Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1903-11-20
Report That Cumberland Tele.
phone Co. Shows its Teeth.
HopkinsyilIe's Todd County Ter
ritory Made Free to
ClarksvilIe.

ePhone Company, of GAINESVILLE, is
forcing the Cumberland Company
to cut its rates and to modernize its
service as far as it is able to do so
with the Bell patents. In Todd
county, where the Home people are
now competing for the country
business, word comes from a sub
scriber that two or more exchanges
in the county have been put on one
service. for 81 65 month for resi-
dences. There are exchanges at
four or five towns in the county. In
this county the country people are
charged 81 month, with as many
as six on line without secret at
tachments, and the service is limit
ed to either Hopkinsville or Penn
broke. The subscribers have not
the advantage of a county ex-
change, as is the case in Todd.
But this is not all, the Todd
county patrons have recently been
connected with the GAINESVILLE ex.
change free, at the same price.
This is what competition is doing
In GAINESVILLE, but in the meantime
the Cumberland Company is under
written contract, in the absence
of franchise, to give the people of
Hopkinsville as good a service as
it does other cities of like condi-
ticns. 1t remains to be seen wheth-
er the city council will permit the
city of Hopkinsville to be discrimi-
mated agaInstin favor of rival
city, in its legitimate territory.
Our merchants are directly inter
ested in the business Of Trenton,
Guthrie and other Todd county
towns and when GAINESVILLE is Civ
EN- free service with these towns
and Hopkinsville is denied the same
privilege, it is an unjust and un-
fair discrimination against a city
that the Cumberland claims rs it's
Home office. II is time for the
council to annul the contract of
August, 1902, and let the Cumber.
land go into the courts and .estab-
lish it's claims to ga perpetual and
unrestricted franchise" under a
permit annulled II years ago. The
council declared the poles to be a
nuisance nearly seventeen years
ago, and had them cut down and
has never given permission to have
them put up again.
Cumberland Co. Writes a Letter.
The patrons of the Cumberland
Company in this city this week re-
ceived a circular letter from Nash
Vile warning them not to sign long
contracts with new companies.
This in the face of the fact that they
attempted this game themselves last
summer and did bind ap some sub
scribers with annual contracts who
have been unable to get their con-
tracts returned since the Kentuck-
ian forced the Cumberland to pub
licly repudiate its own business
methods, because they were "un.
satisfactory to the people" 1t may
be said for the Home Telephone
Company that it requires no long
contracts, but will stand on it's
merits and the superiority of its
service. In the above mentioned
circular, the Cumberland people
say 1--WE will if such competitors
make reduced rates, meet the same
in any manner necessary to main
tain our business. In the next
breath they add: This company
has never cut it's standard business
rate in any place where a second
company has appeared" This can
mean but one of two things. The
Cumberland proposes to cut its
present exhorbitant rates down to
"its standard business rate, as in
other cities; crit proposes to meet"
prices fixed bv the council by doing
what it has never done before. In
either event, the indications are
that the Cumberland, like the coon
up the tree, is already getting
''skeered. :"