Mr. Dees Goes to Town

UTILITIES

Of some 6,500 independent telephone companies that operate about 20% of the U.S.'s 22,600,000 telephones, the Mt. Vernon Telephone Co., of Rockcastle County, Ky., is certainly not the best. Most of its null subscribers suffer old-fashioned wall crank phones. Once a break in the line was not repaired for three months. Some lines are down because poles have rotted away and have not been replaced. On a $6,372 gross last year, the company lost $39.58, It prints no directory; subscribers merely give the crank a whirl and say: "Gimme John Boone," etc....