Ke Aloha Aina, Volume XL, Number 43, 4 July 1920 — The New Freedom [ARTICLE]

The New Freedom

. - Tdephone Graft _ -"f When the Puhlie 1 ahnouneelPlK^PM^ inauiry wou!d be raadē ifttb #fe fltfaT<Vel&raffaiTß of the TelepFione Co. t |b0 officials"*of &ē thrcw up th*ir they had decided to increase the!r to the tune of $70,000. The te!ephone "cHnipahy 6tftei&!s;* fkmever, at' Uie same time stated ihai the PuHīe t r tllities Commissīon roust : jjermjtlLein to enforcfe anotfier bōoSt in telephoneTat£StO covgr tlie necdssary f75,00b. " Other#ise this poor, alutruistic telephone 'coinpany be Ts?toē*d to <fire poverty and destitution, and, 'eouW not possibly ma3?e bot!i ends meet, | ) Tt is hut the merest trtith td say that the Public Utilities ComirifW(ibn and the pnblie generfclfy more trouble and J 'more e*ai!peratmg expcrienees with this loeal telephone outfit • than with all the other public utilities in the territory combined, j And at the aame time it is undoubtedly true that the telephone oojDpany has paid a higher rate of dividend to its stockUokiersJhsn has. been paid by any loeal public utißty. j It that the service rendered the put»lic by this lelephone eonceni iias bēēri of an atroclous Mnd, highly 1 ari(J aa compared with the' first-class service ren2ered by fhe'eTēetrie light, street car and gas' .eonipanie^."*'' - -v-. ■ j. [ 1 "The Company wants to know where it is going to iet that $75,00010r the purpose ; as alleged, of granting| ! An exftnmatibij of thē figures ' 'in the lwi financial T?tatement made by the company, and ptib-* !lished in <'The Mamial of Hawaiian Securities, 1920," furnishes WieluiM evideace thaf ? tjrfr!hg tf!B lverage of-years from 1911 % 1919, iiclusive, there never ha» been a year in whieh the eompany coufc not have piid its employes an extra $75,000 in wages, andat tlif same time bave ha/1 a surplus available foi- burial purpooG«t iu fie many or»araental and.more or less imaginary funds whieii see|n to havc been cieated for the express puTpoSe bf safely fiaiting a4ay all surplus earnings, ncr-doubt to be resurrected at mme fudre in the favorite form of a stock dividend. Tlia6the puhpe may* apjprectate tSe cīever and cold-blooded way in wpieh they have been robbed by the telephone company thiswas before the recent increase in rates, too), the figures[ fglF the jlarly net dividen:d paid, arid surp!us are here' i - - " ;v. -vt .' ; 1 Y«ar ; ineoine ' *Paid l Surplus v 1910-* — - $72,305.00 " ' 1911 4 93,854.00 IB,ŌtJ6.ŌO *75,§34.00 1912 108,295.00 26,000.00 82^05.00 1913 -f - 107,555.96 48,273.75 59,282.21 1914 4 - 161y08&i2 59,057.00 42,873.12 1915 i.- inmM 61,557.00 67,40^.73 1916 m,443.d0 61,557.00 105,886.55 1917 -4 — 173,043.58 68,278.50 105,764.08 1918 -4—- 166,573.03 83,023X)0 83,550.03 1919 — 04,754 25 «4,375 54 * - ' -• - $687,270.26 The above total sum of $687,270.26 is your money wid my rnotiey, <jear rpader, and the telephone compAny have no more !jnorai right to it than a eommon'ordinary thief would have to tthe mon<y he stole out of your or my eaah 3rawer. J This sum of $§87,270.26 has heen skillfuily distributed among ,»iiuinbe; of "funds'* and "accounts/' and in many cases iiivested lin real eaaie. By i decision of tKe Publio TJtilities Commission the tele~ piione ccmpany is entltled, to recfeive 8 per cent. on its invfestjnent in real estat.e, ānd as r4ilet|&te I"jought by the telephone |company out of surplus ia an "investment," it folīows Chat the | telephone customra* is robbed £ seCond time to provide a dividend ion the money qJ whieh he has atr&oy 4 bemro^beā, very mueh |lik«. De«A" Swift'a. whieh suffered from'"beinp bitten by f sm&ller fleas, and diese smaller fleas hM still miieh sma3lcr Reas |to bite 'em, and so on, ad infinitum. This is what will happen ( so long ās the teleph(Jhe company is permitted to capitaJize its jurplus, iio matetr in what form or by \vhat subterfuge the trick .m»y be <kne. • ! r . ' / r *^ It »vf«aUy difficult to understand why the Public XJtilities Coß!mlBsldn pefttiitg this telephone company to raise its rates to jtfee ptiblift while, at the §ame time pajing a reguW dividend of [10 per away every r a substantia!" surpTCis (o the possewion of whieh it has n'efflier a morafnor ari ethical right. ¥or tfae e«oouragement of tfee Pjiblic Ūtilities Commīssion we that various state commerce commissions of the I, nited St|tes have % heW Jhat iitilities ābōuld pay on tlieir capit«l Qojy the in many casēs irates mueh below tiie banking rates havē beeri forced upon pub- ' lie utility eompaniee. j And such decisioniliave umfomsy upheTd by the courtā. j |These facts, no doubt,.are well knowii to the Public. Utiīfities' Cx>mmis»on, some of the members of whieh &re well known and' |able attdhieys. - . ,i - j . . | It s§scqs to this paper # tKat the te!ephorie company would| be well taken care of if permitted to earn enough on its paid up >apjtal tojtake «m* of dēprecratiMi and to pay a yearly divldend jOf 7 per wrif. and i)o . , . r I ' Chat js j>t)liii ul>vaoushe<l rdbbery t atid^ shou!d not be p»mitted by the>u^lic" ŪaliUēa Commission, the ! |members of whieh coiumission an*d sworn io' iproteet public agaānst unpHueiplea, get-rich quick, bucauccr ;iag couoeriis like our T«Jepho»c C\uupany. '

