The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-04-20
THE TELEPHONE HEARING
TESTTMONY HEIRD BEFORE THE
 COMMITTEE YESTERDIY.

COMMITTEE YESTERD1Y.
 Arguments VIII he Made by Counsel
 Next tTucsday-Morris F. Tyler, presi-
 dent of the Southern New England,
 Questioned as to the Stockholders of
 Ills Company-Ex-Gover Weller
 Asks About the Taxes of the Company.
 The first witness called at the tele- phone hearing before the committee on interpretations in Hartford yesterday afternoon was Morris F. Tyler. Gov ernor Waller asked him as to the extent of his companys business outside of Connecticut. MT. Tyler said that a com- mission from the American Bell com pany was all they received from out side business MT. Waller asked if cut side business was over 3 per cent of their income. MT Tyler said that it was about 16 2-S per cent. MT Waller referred to the companys annual re- port and asked if that did not show that 92 per cent. of the business was done inside the state. Mr. Tyler ex- plained that for long distance business the local company collected on special tickets and credited the money so re- ceived to the long distance company, which was charged ten cents which was credited to the earnings of the Southern New England and these re- ceipts appear in the report of toll line business. The per cent. includes rent q eli +Ia cto ta +o 1i,o o1s sale of supplies, and no part of what is received for transmission of messages. Seventy-tWo per cent of the income was for exchange business. From lines in Connecticut long distance bus mess MT. Tyler could not say how much was received: probably 8 or 10 per cent of the business was for busi- ness done outside Of the state.
 Governor Waller-"Twenty- five per cent. of your income is derived from other sources, and of this 10 pe0r cent. is from the ten cent commission on long distance business, is it not?'
 That is not 25 per cent of our whole business; that ten cent business, as I recollect, amounts to 2 per cent of our whole business
 "Then we have 95 per cent of all the earnings of your business coming from business done in Connecticut?"
 'Yes"
 1.-TWO per cent. of all the business of your company comes from business to Chicago. Omaha, and other outside places, does it?"
 ''Yes."
 ''Can you tell how much of that is for business done in Omaha and Chicago?"
 "No, sir''
 Mr. Tyler read letter from Detroit in which it was stated that the busi- ness of the Bell company in that city had at first decreased when the irde 1 pendent company started, but later in- creased and was now greatly increasing L as the opposition service was deterio- | rating and there was a general dissatis- faction with that service, known as theS Blake service. MT. Tyler said that the | Michigan Bell Co acknowledged that it's rates were sighting rates" He | said that there was time in the his tory of the Southern New England company when that company thought that it was making much more than it really was.
 So far as he knew the demand for public pay stations in Connecticut was satisfied In response to a question by MT filling, he said that a little more than per cent of the income of the Southern New England was for taxes and that the present method of taxa tion was settled in 1889. and that there had been no complaint concerning it. Two years ago there was proposition before the assembly that a tax of $l
 .11 I~,1 fD the relation of the telegraph business to the telephone business, he said that they were separate and distinct things, and had been since the settlement with the Western Union in 1872. His con- pany was not willing to accept the re- sponsibility of receiving messages, as there was a great chance of inaccuracy in receiving verbal messages, and for that reason the telephone company never would receive and deliver mes- sages The business of the company was to furnish facilities for two per- sons to speak directly with one anoth CT, and they have arranged to get two persons so that this end may be obtain ed and call, if necessary, by a messen- ger boy, the one who is wanted at the phone. The average holding of the { 415 stockholders in Connecticut was 10% { shares; twenty hold one share each. ( Governor Waller-"The smallest num- Der of people who can hold majority is how much?' "Twelve thousand five hundred and { shares are necessary for ma jority"
 "What number of your shareholders $ hold a majority?' ( q don't know" 2 "How many shares has the biggest g stockholdet got?" l '"The American Bell has six hundred g shares" V What others?" c "How many people own the majority ( ,f the stock?" | q can't tell unless l have the stock V oook." t "The big stockholders besides your- a self" il q am not large stockholder." t "How much do you own?' c "One hundred shares" t "Who is the biggest stockholder in t a "I don't know" Il Any one own more than you do?'' n "Yes." Il fl