The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-11-12
MIGHTY TELEPHONE WAR.
IRE AND DEA TH sTRrGGLE GOING
on IN FfDERIL COURTS


>, R.,oire. Around tho validity of the
u.,I,nrr PHtent--Iundreds OF Lndepsn-
d.rt Companies Already in the Field
and .i1re Ready to Begin Operations.
I,.gol hnttlc between gigantic financial in
..,,,,. Va. begun in the United States Circuit
corrt Tor The Eastern District OF Massachu-
..,,s n, Boston. on Nov. Z. The contest In
.rIr,lly between the American Bell Tele-
I..,e conpany and the National Telephone
w,nnfac,urlng Company Of Boston. but II IA in
,.c, A .,ruegIe between the great Bell tele-
rSons interests and = large number OF inde-
,nrts,t concerns which have sprung up within
s'ev years.
r., tho decision OF the action now being
h.ord will depend the disposition OF many
rlIi,ns Of dollars in value upon the one side
=, the other Although 1t Is certain that
rsrbcr side will rest until the 'case has been
I,cI'ed finally by the United states supreme
r,urt much is likely to dcpend uron the trial
before N. Circuit Court aud n judgment there
IN 10 o. Prestige to the side that i favors.
rbis contest. too. ia looked upon ns the last
.,o, vriv be made. either tn establish or to
s,.,k IN. validity ~ the Gains under which
A., American Ball Telephone Compan hns built
a, and now holds its great and remunerativs
,o,,s,,i,n ~ business enterprises. Shout the
.u,, for rfrincem, NJ brought against the Ma
,,or,' Tr'crhorn Manufacturing COMPANY fail
I, yl,l throw the entire telephone field open.
.t,hou. material restriction. to the indcpen-
Isnt operators who have already established
themselves and covered large part ofths coun-
with th.ir telerhone wires and exchanges
should the American Eel Telephone Com
n,,v win. these lndepe dent operations would
.ecsiy. serious cheek. In fact there would
hon he A strong possibility that they would
I a. ~ no Poll 70 ~ n
m,pv another company has that attempted
correction,
tn. matter AZ issue IL embodied IN patent
.tg 800 which wa. lssuci 70 Emile Berliner ~
Wellington. u. C.. on Nov. Il. 1891. and still
b,s nine years 70 run. The circumstances
,tprac,ed with the issuing ~ this patent were
uch.to induce a helle' that they involved
,.,ulan! an attack was begun upon the patent
smo,,n soon rs Il was granted. The nnrli-
cation Tor the patent was flcd on June 4. 1877.
or fourteen years before the patent was issued.
During oil this time the application lay In
the Patent ONCE. ard soon az II was
issued charges were made that II had been
he'll back through fraudulent collusion be-
tween N. Bel people and Patent once en-
p'oys.s n order that It might Anally be issued
inst IN tim. 10 save the MONOPOLY o. thu Bell
comrany whom this was threatened by the ex-
ri-atiou Of its earlier patents.
Tie National Bell Telephone COMPANY.
which was the forerunner OF the American
Bel Telephone Company was organized under
n. laws Of Massachusetts. n manufacture.
ovr. sell. use and license others to use cleo
disappearing telephones made under patents
granted to David Graham B"ll. dated March :,
1876 and Jan g. 1871 The policy OF ths
.nnpany was never to sol! any OF it's tels-
phones. hut 10 AID In organizing subsidiary
-5rranes VIII ch built i,nss, established cN-
changes AMI hired - t"erhones OF the parent
conc IN. twas n" companys general ruiH to
'asajl pc r.n'. Of IN. STICK Of hese sub
sllary concerns Ms bonus for issuing a
N-sr aud then 20 charge Sl6 year rental
tr each -; 81 Instruments furnished for use.
l'tirr this plan the business has extended
until to-day there are mora than nifty sub
ti.ary companies vOrk,n. under the Bell
licenses aGl these have established more
:Ga1 100 exchanges with n thousand
branches In addition. Their lines have cost
slll.u utpp and thay have IN use more than
li-iY 0 'e ephoH"s. Wheu the number Of e1-
ri7rc-1 hHi grown !ato hundreds. and there
va, 4 tenarI for te ephonc connections be-
tween them, new concern was organized by
ne Bel rrople. the Amer can Telephone and
r., graph Company, known popularity as the
Long Distance Company. with n capital stock
II S-j.nUo.uVo, to build connecting trunk lines
o'w.-s. This has grown until last March It's
capital stock was increased 20 S75OOyO UO and
|, had Il use on Jan. l. 1859. 1909 miles OF
wire and cable on poles. and 1928 mes OF
wire altogether. connecting 80 officei with
one another. aud !ts earnings were more than
$4,000 a year. The capital stock o.
the American Bell Telephone Company
Ia s2j,SS5.30O and its last annual
taaace sheet shows that it held S.I1B. 425
s2,24S532 and other property and accounts
making ~ a total OF nearly s55.0OO0OO. Tho
COMPANIES operating under Its licenses own
1i?,OyO miles Of wires about half OF which are
underground and half on 20 es. and their total
earnings for l-9S were s5,4is.70l. OF this
S3d3,"S was net. The American Bell Tsle-
phone stock /. mostly held in New England
and Is quoted at $50 or more
The original Bell patents expired. one on
March I. 1893. and the other on Jan. 8. 1894
That threw opsn to the public the use OF tina,
rart o. the telephone apparatus called tho re-
eelver. or the part which one puts to his ear to
receive message. but the Berliner patent,
which had been Issued In Novemb bar. 1891,
Ws relied upon TO keep outsiders from
Invading the telephone field. 1t covers
this paten, induced the Attorney, General sSiI 10
ssShg tnat the patent be- annulled upon sew
era. grounds. The bill was ied by tho
AttQrney.'ieneral early In 1888. and came to 4
pna! decision By the supreme Court OF the
ntrd states on May 10. 1871 The
S SsSs was IN favor OF the Bell Com;
pass upon any question at that time
t1cett the one involving the charge OF
s9.tsiEe fraud CONNECTED with the ssuing
the patent Before the matter came before
the supreme Court II had, however, been tried
T. fht Nisi SfhtsS Circuit Court at Boston
SsiLre Judge CARPENTER. and in the fall " 1894
W decided that The patent was void.
iIoin this decision dates tne growth OF the
nIeat bOHY pi independent cVucerns While
iTe Vass was pending tho opponents OF tho
te COMPANY were so confident Of success
Nat thgy had aIrsady tentatively formed
, Dn.pra,s lpT manufacturing telephone
fppatatIs, and many OF them had even
WY factories, aud the moment that
;;ldse lhiI"ut-rs decision was announced
S"ey SCI 'lirlr men ~ work und flooded tho
aai"tt WIN 'h"ir products one result WAS to
w ih imIrtus 10 the Use II telephones such
- !, Ihd never Ia before when no INSTRUMENTS
,'aH' k'hH could b" bought. They were con-
Nn' rom anterior sets for households
,".sr' an factories TO t.r ~ place Of sprul;lnR
NUsN Or rhll bells, ana stable. were cOnu-cts
m'rlhnu" with residences. and scores OF
: r'"rl H.rr were At one" found Tor them But
. I"lH important than these was the spring,ng
t. 'p."' 4. WiNuirS which proposed to build