Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-03-26
LOWEST PHONE RATES
Are Offered by the Citizens TeIs
phone Company Franchise.

phone Company Franchise.
To the Editor of the Register.
Sir:-Is 1t not time for the citizens
and the press of this city to take an
interest in the fight now being made in
Council by the rival companies seek
ing to obtain a telephone franchise?
Is it possible that our citizens attach
so little Importance to the lower rates
named and the other advantages Offer
ed by the Citizens Telephone Co., as
do some of the members of Council?
The Citizens Telephone Company Of
fers a rate of $4,000 for residence and
$4,000 for buiness phones, a rate much
lower than is offered by either of the
other companies, that mean a saw
ing to the Wheeling users of phones
in the aggregate of from $4,000 to
S15, 900 each and every year. Surely
this is better than any bonus which
may be offered.
This matter of lower rates alone
should be sufficient to decide the ques-
ton in favor of the Citizens Telephone
Co. in the mind of every citizen and
Councilman who is influenced only by
a desire to protect the interests of the
people of this city. But it seems as
though some mysterious but powerful
influences are being brought to bear
iii order to force the passage of an
ordinance giving to another company
the franchise at higher rates than those
offered by the Citizens Telephone Co.,
and this too, in spite of the fact that
the ordinance Of the Citizens Tele-
phone Co. includes every provision
guarding the interests of the city, con-
tanned in the others, as well as some
not embodied in either of the others
now before Council. 1t is not yet too
late for the business men OF this city
who will have to pay the greater part
of the extra cost by reason Of the high
er rates charged by the other compan-
les. to look into this matter and exert
their influence to secure bona-fide COM
petition with the Bell monopoly at the
lowest-not the highest price. The
Citizens Telephone Co. invites the
most searching investigation of its
claims:
1st.-That it offers the lowest rates.
2d.-That it is the only company
agreeing to accept q limited life fran
chise.
Sd.-That 1t is and will be a bona
fde competitor of the Bell monopoly.
This is assured not only by the terms
of it's ordinance, but also by the fact
that Judge James NJ. Thomas, the Pres
ident Of the National Association of
Independent Telephone Companies of
America. is one OF it's i~ncorporators.
All those acquainted with what is go
ing on in the independent telephone
field, know that Judge Thomas is not
engaged in organizing IT selling out to
sub-Bell companies.
4th.-That at this time the Citizens
Telephone Company car and does offer
the assurance of connections as soon
as a plant can be built in this city, not
only with more nearby towns than
others can, but also with more distant
points through arrangement with the
U. s. Long Distance Telephone Co., OF
Cleveland, which last year built 300
miles of long distance lines in Ohio
alone, and which will soon have the
middle west fully covered, and, with
another company which covers the en-
tire east. Many other reasons can be
given why the Citizens Telephone
Co.'S ordinance should be taken up and
passed in preference to any other, but
enough has surely been advanced to
show that it should be given careful
and impartial consideration, and not
carelessly and indifferently, and in ut
ter disregard of the interests OF our
citizens, tabled, as was attempted at the
last meeting of Council.
JOHN ARBENZ, JR.,
Attorney for the Citizens Telephone
Co., of Wheeling, w. Va.