Democradc Convention

j ii Biil Bryaj\ says, "McAdoo won't do," why he •an<t that'a nll there is to it. Br\'ai\ in the pssrt ha§ shovvn himself ;to be a good judge of horse fl"esl\ (incl\>ding the dark v&riety), : |and there is rto roason to assumo that his ahijity fh thig directioxi j 'has deter!orated of late. Tn fltft, it is a fāir tliat 1 'Brynn wiil dominat? the ronvention all the way throūgh and ! the noiiiinee wiil tx? BryahVman } just as VT\W.> 1 | It is quit« apireut tlmt ,Mmson jyid Ūie Johngon $upik*t-' 7 at &•£££»•«» lct* ,down in A<Tcoi»ing cloction not alone *n CaMornia but throughout all' lh? tj>teru ' 'Staltj. WMtejn nun Oweū reomvm

fronvtl\ē dissatisfied and disgruntled progh?®ivc" Rep u l,. \ licans of the West. - f If Tqsaes|pe r%tifie» thewoman stiffra%e ameiidiiient tu tI H 1 'aSft&ir 5 !n strut ov«ā%MMim| vTctfrry' 1 fnr €he t>eniocrftts ln the euin'n )i; 3 eJection. The ladirs kaow io Whōm they are indoUoil f,* * līi&Jjpreat anel final vietory for suffragē, and t>iere ean he nt) (luuhi 1 they *wfll shoW tKT?ir āpprMatk.u in :i 4 thoroughly tangible way. ī The above facts, taken in eojijunction with the fuct that ,?(■n ator Harding is about the weakest eandidate that could pos»ibi) * have been chosen for the Republican presidentiai nomination fnal?e it practically eertain that wē will witness a »weeping Demo-'! cratie \-icton- in the eoming fall elections. That is, if the tion at f?Hn Francisco does not spoil our*chances by on "Kome questi6ns and flirting with the liqiror question in pa r - 5 tioular. ' — I If the f&r»ocratic conv€ntfen endorses the personal lib?,er.ty' planle, it will mean the alienatioiii of praetically the etitire vote, and that will spell political suieide. ~ r ' K: MĒĒĒm Playing in the Wrong Yar^^H iSupcrvisor Kuinalae recently has not heen tuteness and" ctMrsighted wisdotn ? with the lie has. so often been credited. The supervisor seeniia ing both ends agamst the riiiddle; W<J if he in this sort of pastimc he is bound to cortie up sickcning thud tliat witll make his teeth jrattle. deepiseid by the RepubTican members of the Board by the Desmocratic meinbers.' Hāving Ven elected' crat he should keep faith" with the Democrati? his fellow Democrats ōn the Board. This is the way ncss and t!re path of ahd we would say to "Walk ye in it." ' About Harding '"^^H Tfei* i §• j|^^H Ueiegates have picked to t>e the white hope of theGjS^^^^H Tiiere used to be a bos» 'in Cincmnati 7 Ohio ; B. Cox. Maybe you've heard of him. s§ie was the chieftain of the most |jK>liticq| t»yccaneerg that ever got rich from rulin^Sffl|^^^^| . m 4 ,i. 4» | d<sctnt jsppleof tne state wne fpoaed to Cox. lt eame to pass, onee upon a tmie ; W&jjky hot for him. T]vey were calling him all of his |Pjjj||^^^^H H&rdīng, got up flf?ore a big jp£«āsed him as the unconquered "grand marshal of division of the Republican army." The toygh old boss eried; for the fir§t and life, it is said. v Anyhow, at the first opportunity he forced the of Harding for governor, at a state convention in lhe kalai*ce of jx>wer. tiarding waa defeated at the polls, as being too i>ater on, Burton 4 of Ohio, got a case "col4? feet." ' He had been roasted and jabbed papep a good deal x and decided that he couldn't eleeUon. * He stayed out, and the nomination for byqefault to Harding. As luek would have it, the Democrats weakest candidate ever known in that state, choseh for the senate. did a«ythin£, intenfcionally, tempered, friendly sort of iiaa "organization/' and always He believee in "organization ?) politic,s- -be.līevftsfij^^^^^H ruie, in short. His poliūeal fortunes have boc?n based on JMkes.no enemies, and that he's always with His record of service for the real an absolute blank. He has no such record. He's just an amiable, easy-going, and if he should be elected he'd be an gaftwation" president, with the 01d Guard Republican bosses ment,—S, JF. Dfrily News (Independent).