Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-06-19
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF COUNTY.
OFFICE IN TRIBUNE BUILDING
2OS Fourth Street.
{ Ente red at the pOstOffice at Wi1lmar, MINI
as second class mail matter.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1901
TELEPHONE MANAGERS BECOME
EXCITED.

1ELEPnOWe WAUAOEHS 06OO"6
EXCITED.
Three weeks ago the TRIBUNE pub
lished a report of a telephone meeting
held at Atwater which had been writ
ten by one of those present at the
meeting in whose veracity we have the
utmost confidence. We published the
report as news. Now comes our con-
temporary, the Gazette, and denounces
the report as untrue and as an unwar-
ranted attack upon the Kandiyohi
Telephone Co.! Also, three we'll
known gentlemen sign statement
casting reflections upon the TRIBUNE,
calling it ''scurvy Sheet" and stat
ing that it misuses the truth, also that
they have long known that the TR1-
BUNE "could not be fair in any prop
osition in which it is interested" etc.!
Well, gentlemen, we have perused
your article with care and we do not
find one single instance where your
statements contradict our correspond
ent, unless it may be in the def
milton of what constitutes a co-opera-
tive telephone company. Our report
stated that the Kandiyohi company
was supposed to be a branch of the
Tallman interests. You say that your
company is bound by the closest traf-
fc arrangements with the Tallman
lines. Wherein lies any practical diff
ference? And so throughout the re-
port. You corroborate every state
ment made by our correspondent,
even to the point where you tried to
induce the Union company to abandon
it's plans.
Now, Messrs. Lundberg, Eddy and
Haley, will you do the editor of the
TRIBUNE the justice of indicating the
point on which he has misrepresented
the attitude of your company? We
defy you to show that the TRIBUNE
has been untruthful or unfair in the
presentment of this matter. And if
you cannot do that, will you allow
yourselves to go on record as making
false charges against a public journal
merely to secure some business ad-
vantage?
AS far as the TRIBUNE knows, the
Union company is engaged in no con-
troversy with any other company. 1t
is attending strictly to it's own bust
ness and asks only to be left alone.
Ever since the first preliminary meet
ings, the subscribers for stock have
been bounded by attorneys and other
emissaries of the monopoly who have
tried to convince them of the folly (?)
of their undertaking. The Willmar
exchange was once asked if they would
grant connections and refused. The
Union company accepted this answer
as final and will provide it's own ter.
minal facilities. The company has
not sought the notoriety given 1t by
the TRIBUNE. The editor has secured
particulars and published what has
appeared because he knew that the
public was interested in the matter
Not content with imputing bad mo
tives to the TRIBUNE, these three wei
known gentlemen slur the men elected
by the Union company to have charg'
of the erection of it's lines. They say
"Upon thorough investigation w
find nearly all of the business men O
Atwater in favor of our plan, as the,
their exchange. The one who objected
50 seriously was afraid, we think, tina
he might lose the opportunity of buy
ing the materials, uponwhich he coul'
make sufficient profit to more thai
pay his stock subscriptions and lesser
his obligations. Furthermore, til
principal opposition from among tn
farmers came from the self-e1ecte
manager, who has failed in farmin
and sees in this move a chance for
job"
These three we'll known gentleme
further state that 1--WE care nothin
about the plan under which they ar
organized or how much territory the
cover as long as they do not seek t
infringe upon the territory covered b
our lines," and again, that we ''ez
pect to protect our interests in tn
field we occupy" Has it occurred t
these gentlemen that others have q
much right to erect telephone line
along our roads as they have, an
that the public would be greatly benz
fitted by the erection and maintenanc
, Of competing lines? And if the TR1
BuNE can assist in securing compel
ing lines in it's humble way by pull
fishing the truth in regard to tele
phone building, is it not working 70
the best interests of the community
And when a paper does that, is it nc
entitled to better treatment therefor
! from reputable citizens than to b
called q ssscurvy Sheet? ;.
AS to the claim that the KandiyOl
!. county company is a cooperative con
pany, that might then be said of an
company that is organized for th
purpose Of paying dividends to II
stockholders. There appears to be d
doubt, however, that the directors {