Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-02-06
THE BELL rELEPHoNE MoNoPoLY.


While it is unfortunate that Attorney
General GARLAND or any other Govern.
ment official should allow himself to be
connected with business enterprises in
which people will have opportunity to
throw suspicion upon his official acts, yet
opportunity for suspicion does not give
newspapers the right to attack g mans
character and declare him guilty without a
hearing. Some Of the Democratic papers
of New York and other cities are ever
more malignant toward Mr.. GARLAND than
the Republican papers which would nat
urslly take up the matter for political CAPT
tai if for nothing else.
The charge has been made that some Of
these papers have attacked the Attorney
General in order to divert the attention Of
the people from the investigation Of the
BELL patent. While it has not been
proven that they have been working mere
ly for the interests Of the Bell Tele-
phone Company, neither has it been proven
that Attorney General GARLAND has been
working his of6cisl position in the interests
of the Psn-electrie. So it looks just as
plausible, and perhaps q little more so,
that the real object is to shield the BELL
monopoly.
1.-THE BILL patent should be declared
void, it does not imply that Mr.. GARAND's
company be the only gamer. There are
other telephone companies that would
come into the field as competitors and
some of their patents might be so much
better than that Of the Psn-electric that
the latter could gain no hold.
Secretary LAMAR would not have been
doing his duty to the people had he not
ordered the suit to be brought. All indi-
vidual suits have failed. GRAY, DoLBEAR,
DRAwBArGH, EDISON and others have all
tried to break the Bell patent, but have
al been unsuccessful, and the monopoly
is absolute, though charges Of fraud in the
securing the BELL patent have always
found more or less of a hearing. The
question brought before Mr.. LAMAR was
whether he believed the evidences Of fraud
in securing the patent justified the bring
ing of q suit by the Government to vacate
the patent. he decided there was. That
brings the question up to be decided on its
merits.
The Bell telephone began to be used in
1879. In January 1885, the capital stock
was S24,O OO, 900, and up to that time 81
600, OO0, iD,divideuds had been declared tor
the stock holders. On the lst Of January,
1885, the Bell Company controlled in the
United states aud Territories 772 ex-
changes, IO7,44O circuits, lOl, 734 miles of
wire, gave services to 5,l68 employees and
had $4,000 subscribers. The pay roll
last year averaged about $4,000 a month,
or sboutSl2O,OOO q year. The employees
are nearly al girls, who receive very small
salaries. The expenses are very light, the
original cost Of property small and the ln-
come sure.
al the taxes this great monopoly have
paid the Government up to January !,
1885, only amount to $4,000. The
amount paid for taxes in New York in
1884 was only S24.s6. The most Of the
tax was in Massachusetts, where the
stock Is taxed. The biggest ex-
pense the company have is the
royalty they have to pay
the Western Union Telegraph Company.
This was equsl to $780, 900 in 1885. The
original investors in Bell Telephone stock
psid from $40 10 $40 per share. Since
then the stock has been increased or wa
tered seven times, and the shares are
worth $50 each, so that an original holder
has now eight shares for every one that he
first held, and what he paid say $50 for is
nov worth 81, 200.
Every man who tss q telephone is d.
rectly interested in Secretary LANAR's de-
cision and the investigation that is to fol,
low. 1.-THE Bell Telephone Company has
no right to a monopoly Of the telephone
business Of the country, the people do not
van to continue paying exorbitsnt rates
for telephones in order 10 enrich the COM
pany. If some newspapers are trying to
bring two Of the Cabinet oficersiiuto dis
repute in order 10 shield the Bell Tele-
phone Company, they might as well save
their efforts. The people want justice and
will listen to nothing else.