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

NpoN VI iiiCCllllS tUGIl is IlOl d Duld
upon our other subscribers
Upon these lines our business is pro
crossing satisfactorily. So far as w
, have ever heard, the people of this stat
are proud of the telephone service o
this company, as they well may be
!, There Is the most unreasonable exag
geration of the profit of the telephon
company, but there is no just reason tt
claim that the people of this state viii
not have a telephone service from oul
company on reasonable rates as fas
as they want it and as soon as they
want it.
Now, will this be FASTENED by the
scheme of Messrs. Simon Borg & Co.
Our lines are all over the state at the
present time. Unless our service is dis
located by barbaric onset of men who
do not understand the business, we shall
develop the telephone service equally
throughout the state wherever it is
wanted -
What will our friends "the enemy
do? They will concentrate their efforts
upon the leading cities of the state
They have already hung out the flag OF
war in the city of New Haven Much
good may it do them. But the instant
the war begins, the war rates will be
established, not all over the state, but
only in the localities where the war is
raging, If 1t breaks out in New Haven,
it is easy enough for an intelligent man
to see that the rival telephone company
will have it's hands full in New Haven
without developing rural districts. ST.
mon Borg &, Co. are never going to es-
| tablish a telephone service all through
the state until they find out whether
! they can make a success of it in some
one place in the state. I venture to say
| If this company is chartered and COM
mences business in the city of New Ha-
ven, the war of rates in the state OF
Connecticut will be confined to the city
of New Haven. When that war Is over
either Simon Borg & Co. will own the
Southern New England Telephone COM
pany, or the Southern New England
Telephone company will own the Bos-
ton and New York Telephone company,
and the Massachusetts Telegraph and
Telephone company, and the New York
and Boston Telegraph and Telephone
company, and all the other Simon Borg
| & Co telephone enterprises in this state,
or such enterprises will be bankrupt.
The people of this state at large never
will get the benefit of this war" In
modern warfare, among even halfway
civilized nations, campaign is deter
mined by one or two decisive battles,
and not by a general desultory fighting
all over the field Of operations.
The plant of the Southern New Eng
land Telephone company as Mr.. Tyler
and Mr. Pickernel, the accomplished en-
gineer of the American Telegraph and
Telephone company, say, could not be
duplicated to-day for the amount of it's
stock and bonds. Mr.. Tyler says, and
he says truly, that it will cost the
Southern New England Telephone COM
pany less to add new telephone stations
to its plant than for any new company
to erect what time will show to be a
useless plant. There Is no need of two
telephone systems throughout the state
of Connecticut. Any man with COM
mon sense can see that. Why use the
capital necessary to built two plants,
when one central plant is sufficient?
The present western fighting rates are
but temporary. Speaking of these rates,
upon which Mr.. Holbrook and Simon
Borg & Co. so much rely, Mr.. Tyler
says:
"They are fighting rates Detroit is
one Do you suppose that corpora
ton, finding itself threatened in point
of that kind, is not going to protect it
self? 1t meets this competition with a
fighting rate. The rates they are quot
ing to-day will not allow that (DetroiD
company to pay it's running expenses
for two years, if it keeps up its plant In
efficiency"
The Southern New England Telephone
company has been through all the ex-
periences which any company could go
through with reference to finding CAPT.
tai for the development of the telephone
business in this state. During the peri
cd when the stockholders were without
their dividends, and stock was selling
at Sc and 81, it had to borrow capital on
the personal endorsement of Mr. Tyler
Later on it issued first mortgage bonds
and debentures, SO that at one time it's
mortgage bonds and debentures
amounted to $850,000, and the stock was
below par. 1t was felt that we ought
not to increase the Indebtedness of the
company, and as the stock was reaching
par ut did not cross par until January,
1S9S), we appealed to our stockholders,
and the debentures were retired, and
stock took their place, and some addi-
tional capital was furnished for the fur
ther construction of the plant. In the |
last year the old mortgage bonds were |
retired by new issue. These per !
cent bonds were sold at rate netting |
the company money at Az per cent,