Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-10-19
rHE TELEPHONE MONOPOLY
NY-A DISTANT HOPE THAT THE MONOPOLY
MAY DE BROKEN.

TWO THREATENED RIVALS TO THE BELL coMpA-
NY-A DISTANT HOPE THAT THE MONOPOLY
MAY De BROKEN.
From the New York Tmesl
The decision of the Examiner of Interfer-
ences in the telephone cases submitted to him
has led to the incorporation of a new tele-
phone company, which proposes to carry on
the telephone business by means Of the Nc
Donough patent and other patents that it
owns. The examiner, having decided in IA
vor Of Bell and the Bell company, nearly all
Of the questions raised declared that Melon
ough had preceded all of the other claimants
in the invention Of telephone receiver. An
appeal has taken the case before the board of
examiners in chief, but the McDonough par
ty, relying upon the decision already made,
upon the result of pending suits, and upon
many other patents in its possession relating
to telephone service, has prepared for a con.
test on the broad field of the United States.
The Bell company, which now controls the
telephone business Of the country by means
Of its patents and its connection with the To-
cal exchange the aggregate capital OF
which is said TO be nearly one hundred mil
lion dollars, is also confronted by another foe,
known as the Peoples Telephone company.
This company owns the unconhrmed claims
of Daniel Drawbaugh, who did not appear in
the interference cases recently decided by the
examiner, but who has undertaken to prove
that he invented the telephone in Cumberland
county, Penn, in 1863, several years before
either Bell or McDonough made an instru-
ment or applied for a patent. 1t is contend
ing with the Bell company in the United
States Court OF the southern district of this
state, and all, or almost all, Of the evidence
has been taken. Believing that Drawbsugh's
claims will be supported by the courts decis-
ion, the company, which is composed OF some
of the most prominent men of New England,
has already sub-divided the country and plac-
ed its prospective business in the hands of
subordinate companies recently incorporated
Some time must elapse before a final decis-
ion in the matter of these conflicting claims
can be reached by the court of last resort. 1t
does not appear that the people will lose
anything by the defeat of the Bell company.
The people desire that telephoning shall be
done at the lowest reasonable rates, and that
no influence shall prevent the full develop
ment of the telephones power. The con-
tract between the Bell company and the West
ern Union company must be regarded as an
agreement that tends to retard the telephonic
art and to conhne the telephone to the field 1t
now occupies. When the two companies
were at war in the courts, some years ago a
| compromise was made, and the concessions
that the Bell company shall pay the Western
| Union company 20 per cent of all money re-
| ceved for the use Of its instruments, and that
| the Bell company shall not permit the trans
mission of general business messages, market
| quotations. or news for sale or publication
over lines owned by it, or by corporations in
which it owns a controlling interest, nor Ii
cense the use of its telephones or patents for
the transmission of general business messages,
market quotations, or news for sale or publ.
cation, in competition with the telegraph
business of the Western Union telegraph com
pany, or that of the Gold and Stock telegraph
| company"
| 1t will be seen that this contract, entered
into by the companies that at present control
teephoning and telegraphing and telephone
patents effectually prevents an enlargement
of the telephones field. II prevents the use
OF the telephone for long distance cOmmuni
cation, and for the transmission of business
messages or news, and dscourages any i'm
provement of the telephone that would bring
It into competition with the telegraph. An
independent company that could carry on the
business without being restricted by a con
tract like this, would welcome all improve
ments and strive to bring the telephone intC
direct competition with the telegraph. 1t ii
probable, therefore, that if either of the new
companies shall be successful, the people viii
reap some benefit by means of resulting com
petition either between telephone companies
or between the telephone and the telegraph.