The age-herald., 1900-03-25

lure of an enormous sum of money upon chance that Is not an inviting one. The natural outcome ordinarily is an advance in prices. This may not come for some time, and may not come at aH and with the unifying Of all the systems under such capable management there gives an assur- ance of the best of service" The consolidation was followed up In the Free Press in a second ssditostal, in which it said:
 Except among those disposed to con- plain upon general principles there is noth- ing in the big telephone deal to cause anxi- ety, much less create a stampede.
 There are what may be considered as minor eompensations which, aggregated, amount to great deal. Whatever the De- tront company may have done financially, fl was many removes from a hoWling suc- cess in giving an efficient and satisfactory service. To be perfectly candid 1t fur hshed competition, and very little else worth mentioning, in the way of public benefits.
 Tt engendered much profanity and many quarrels, provided always that the renter could make connection. It was the means of lowering rates; also the average moral tone Of the community You could have one of its instruments placed for the ask ing, but it took a heated declaration of war, sometimes an ax, to get it out again. It soured tempers, injured lungs and caused a falling off in church attendance.
 These drawbacks will now be removed. The Bell people have long appreciated the necessity of giving a good service, possi- bly not on religious grounds, but as a good, bly, not in religious grounds, but as a good, longer be under the necessity of running to your neighbors to talk with some one using the other phone. You will be in a po- sition to ring the bell no matter what pa tron you may want, and the girl in the main office will do the rest. You are to have a good service without any bad one. and a completed service instead of frac- tional one.
 'Detro1t cannot stand the strain of too many qualities in public utilities. It is enough to keep track of two times with three-handed clocks without trying ito main tain active relations with two kinds of tel ephones with confusing announcement of patrons for both. What is true in Detroit is largely true throughout the state, and, from the unsentimental standpoint of prac- tical utility, the unification of all the Mines and systems looks Nike one of the best things that could have happened"
 The Tribune. in handling the question, had the following to say:
 ''The consolidation of the two local tele- phone companies was hardly unexpected It has been inevitable evei. since the organ ization of the competing company, and it was only question of time when the two concerns would be succeeded by a single company. However beautiful it may be in theory competition in the telephone busi- ness is not satisfactory either to the stock holders of the rival compaies or to their patrons. Whatever is gained by a decrease in rentals is more than compensated for by the inconvenience of the two systems, and the necessity of patronizing both exchanges In order to secure satisfactory service Of course somebody must pay for the material that is made worthless by the consolidation of the two companies and that somebody will be the innocent subscriber. The Mich dgan company is free to charge whatever it will for it's service, but something may safely be left to the business intelligence of the officers there is nothing permanent to be gained through competition; in this case there will be few momrners outside of the minority stockholders. It Is proper enough to sympathize with them in their sorrowS.'
 The Evening News thus summed up the consolidation in an editorial on the sub ject
 "The Bell Telephone company having ab- sorbed the Detroit and Independent state lines, the work of reorganizing the operat- ing departments will probably be instituted at once. As matter of fact to business men two telephone companies doing bus mess in the same town is nuisance and an unnecessary expense; nearly every bus mess house and office is compelled to use both phones. If the absorption means con- solidation, the dropping of one system en- tirely and no increase in rates, the public will be grateful for it.