St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-25

OH, HOW GENEROUS
The Telephone Company Has
Actually Reduced It's
Rates
TO ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE,.
Only Applies to Those Whose
Neighbors Can Hear
Them.
TO ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE.
0NACCoUNT OF PARTYLINEs
Manager Freely Talks About
Another Trifiing Reduc-
ton Contemplated.

The recent reduction of rates by
telephone companies in other states
has naturally awakened in the soul
of the st. Paul citizen modest de-
sire for similar favors, but his re-
ward, it appears, will be fully as
modest as his ambition. Manager
Freely, of the telephone exchange,
said yesterday that on May party
line" rentals will be reduced 81 per
month.
1.-The Northwestern Telephone COM
pany,' Mr.. Freely explained, sis
going to make a reduction in rates
May 1, but it will probably not cause
any shout of exultation to arise, so
to speak. In fact, for the present.
the reduction will not affect even 100
of our subscribers. 1t will be con-
fined exclusively to those using a
party line that is, a line shared by
at least three different subscribers.
There are very few of these lines in
the city. ALL the others are what we
call special lines. You see, if
Moriarity, Boppelheimer and Swan
son are on a party line, Moriarity
will have to wait every time that
either of the other gentlemen are
using the line. Besides, whenever
Swanson is rung UP, his call is heard
by. his two neighbors, and, if they de-
sire, they may listen to his CONVEX
sation. These little features keep
the party line from being as popu-
lar as it might be. The party line
subscribers have been paying 81 a
month for residence connections, and
SIS for connections with business
houses. Beginning May 1, these
rates will be cut down to So and 81,
respectively. The special line rates
paid by the great majority of sub
scribers are Sc and S., and so they
will remain indefinitely, so far as j
know. These are the rates that have
been paid ever since 1 have been
here, or for about eight years.
There's another reduction that may
be made before long. 1
DON'T SAY IT WILL BE MADE,
but it's under contemplation This
change will be in the additional mile
age rate. All subscribers located not
lHOl lIictl OllS llllS Ii Jill lllS SAClldHSS
now pay the rates that 1 have just
given you. If they are further away,
they pay 81 a month more for each
additional mile or fraction of mile.
When one man is quarter of a mile
beyond the limit, he pays just as much
more as if he was a full mile beyond.
1t is possible that, before long, the re-
quirements for the additional mile
age will be changed so that the fellow
at the .quarter-mile; limit will have a.
cheaper rent than if he was one-half
or three-quarters of a mile farther
away. But, really, I can't think Of
any other reductions that are at all
likely to be made
The other telephone companies
have reduced their rates, haven't
they? and can't your company afford to
make a similar reduction?" was
asked. ..
"Oh, well, don't know that any
reductions have been made in large
cities. The Wisconsin company, for
instance, reduced it's rates the other
day rs per cent except in Milwaukee.
Our company did the same thing sew
eral months ago. We made a reduc-
ton of one-quarter in rentals for all
subscribers outside of st. Paul and
Minneapolis.
HAS the Standard Telephone COM
pany, or any of the other new COM
panies, had any influence on your
business as YETI"
mo, we haven't lost q subscriber.
OF course, the patents on the teIe-
phones seem to have all expired. At
any rate, there are about twenty-five
telephone companies on the market.
all practically the same as ours. The
big thing for us is that we retain ex.
elusive patents on certain features of
the exchange switch. This adyanta ee
enables us to give much prompter and
more efficient service than any other
company, not to speak of the lessons
we have learned from years of prac-
tlcal experience. The other comma nies
would have to start right at the bot
TOM wv
How about the automatic switch
BOARD used down in Indiana?"
THAT so-called automatic excb.,,,a
or switch board, is arranged So tho
each subscriber can make his own
connections. but in practice it is found
to be untitled for anything but q small
town. % SAiie'ii