The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-17
Citizens Are Not Cry.
ing, for a Compel
ing Company.
WHAT SOME OF THEM SAY.
Petitions for a Public Hear
ing Receive Many Sig
natures.

Business men, real estate owners in
the center of the city and many others
are deeply interested in the action of
the board of aldermen tonight on the
petition of the Worcester Telephone
Company for permission to erect poles
and lay conduits in the streets.
The report in The Spy yesterday
that the aldermen appeared to favor
the appointment of a committee to in
vestigate the telephone question tho
roughly, and report back to the board,
seemed to be pleasing to all concerned.
Citizens who were seen by Spy repres-
entatives yesterday commended such
action, as it seemed to them that there
was no occasion for undue haste In the
matter, since it did not appear that
there was a demand from the public
for second service, and the petition
ers had stated that they had not de-
clded what system they would intro
duce if they were given the permission
they ask. Such action by the aldermen
would be of advantage to the Worces-
ter Telephone company, as it would
give those who petitioned in its behalf
time to investigate the automatic sys-
TEN, toward which they seem to have
leaning, and see If they approve of ii
for service in a city of this size. 1t
will also give the aldermen an oppor-
tunity to see whether independent
telephone companies have been a sue
cess or failure, and what the chances
of success and failure would be here,
before they decide whether or not it
is advisable to cumber the streets with
more wires and embarrass traffic by
another upheaval in the streets.
The committee can undoubtedly get
at many facts that have not already
been brought out in discussion since
the question of another telephone sys-
tenn came up, but these facts are al
ready a matter of general knowledge,
gained from the history of the teie-
phone business:
That when there were competing
telephone companies, instead of de-
handing more competition, people have
prayed to be delivered from what there
was.
That competing companies caused
telephone chaos, and made the service
poorer instead of better.
That, instead of reducing telephone
rates they increased them, as business
and professional men were compelled
to pay for two telephones instead of
one.
That consolidation marked a rev era
in the telephone business, which bet
tered the service and cheapened the
rates
That competition is a step backward
instead of forward, and an injury to
the public instead of benefit.
That the Independent companies that
have been in existence any length of
time are seeking consolidation or are
| going out of business because they
Ih9Vl haPn INA hia RI oh
ises to the public good, or carry out
their own ideas.
| mat the official organ of the indie
pendent companies, the Electrical En-
cheering and Telephone Magazine, u
says that Independent telephone rates
should be increased from so to 100 per
cent, because cheap rates have neither
proved profitable to the investor nor
enabled the management to properly
keep up the service, as the business
mans necessity requires.
Real estate men who own pronertv
in the center of the city have been
most disturbed since the aldermen en-
tertained the petition of the Worces-
ter company over a report that the
new company if granted a franchise
would lay its conduits beneath the side
Walks instead of tearing up the brick.
lasphaltina and block paving. Such a
&c "oulu interfere with the Hyatt
ngnts, which are placed in the side
walks to light the Easements of
blocks. "a
Instances Of the Ill success of indie
pendent telephone companies which
nave undertaken to furnish a sarI,;ce
at less than living rates are not infra-
quent, as the official organ of the com
pan1es, the Electrical Engineering and
Telephone Magazine" declares. The
st. Adams, VT, Daily Messenger of
June Il, speaks of the failure of an in
dependent company in that section. Ia
maintain cheap rates and a fair ser.
vice at the same time The article in
the Messenger is as follows:-