Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-10-17
Business Men at Turner Hall
Meeting lndorse Bills &
Workman.
CENTRAL UNION ON THE CARPET
Rates Declared Exorbitant and
Service Poor--Lively Dis
cussion.

Irdncnlse5 DuL enough were present TO
furaish two sides to controversy
and to secure an expression, 3S to
in favor of admitting an independent
co mpany and some 20 to of another
resolution indorsing Bills & Workman.
OF course not all that wers present
voted on either proposition.
The gathering was called to order
at $50 by President Msdill. OF the
Rock Island Club. and he and Presi-
dent Kingsbury, of the Retail Mer-
chants ASSOCIATION. j unity presided.
Mr.. Medill stated the Object aimed at
in calling the gathering-namely. the
securing of fair aud open discussion
OF the question in hand for the benefit
Of those who were anxious for more
light on matters telephone. He
averred that there was no disposition
to usurP the prerogatives of the mem
bsrs of The city council. who have ca
tire Jurisdiction in the matter, nos
was 1t intended that any action taken
be in any way binding. The line of
discussion to be folio wed was defined
as one OF the aivisa 5ility of admit
ting sn Independent exchange, and
not as to the relative merits of the
companies bidding for admission.
Mr Bills Is Heard From.
When the chairmau called for vol
unteer speakers TO open the discus
sion, there was some hesitancy on
the part of those present about start
ing the ball. Ga the suggestion that
the promoters should have the first
say, Z. l. Bills rose to state that he
felt he should have the last say. as
there were others who claimed prior
ity in various ways, but il others de-
clared, as w. b. Roberts had done,
that they had nothing to say, he was
perfectly ready and willing to make
the first talk. Then, as nothing fur
Their appeared to be forthcoming from
any one else, Mr.. Bills began. He
said he was surprised that there
should be any question as to whether
there should be an independent sys-
tenn OF telephones in this city. since
there were now hut few cities OF any
size in the country where it had not
been recognized that competition in
the telephone business, as in any
thing else, was advantageous to the
subscribers. Then he went on to
quote some figures aimed particu-
larly at the Central Union company
He declared that in the past six years
independent companies have built
twice as many exchanges as the old
company has, as well as more miles
of ling distance lines The question
of whether it was right or not to en-
courage an independent company. he
declared, was settled by the cities all
over the United States in their past
action. From this the speaker went
to show examples of what the ad
mission of competition had done in
the way of reducing rates and i'm
proving service in number of
places, emphasizing the point that
the independent companies generally
outstrippGd the old company and the
reduction in the rates charged sub
scribers often actually lowered the
cost to the citizens. even though they
had two phones. Mr.. Bills closed q
4O-minute speech by reviewing the
fight his company had made two
years ago to gain admission here and
declaring that the effort had never
bsen given up, or in other words that
none of his company's rights here
had ever been all owed to lapse
Mr. Guyer Favors Competition.
L. II Guyer next took the flo1r and
in forcible language declared the rea-
sons he holds for being ia support of
the movement to license another COM
pany. He was mem Der of the COM
mittee appointed by the Rock Island
Club two wears ago to investigate
the merits of the case from the exper-
fence OF other cities, and the report
made corresponded with his present
sentiments. Mr.. Guyer denounced
the present telephone service of the
tri- cities as inexcusably poor and de-
clared there is no hope of improve
ment so long as there is n monopoly
in the field. F.on figures he had
compiled he declared that the Bell
company-or ali companies under its
CONTROLS worked on an inflated cap
italization till each instrument has to
pay dividends on about $500 of stock.
Referring to the condition of country
connection, Mr.. Guyer declared the
rnral line owners are Justified in be-
ing slow to accept offers from the
Central Union company. He felt
that it is about time for the city to
see that the Chinese walls that sur
round it are levelled.
Central Union Side.
William McEniry put the case for
the other side He said some state
ments had been made that many
present did not know to be true
aud then proceeded to disprove some
of the declarations of Nr Bills. He
urged the futility of any SO vice here
that does not include Moline and
Davenport as well as Rock Island,
illustrating by saying the town might
as well be divided in the middle as
cut off from either of the others. For