The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-23
THE TELEPHONE QUESTION.

ZION, IOr instance. Inc truth must not De
told about that, because, if you do, some little
cur will bark at your heels, and it has been
said that it is better to have the good will than
the ill-will Of even a dog. And yet, every
man of ordinary intelligence knows that Indi-
greatly interfered with, because Of the passage
of a law by the last Legislature that was con-
ceived in sin and brought forth in i~niquity.
There was not an honest line in it from first
to last. It was suggested by malice and car
riec by ignorance, If from no worse motive.
The Bell telephone is an unmitigated mon
opoly, and the Journal would be glad to see
its power broken; but the telephone law is
VIGOROUSLY unable to touch the Bell company,
is not directed against it, and cannot possibly
reach it. But, all the same, the business of
indianapolis must he crippled, as if it had not
already suffered enough, and this city must be
made the sport of the malice and demagogy
of a few cheap and nasty people. The Jour
a. doo olkCoNJ c0lO tnnt ~ UCiiCfco ONCAy otCp
taken by the telephone company in this con-
test has been a wrong one, dictated by the
worst possible judgment. We are tired of the
city being made the football of both fool
Legislature and a selfish telephone company.
But these are equally beyond grasp just at
present, yet neither ought to prevent the
people, and the Council. and the press
from being honest with themselves and
with the city. The loss Of telephone
facilities is a serious one, and when a news
paper says Indianapolis can get along without
the telephone, it simply advertises its own
Stiffness. The vaporings of such a self-consti-
tuted guide should not be followed for a mo-
ment. What can be done is hard to say, but
the voting away of the city's streets and alleys
to any and everybody is certainly not the So
luton of the matter. The Council did a wise
thing in postponing consideration of the hasty
report Of the Judiciary committee, and will be
still wiser II, in anything they conclude to do,
they squarely recognize the fact that the Bell
company will fight any telephone that is pro-
posed. Not a single one of the numerous in
struments that have sprung up over night is
in successful and ~unimpeded operation any
where that we are aware of, and it may not be
the wisest policy to make Indianapolis the
theater Of the disputes that will inevitably
follow the attempt Of any Of them to operate
their instruments. AS was we'll stated in the
Council the other night, there are many hun
dreds Of telephone patents, and it is nonsense
to expect to get one that will not be an in
fringement. The Bell has not permitted any
company to operate anywhere ~undisturbed,
and it is not probable that it will be more
lenient to the people of Indianapolis than it
has been to any other people. 1t may as well
be understood that what the granting of a
charter to any company means is, simply the
right to be sued by the Bell company if it
shall attempt to use its privilege. A patent
monopoly is a bad thing. The type
writer is worth about ten dollars,
but you cannot get one for less
than ~seventy-five or one hundred dollars.
The sewing machine cost a great deal whenit
first came out, but it was protected by pat
ents, and people could either buy it or let it
alone. 1t never was proposed that the Legis-
lature should fix the price Of the machine,
even under the ''police power" The tele-
phone may not be worth what is asked for it,
and we are inclined to think it is not. But
the fact remains. that the Legislature has
succeeded in depriving the city Of Indianapo-
lis Of one of the most necessary and essential
conveniences for the transaction of business,
and our people had better make up their
minds to that fact. If the Legislature had
said that there should not be paid to the Bell
company more than a specified amount of
royalty, and that the company should not
charge more than a specifsa rate per month,
something might have been accomplished,
with the aid Of such a bill as that Mr.. Hol-
man has introduced into Congress. That the
Supreme Court could have stretched the
''police power to cover that sort of a law
there can be no manner of doubt. But what
we wanted to say, particularly, was, that the
Council should not attempt to humbug them
selves or the people with the belief that the
passage of any sort of an ordinance or charter
will bring telephone service in the absence Of
the Bell. A lawsuit may be brought over a
possible experiment, and Indianapolis may
be made a very attractive place for amateur
inventors with knots on their foreheads, and
for schemers with jobs In their minds, but
that will be about the sum total Of the benefit.