The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-10-02

rates uAeu on the SlU,UUU.
Capt. Day: you say you fail to see
how your being allowed to charge n high
er rate can hurt. the Interstate. win
that not enable you TO carry on more
vigorously your scheme Of eompctitionY'
Il don't see how IL can. though the
company that has the largest capital
can stand the fight the longest. We
have to pay our losses nj any particular
exchange from the general fund"
what were your losses in North Car
DINA in 1862
"They were S3,069.2o."
Glow many free telephones did you
have i'm the State"
Il have no figures, but think there
were about 200
IF you had charged for these would
there have been any lossY
There would not. We would have
made small profit"
Judge MacRae: Are not the Inter
States rates as high MS the rates charged
by other rival companies in other
States"
"Yes, but at least twenty-five OF these
companies have gone into bankruptcy"
do you give free telephones elsewhere
other than DurhamW
Yes. at Winston and Wilmington.
But / have no data to tell just how
many"
Frank A. Pickernell, engineer OF the
American Bell Telephone Company was
sworn as an expert. He testified that
he was a graduate of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and had for
twelve years been in the telephone bust
ness.
The average life OF such plant as the
Southern Bell has in North Carolina, he
said, is seven years-it is of the type
used in the earlier days Of telephoning
and out of date. To keep such plant
in a condition to be used requires a
reserve of 10, probably 20 per cent
The time has come when the plant at
Asheville must be rebuilt. The old one
can no longer be utilized. When the
question of reconstruction at Raleigh is
taken up it will require an expenditure
of at least $25, 900 to make it modern
and capable of giving the highest type
of service.
| Mr.. Pickernell said that his company
now contemplated establishing such a
| plant at Asheville as is maintained in
the larger cities of the Union, and the
connection of that city with others by a
long distance line.
As improvements are made in the ser
vice the number of subscribers increase
and the value of the service depends up
on both Of these-good service and large
number of subscribers. Long distance
lines are coming South. They have
reached Norfolk, Fredericksburg, Chat
tanooga and Nashville. The plants in
many Southern States have been entire
ly rebuilt and prepared for this long dis
lance connection. This has been done
at Augusta, Charleston, Birmingham, At
lanta and other places. This process of
extension is going ON all over the South.
Everywhere it means the abandonment
and loss of the old plant. Competition
has not forced these improvements. They
began before competition commenced. In
many of these places even now there Is
no competition"
Chairman Wilson: This investigation
was called for the purpose of inquiring
into telephone rates to-day and not the
rates on a system that we may have
some time in the future Have you OK
pressed any opinion as to the rea s0nable-
ness of the rates on the present plant.
which you say is worn out and worth
less z"
Il have given no opinion as 10 the
rates"
'You are dealing entirely in futures
are you not"
Il am
Judge MacRae; "Are you the engineer
of the Southern Bell Company"
Il am only its consulting engineer, but
! know something of its plans"
'You say the Raleigh plant is worth
less. does Your company expect to PIT
in a new oneT'
That is in contemplation. But il may
not be done in the next few weeks or
the next few months"
This completed the testimony i'm the
case and the Commission took q recess
until 49,. O'Clock. at which time argu
ment was made by counsel
The first speech was made by Mr..
R0bt. Strong, local attorney of the
Southern Bell Telephone Company. He
lact, being a highly penal statute must
be construed strictly, and under the
law, creating it, the same rules of evil
,dence as maintained in other civil courts
must be maintained. This, he said, put
the burden of proof of excessive rates
on the Interstate Company, and the
ruling unless there was competent evi-
dence on which to base the ruling.
Such evidence, he argued, did not exist
in this case.
Mr. Strong argued also that the great
or the competition the greater the mon
lopoly. The only way, he thought, to have
competition was to allow rates suffi.
GENTLY high to make the business worth
fighting for. He further told the Com
mission that they had so many things to
look after that it was impossible to
properly attend to them, and the only
way to secure the ends for which the
Commission was created, was to allow
competition to regulate them.
With this Capt Day, attorney for the
Interstate Company, OF course, didn't
Iagree. To him the question before the
Commission seemed TO be simply this:
Are the rates fair and reasonable? As
to this. the evidence is this: Mr.. Carr
says his company makes 1S per cent.
at a $34 and $24 rate. The Bell people
say they can't live at that rate; then