The Portland daily press., 1900-10-17

A1OCVpSAVAVo
luxuries and necessities. The telephone
today Is essentially, a business necessity.
Twenty years ago they were luxury and
onlysa few people had them. While there
are two petitioners here can't divert
my mind from the merits OF the two
companies The State of Maine has said
we shall have the right in this state.
Portland is in this state. Our petition Is
to the effect that we shall place a service
in seven OF the wards of the city. This
corporation comes before you as a corpo-
ration which already has rights in two OF
the wards of the city. So we claim we
are in better standing than the company
from Rockland. Our charter is also
broader than theirs 1t has more definite
charter. We don't play second fiddle to
the gentlemen of Rockland. ALI we ask
IS to ba treated as their peers. We ask for
no pole rights, the other petitioner, does.
We don't ask for the erection of a single
pole. We want to establish our exchange
in the business center OF our city proper,
If we are given the rights. We feel that
the aldermen, other things being equal,
should give prescedence to their own citi-
zens other than to a foreign corporation.
The gentlemen of our company are self
made business men. We have employed
competent engineer, know just what the
cost Is and are prepared to go ahead. In
competition there is more efficient service
as well as lower rates. The Bird company
charges $50 for business service and $24
for house service. We propose to go one
better. We offer as the same terms be-
fore they were in the field. We offer you
single line. Individual service. We Will
furnish telephone for man at his office
and his house for 500. On the Bell sys-
tenn there is much trouble on a party line
service. There is the Bell system by
which you are obliged to hold conversa-
tion with pretty girl operator. There is
a system known as Strowager system, an
automatic system In which the service of
the girls is dispensed with. Under this
system every subscriber is his own opera
tor. Machinery has supplanted manual
labor in almost every line, and the time
is coming when the Bell system Will re-
tire in favor of the Strowager. We shall
show that whatever competition is intro
duced there follows a reduction of rates
There are 250 Of the present subscribers
in this city who want US to come in.
Lewis A. Goudy was then introduced:
81 have been connected with the Dirigo.
ever since I finished with the city govern
ment last spring " he said. 'AIr. Jones
is the president. 1 am one of the direc-
tors. We have now 212 miles of lins ao-
tually constructed and have possibly fifty
more in process of construction. Farm
ington is the center. We nave exchanges
in operation in that town. Livermore and
Belgrade. Several new exchanges will be
constructed SO that we shall be within
twenty-five miles of Portland. Our line
extends as far as Rsngeley. It is the
purpose of the company to conduct the
system in Portland after the right has
been given. We do not ask for pole rights
except those poles already in existence.
We intend to install conduit system.
have investigated the merits of the
Strowager system which is as
far superior to the old system
as the electric car is to the old horse car.
This system is to be operated in Fall
River and New Bedford
In answer to Mr.. Hale, Mr.. Goudy
stated that his company had 1g5 subscrib-
ers. The company had about two hun
dred miles of pole lines. The rates in
Lisbon Falls are $1S and $15. In Chicago
a demonstration OF the Strowager system
is now being made. It runs through a
tunnel, now eleven miles long, but ulti-
mately is to be thirty six miles. The sys-
tenn in New Bedford is the finest one
have ever seen. The present list Of our
stockholders is not on Tile in the Office OF
the secretary OF state at Augusta. Thus
far the company has not been very sue
cessru1 one.
David M. Spofford Of the Peoples TeIe-
phone company Of HaverhiIl, Mass was
called. For the last three years he has
been the superintendent OF the company. 7
"The New England company when we
came in,'' he said, charged from $45 to
$1O5. The usual line OF service cost $66
The party line is $36 and S25. We use the
same system as the Bell. We started
about three years ago with one hundred
telephones. We now have twice as many
telephones as the New England had when
we started The average subscriber in
HaverhiH now pays $40 for two telephones
where he used to pay S66 for one. There
are nearly three hundred of our subscr1b-
ers who do not have both telephones. But
of those who do the subscriber takes up
one kind when the other kind is busy
We had opposition from the New Eng
land company in Lawrence and Lynn
W hen we tried to get in last spring. Last
year at the time of getting our line in
Lynn the New England company sent
out circular that the mayor OF Kansas
City had vetoed an order permitting an
other company to go into that city. Since
then an independent company has got in
to that city,
Replying to Mr.. Hale the witness said {