and his desire to be a contributing factor in the
furtherance of its prosperity.
On the other hand, it is sobering, because it brings
out very clearly the necessity of co-operaton between
the people who are served by this great system and
the men who operate it. I have had occasion recently
to comment on the fact that such men as the late Sam
uel Spencer, William Wilson Finley and William Greene
Raoul, all great railroad men, put the work first and
the reward second, and not one of these great railroad
presidents could ever have been justly accused of being
exploiters. This is something to be proud of, because
they were all Southern men to the manor born.
It is gratifying to know that the new head of this
great system is a worthy successor of such men. It is
not the purpose of this brief mention to deal in figures
—but there are two or three phases of the matter which