The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1900-09-14
A TELEPHONE WAR.

Cumberland Co., the same old rob-
bers we had to whip, are having IA
merry time Of it; and the Citizens
Telephone Co., of Columbia Is being
used by both sides as an argument
and example. The Mutual people
using it to show what a spunky town
can do In its own defense; and the
Cumberland people using 1t "as a
conspicuous failure"
The following clipping from one of
the Yazoo City papers has been sent
us, and we are told that it was writ
ten by Mr.. LELAND Hume, Secretary
of the Cumberland Co. To.wit:
"rhe statements of your CORES
poudent, Citizen In regard to Co.
lumbia, Tennessee, are not in ac-
cordance with the facts. Different
people representing the local com.
pany at Columbia have visited this
office at Nashville Oh several differ
al occasions and besought us to
purchase that company, but we have
not yet seen fit to do so, and it Ia not
likely that we will, for the reason
that We have our own lines to all
points In the county; and. while the
Citizens Company has list in the
county of perhaps $50, this Company
has list In the county at this time
of between 700 and 800.
1.-THE statement of your cores
pendent that the Citizens Company
had forced the Cumberland Com
pany to lower it's rates to the rates
of the Citizens Company at Column
bia Is not true. The Cumberland
Company Ia charging at Columbia
its standard rates. and is charging
exactly what 1t would charge were
the Citizens Company out OF bust
ness, and as far as our business Is
concerned. we cannot tell that the
Citizens Company Is at Columbia.
1T the party signing himself
Citizen will attend to his own BUSH
ness, he will make fewer mistakes,
and will certainly not again draw
attention to the local telephone com
pany at Columbia, Tenn, which is
and has been most conspicuous
failure from every standpoint"
Now the author of the above arti
Gle must have known that he was
Judging. No one authorized to do
so, has ever "besought" the Cum
berland to buy the Citizens Co. The
second year of the life of the Citi-
zens' Co., and perhaps during part
of the third year, negotiations were
pending looking to a compromise of
the telephone war; and some OF the
officers of the local company indi-
Gated Willingness to sell, under GER
tain conditions. That much is true.
But that the Citizens Co., ever
"besought" the Cumberland to buy,
is no more true than that the Cum
berland "besought" the Citizens to
sell. The use of that term was not
only a gross exaggeration of the
facts, but If Mr.. Hume had desired
to be fair he would have stated that
those negotiations were in the long
ago, and that nobody had "beseech-
ed" him for the last several years.
The statement that "while the
Citizens Company has list of per-
haps $50, this Company has list of
between 700 and $780," is also mis-
leading. The Citizens Co., has 40l
subscribers in this county, and l02
free connections in counties contigu-
Gus to this, valuable to our mer-
chants; making total of SOB phones.
The Cumberland Company has, it is
true, about 700 names on their Maury
county list; but about 100 of these
are at Mt. Pleasant, which is toll
station. Why did not Mr.. Hume
tell that? So instead of having
more than twice as many free
phones, the Cumberland has some
thing less than a hundred more.
Mr.. Hume denies, as you will no.
tice, thai the Citizens Company of
Columbia forced him to lower his
rate. But he would not make that
denial here, where under oath he
has admitted in court that he did
lower the rate to residences, and why
he did it. The people here all know,
and the HERALD will finnish the
people of Yazoo City with the proof
ii they get in need of It., that for
residence phones in Columbia those
who had them were paying 50 90
per month for them when the local
company was organized. The local
company established 81 rate, and
Immediately Mr.. Hume's company
cut their rate to 80 cents per month
He hoped by that cut rate to break
the local company down, but when
he found he could not, he got tired
of his losing game and raised his
residence rate to 81; and there 1t re-
mains to this good day; less than
half of what it was before the Citi.
zens' Co., was organized. Whether
he would be so considerate if the
Citizens Co., was ''out of business,
We can only judge by the rates he
charged before they went in bust
ness. For our part we would moi