Date: April 21, 1919
(Original document available here)
It will be a great relief to the public to know that they are no longer to be deprived of telephone service. If the national government had in mind the prevention of any strike that would interfere with the service when it took over the telephone operation, it has apparently not been successful in carrying out its expectations. It did not appear to me that the strike should ever have been permitted. There is another principle involved which has received very little attention, and that is the obligation that exists on those who enter the public service to continue to furnish such service even at some personal inconvenience. This obligation reaches from the highest officer or government official to the humblest employee. The public has rights which cannot be disregarded. Everybody is to be conÂgratulated that the controversy has gone on without being a cause of much more serious results than the public has had to endure.
Citation: Vermont Historical Society
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Isaac Oberman who prepared this document for digital publication.