Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-11-11
TELEPHONE EXPERIENCES.
The Bell Company at South Bend, In
diana.

1
| Manager Roberts, of the Central
Union Telephone company, has pre-
pared the following for publication
in the interest of the company he rep
PRESENTS:
| South Bend, Ind, has had two
competing telephone exchange expert
ences. One, before the expiration of
the Bell patent, by the Cushman Tele-
phone company, which was closed up
by the courts. and later by mutual
home company called the Citizens
Telephone company, which was opened
for business in October, 1896, as a
ompetitor of the Bell company. 1t
had far better equipment than the
Central Union, costing some $50,
with center -of-town wires laid under
ground, and it began business with
500 subscribers, who had obligated
themselves to five years service.
Among these subscri bers was every
physician but one or two, as well as
every grocer, butcher and baker who
used a telephone. By political in
trigue the Bell telephone was driven
out of the police and fire departments
and the Citizens company, with many
shareholders among the business men
and a constant demand for more tele-
phones, seemed on the high road to
permanent prosperity. The price
was $15 per annum for resi-
dences and S27 for business houses
and factories, and no additional price
could be charged for 20 years, ac-
cording to the terms of the franchise.
The Bell folks cut below these figures.
but the citizens phalanx remained
unbroken. The following from the
Nov. ) issue of the News, of that
city, gives the present situation and
condition of the company:
Telephone War En- led Loo
Field Now Practically in the Hands of
the Bell company.-Six months ago
an official of the Citizens Telephone
company said to a representative of
the Sunday News that competition in
telephone service in South Bend was
rapidly nearing an end, and that this
result was due to a misguided at
tempt to do business on too low a
schedule. The rates charged, he said,
would pay operating expenses, but
there could be no dividends nor sink
ing fund to meet the inevitable eX-
pense of extensions and reconstruc-
ton. Today it is a fixed fact that the
Citizens Telephone company will re-
tire from the field in the near future
and leave it to the exclusive use of the
Bell people. The plant so soon to end
I, it's usefulness under the management
of those who established it is an eX-
cellent one, composed of the best ma
terials and thoroughly constructed.
This company was the first and the
only one so far to relieve the streets
in the business part of the city of an
unsightly incumbrance by laying its
wires under ground. People who are
using the Citizens phones and wish
to continue the convenience in their
homes and places of business must
expect to pay more money for it, as it
has been ascertained on good authori-
ty that the Bell plant in South Bend
has been steadily losing from S., 900
to 81, 600 n year, while the telephone
war was in progress, and cannot be
expected to continue this Improbable
business now that competition has
ceased. 1t is given out authoritative
ly, however, that a new schedule of
rates is now in course of preparation.
which, it is believed, will prove salts
factory to every patron of telephone
service who recognizes that to be con-
tinuously efficient this service must be
performed at a profit. The rates will
be of necessity higher than those
charged by the Citizens company, but
will he considera bly, less than the cost
of maintaining both telephones, as
many are now obliged to do for the
accommodation of their patrons and
for their own convenience.
lin view of the new order of things
the Bell company has ordered a COM
plete reconstruction of the South
Bend plant on the most modern lines
and regardless of expense. The new
equipment will include telephones
that automatically ring on and off by
taking down and replacing the receiv-
er, and as soon as it can be
installed the Citizens plant will cease
to be operated"
The above report has moved the
Indianapolis World to editorially re-
mark:
Now the lesson of the above is OBJ
vious and in line with what the
World has often set forth in these
columns. That is, that there is a
wildcat, speculative, stock-jobbing