The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-04-22
THE TELEPHONE RIVALS
ANOTHER HEARING BEFORE COM-
 MITTEE ON ORDINANCES.

Held in City Hall Last Night-Incorpo-
 rators of the New Company Appeared
 as Witnesses--Sharp Questioning by
 Counsel for Southern New England
 Company.
 The committee on ordinances of the common council held a hearing in the city hall last night on the petition of
 the Massachusetts Telephone and Tele-
 graph company to locate it's lines and
 poles along the highways of the city un-
 der the Jurisdiction of the common
 council. The company also asks to have
 the board designate in what streets un-
 derground conduits must be used and
 those on which poles and overhead con-
 ductors may be maintained.
 Representatives of the petitioner, the city and of the Southern New England
 Telephone company were present, asS were also number of citizens inter- ested in the matter. When the hearing began Judge Stoddard said that he op- posed the petition and was desirous at the proper time of making certain ob- jections. He was of the opinion that the petition as drawn up was not in the form in which petitions were usually drawn in this state.
 k Attorney John w. Alling, representing the Southern New England Telephone company, said that the committee was listening to an application of nobody as yet, that the Boston and New York Telephone and Telegraph company had not as yet been made a corporation. He said it had no standing as yet and was still at work endeavoring to be made a corporation of the state of Connecti- cut and he could not understand by what authority or law they had right to be given a franchise He said it was the strangest muddle of things he was ever in. He said that he wanted it un- derstood that the company was in Hartford asking for power, which, if they did not receive, the hearing befor6' the committee woud come to naught.
 In reply MT. Wagner, for the petit tioners, said that he came with petit tion which the committee was bound to- hear and pass upon. Refuting the claims of MT. filling that the company has no legal existence, he said the cOm4s pany was duly organized and incorpOr- ated in some states He said the conn mittee could not withstand the force of his application and that he believed the committee would grant the petition. He said that the company proposes to es- X tablish the best system of telephony, to N give business subscribers single lines for $50, party lines reduced in proportiOfiss for house subscribers for $30 per yeHrs possibly SPA, for party lines SIS and to the city officers, police, fire, superintend- ent of schools and all schools forever free of charge. Also to give the city free ducts in all streets in which wires are laid and to furnish a bond as at guarantee of good faith.
 Judge Stoddard said that MT. Wag- ners idea as presented was better than it looked better than on paper. He took exception to the statement in the8S petition which asked for permission to locate wires and poles on all highways in the city. The highways of the city are large and all would like to know how many of the highways were to be- used and what sort of apparatus would z be placed on the highways. The peti- ton should be in a more definite form and shape. He thought that it was not probable for the committee to act in any way until they knew just what was proposed, how many wires, poles, cons duits, etc., were to be erected.
 Ext Commissioner of Patents John c. z Seymour, appearing for the petitioners, said that the petition follows generally and substantially section 3944 of the state statute. He said the company was as yet unable to tell on just what streets lines will be constructed and that the matter was something which could not be determined in advance and that the company only desires to go where there are subscribers to their system and only desires to use such highways as are necessary to satisfac- torily carry on their business.
 By section 3946 selectmen have full power to locate, relocate or remove poles and apparatus at any time the munici- pal body shall decide Several witness- es for the petitioners were then placed on the stand.
 Charles E. Adams of Lowell, Mass, was the first He is president of the Boston and New York Telephone and Telegraph company and is interested in the Massachusetts company He said the people of his community were very much interested in reducing the price of commercial commodities. It is pro- posed to build a toll line from Boston to New York and that independent plants must be built in the intermediate # towns. He then told of the growth of independent telephony in the west. MT. Adams was director in the Bell Tele- phone company for about fifteen years and has had considerable experience in the business of managing telephone companies. He was of the opinion that the service of the independent company compares very favorably with that of the Bell Telephone company.
 MT. filling questioned MT. Adams as to his knowledge in the matter of inde- pendent companies paying divldenus. He was unable to tell of any, but thought that probably the Lansing (Mich.) company paid dividends. Con- he said that the Massachusetts had already a very large num- Der of subscribers in Boston, but did not care to state how many. MT. AL ling's questions were sharp and MT. Adams declined to answer some of them as being too personal. This was conced- ed by the committee. It was brought out that an engineer had been employed