The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-04-27


rates, he ought to have chance tt
speculate and see if he can furnish it a
these rates, because, he says, the result
; of his speculation will at least be, for thu
time being, to compel the Southern New
England Telephone company, to pu
down its rates, whether it ought to b.
compelled to do so or not,
If Mr.. Holbrook had shown that there
was any error or extravaganza or mis-
management on the part of the Southern
New England Telephone company, tina
would be one thing. But he and his as
sociates acknowledge Mr.. Tyler as the
best authority on all telephone ques.
lions, and he and his associates present
no reason whatever to this committee tc
induce the belief that telephone rates
can be permanently reduced to the
standard that they so conspicuously adj
vertise
If the committee inquiries how this Of
fer of cheap rates comes to be made the
answer is obvious. 1t is clap-trap to get
up popular hue and cry by which the
speculation can be authorized, and by
which the charter can be obtained and
the gamble" set on foot
The telephone business is natural
monopoly. l am sorry to be obliged to
say so, so offensive is that word to
Americans So are municipal gas, mu-
nicipal water, municipal street railway
and electric light companies, monopo-
lies. The telephone, however, is the
most natural monopoly of them ALL At
the last resort, any person can gee that
everybody wants it to be ONE system
oftelephonic service, and af er the child
,ish fever of speculation is over and we
come to our senses, there will be but
one telephone system in the state Of
Connecticut. When that system is thor
oughly established there will be no COM
petition, any more than there is to-day
in this state, any railroad competition
| When the idea of a single telephone sys-
tenn in this state is realized, it is obvi-
Gus that that system will be able to col
lect income on all the capital, wisely or
unwisely invested in it. If, in order to
from that ONE system, rival and unne-
cessary telephone companies have been
consolidated and amalgamated the pub
lie will pay interest on the WHOLE.
| 1t cannot be pretended that Simon
| Borg & Company are going into the
| Boston and New York Telephone COM
pany on any small margin of specula-
| ton. The speculation is necessarily haz-
ardous in the extreme. They will take
mighty good care that the dear public
shall hold the bonds and that they will
hold the stock, which is to cost them
nothing.
The proposed company seeks in Sec
ton, A fnN 20, f1r Ike etp ,f
the company in property upon valua-
ton approved by three-fourths vote of
the stockholders of said corporation;
the three-fourths vote would be doubt
less by Simon Borg & Company. The
corporation may organize and COM
mence business whenever and as soon as
100000 of it's stock is SUBSCRIBED
for" emitting all provision that it is to
be paid for.
The power to issue bonds Is unlimited.
Revised statutes, sec. 1854.
The General statutes (sec. $3.50, pro-
vide that the stockholders of telegraph,
telephone electric light or power COM
panies shall be liable to creditors for 25
per cent. of the amount of such stock.
Section 6 of the proposed charter is to
repeal, so far as this company is con-
cerned,' the general law on this subject;
and 1t is a case where the general law
ought to be maintained When we find
these spectators, innocent, perhaps, of
intended wrong, but also innocent of
knowledge of the business which they
propose to undertake, entering into
speculation in this state involving the
expenditure of millions Of dollars, 1t is
worth while for them to understand
that the general assembly of this state
proposes that the creditors of the con-
Germ shall be paid especially as the
stock will probably cost the stockholders
nothing.
The want of business sense and the
essentially gambling character of the
speculation are shown by the articles of
incorporation signed by the same group
Of spectators, under the laws Of New
Jersey. The audacity of this specula-
tive scheme is shown also by the fact
that in the city of New Haven, on April
3, 1899, day or two before this hearing
began, there was filed with the clerk of
the city an application for leave to at
once proceed in the city of new Haven
to open the streets, build conduits, erect |
This application Is filed in the name Of |
the Massachusetts Telegraph and Tele- |
phone company, and in the name of this |
very corporation not yet chartered. Is |
1t so, that the state of Connecticut is
sovereign within its limits or not? Is it |
so, that this group of spectators may |
come to this committee and ask for a
charter, while at the same time insisting
upon it that because three or four of |
them got together in Massachusetts,
Obscure names" as Mr.. Holbrook says,
and under the general laws Of Massa-
signed articles of Incorporation,
they thereby got power of the same ma
ture and quality as this general assem-
bly, is to confer upon them, by another
name, to tear up all the city streets and
put conduits under them, erect poles on
all our highways, and generally to en-
gage in the telephone business in this
state.
In other words, this group of specula-
tors claim that by signing certain docu-
ments prepared by lawyers in Boston,
and filing them with the secretary of
state of Massachusetts, and filing them
with some county clerk In New Jersey, |
that they have all the powers OF SOW
,reignty in the streets of this state that |
Nm III, u 1ynfA |