The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-09


Mr.. Hale said he did not believe
horse and wagon could be driven through
the House provision; the only question
was whether the Senate thought it
good provision. Mr. Hale produced copies
of recent contracts made with the COM
pany. and characterized them as eXtor-
Tomato.
Senator Mcmillan, who is, as he said
himself somewhat of a telephone man.
said that he did not care to discuss the
subject, but he was satisfied that some
thing ought to be done with regard to
the rates, as is now being done all over
the country. In Washington however,
the conditions are different. II is a city
of great distances and not so many tele-
phones would be used as in large
business city. He urged that the whole
| matter he investigated before action be
taken.
Senator Bacon advocated the House
| provision. Since the last Congress, he
said, continued efforts had been made
| by the people of the District to free
themselves from the eXactions of this cor
! poration 1t was a fact that corpora
| tons had always. in one way or another,
defeated any and all action that sought
to limit their powers and their unlimited
| powers still continue.
! Congress owed it to the people to rid
| them of this injustice and assure to them
! that which was now desired-the pracu-
! cal use of the telephone. The Senate
J should determine the rates and the regu-
| lations Of this company. and not the
! conferees. MIR. Bacon also made the
! strong point that there should be no
greater delay in having the committee of
| the Senate conduct an investigation than
| if the conferees conducted it. If the con-
| ferees conducted it, and brought in a re-
| port, the Senate could not consider it. for
Z L
! conference reports were rushed through
! the Senate. y company which stood be-
| fore Congress and contended that no
! other company should be organized in
| the District ought not, he said. to have
| any high consideration when a PROPOSE
| ton was submitted to regulate It's
! charges
Mr.. Cullom, a member of the commit
! tee, asserted that the Senate was occu-
/ pying an unusual position when il de-
| clined to agree with the committee in this
| particular case.
Mr.. Bacon interjected an inquiry and
asked Mr.. Cullom why, If this was a sub
! ject for investigation, such investigation
! was not conducted by the Senate commit
! tee instead of the Committee on Confer
/ ence
Mr. Cullom evaded direct answer aud
| said he was discussing the question of
| whether or not the Senate was proceeding
| IN an orderly way.
Mr., Cullom was proceeding to discuss
the subject with some warmth when he
| was interrupted by Mr.. Hale. who said
! there was no need of anyone being taken
by surprise. Every member knew there
| had been opposition in the committee to
; the committees proposed action, and 1t
had been stated that the matter would be
fought out on the floor of the Senate.
II am not taken by surprise, said Mr..
frtrfI hut T 10 do H1rha iS Fip lnt
by the corporations as well as by the peo-
| Pile l have the courage of my convic-
tons TO vote for corporations if ! think
! am right in so doing. What | want IS the
facts, and If those facts justify it | shall
/ vote for a less charge even than that now
| stipulated in the House provision"
"A better way to show that this COM
! pany can reduce its charges and give the
present service for the rates fixed in the
| House bill is TO put it in the law that they
shall do it," said Mr.. Hale. The com
! pany Will never put its rates down except
| by legislation or through competition"
| Mr. Teller held that il was incumbent
| upon those who challenged the House
| provision to show that ii was not right
and Just. Mr.. Teller had no doubt bur
that this company had been given more
than that to which they were entitled.
He did not believe in a competition that
would result in tearing up the streets
put ne ulu DelleNe tIldl the existing COM
panY was absolutely under the control
Of Congress and Congress ought to deal
with it when grievances were shown TO
exist Mr.. Teller satisfied that the
! rates fixed by the House were ample II
the senator from Illinois thought the
Senate was about to outrage this cor
poration he should stand in his place and
tell the Senate how that outrage was to
be perpetrated. THE senator from Hi
nois, said Mr. Teller says he does
not know anything about the rate in the
House bill Because he does not know is
not a good reason upon which we should
assume that the House is wrong"
Senator Sewall favored an investigation
first The cut provided by the House
was equivalent to 50 per cent, which
would be recognized as a pretty heavy
and a questionable cut in the existing
charges.
There is one thing in all this discus
sion that is worthy of note" said Mr..
Hale "and that is that where telephone
companies have succeeded in keeping out
competition, high rates prevail and when
there is competition the rates are quite
low. That is the main reason why ] am
decided that the House provision is right.
/ do not care to have the streets torn
up by a new company and as we do not
grant competition the only way can
relieve the people is through an act of
Congress lowering the present charges.
Senator German advocated the idea OF
having an investigation before action was
taken. He knew it was apparently a
| popular thing to attack corporations
whose interests We're involved in Con-
gressionaI action. BY law Congress had
/ practically made this company a mo-
nopoly, and if ii was charging too great
an amount for its service, unquestion-
ably those rates ought to be regulated
! by Congress to a point where justice
would be done the subscribers. and where
a fair return should be made to those
who had invested their capital The com
! pany i'm question controlled the territory
in the District Of Columbia and in the
State Of Maryland. The conditions in
Washington, Mr.. German said, were
somewhat similar to those in Baltimore
| The charges were practically identical
although in Baltimore there was a popu-
lation of 100000 and in this city not tc
exceed half that. 1t was not fair, Mr.
German said to arbitrarily cut rate I'M
| til Congress knew exactly what il was
doing In the case before the Senate
there had been no pretenSe at an investi-
cation. In 1892 the legislature of Mary
| land cut down the charges of the Balti.
more corporation arbitrarily and the re-
suit was a service that was not tolerated
| by the people of Baltimore. In 1894 the
legislature appointed a commission whose
head was the present Postmaster
| General Gary. This commission, Mr.
| German said, went to the bottom
Of the whole subject, and ascer-
tanned that the rates originally ir
force in Baltimore, and similar to those
in this city, paid only per cent on the
| capital invested. Mr.. German asserted
| that the new company having the auto.