Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-02-06


however. 1t was strongly intrenched
give up it's hold on Grand Rapids with
frankly said, it could afford to give
free service, if necessary, in order
to drive out the local company. 1t has
not often been forced to adopt this
extreme policy, because there are
usually other expedients available:
but III the case ofGrand Rapids it had
to do one of two things-win back the
cooperative cOmpany's subscribers by
offering unusual inducements or
abandon the field. It preferred to
stay, and for a time some of the
citizens cherished the deluSion that
competition would really be a whole
some influence; but only a short
experience is needed to show that
competition was out Of the question.
Larger places than Grand Rapids
have learned that duplication of
telephone exchanges in single CEN
ter Of population is only burden on
the patrons of each. The telephone
is a natural monopoly. There must be
single service under a single
management. By the time Grand
Rapids people had come to full reali-
zatiOn Of this economic TRUTH some
progress had been made by the out
side company in it's efforts to drive the
local cooperative exchange from the
field. The immediate purpose was to
induce more people to use the private
cOmpany'S phones than were using
the cooperative phones. 1t would
then soon become business necessity
for all the cooperative subscribers to
go back to the private cOmpany'S
service. To this end the old phones
were offered rent-free for a period OF
three years.
LOCAL PATRIOTISM AROUSED.
So fOrcible an argument as that
could only be met by an appeal to
local patriotism. The promoters OF
the cooperative movement exposed
the purpose that underlay the offer
of free phones, and made the citizens
see that after the expiration of the
first contracts they would again be at
the mercy of the outside corporation
and could do nothing to assure them
selves of reasonable rates or improved
service for the future, while if they
stood by the home company they
would keep both rates and service in
their own hands. Local patriotism
carried the day; the free phones were
ordered out, and the entire local tele-
phone service has for the past four
years been controlled by the home
cooperative company. Not only has
the business been more than quadrup-
led in density, but the service has
been improved until now it is believed
to be as good as is offered anywhere
in the United States. There are 40
party wires" in the system; each
phone has an individual metallic
circuit. All these advantages are
offered to subscribers, as above stated,
at rates which appear almost ludi-
crouSly low when compared with the
charges of the old company for a
limited and inferior service.
The capital stock of the corporation
has been increased from time to time,
under the provisions of the charter, as
new installations were demanded. it
is now $4,000, and will soon be
increased once again to meet the new
demands.
SUCCESS OF THE MOVEMENT.
Such is the brief story of the Grand
Rapids telephone experiment. 1t
proves, if it proves anything, that
The Citizenship of the average
American town can be trusted to deal
intelligently and economically with
public utilities. The peoples business
can be safely handed over to the
people, rather than left to private
corporation, whose sole aim is
exploitation. The lesson of the Grand
Do dc
by neighboring cities. Similar CO.
organized in the other Wisconsin,
Valley cities of WauSau, Merrill and
Marshtield, all of which were formerly
profitable territory for the operations
of the same monopoly that dictated
terms to Grand Rapids. In this little
group of Wisconsin Valley towns, an
aggregate population of from 10000
to 10000 is now served by cooperative
telephone exchanges. The next step
will be independent long-diStance
connections. For the present, the
people in that region are dependent
on The lOng-diStance toll service of the
Wisconsin Telephone Company.
A very noticeable result of the
success attending the Grand Rapids
enterprise was the stimulus to other
undertakings of the same kind. A
cooperative electric light and power
company was formed on similar lines.
the capital stock being fixed at $40, 900
divided into shares of $40 each, sold
only to the renters of the service, one
share for every rental unit of $3.50 a
year. This company, besides supplying
light to the city and to private houses,
offers to furnish power to small manu-
factoring concerns. This is practical
encouragement to diversified in.
dustries. In the opinion of its
promoters, it is more rational
method than the common practice of
granting municipal subsidies to
manufactures.