Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-06-22

SomO Information In Regard to the Trl
State and Twin City Telephone Com -
Ps"'ss. the Coming Telephone Com .
psnIss Of the Northwest.
Seldom In the history of our thriv-
Ing and enterprising city, have we
been called upon to chronicle an event
which reflects 80 much credit on our
board of aldermen as the granting of
a permit to the Tri State Telephone
company to transact q toll business
in Willmar. From the day when this
company applied for franchise, the
local comp my brought every possible
pressure to bear on our councilmen to
shut out the Tri-state company and
maintain the monopoly in the tele~
phone business now existing; but, deaf
to oil such arguments, our conscien-
tious representatives. did their duty
nobly and manfully. We, heartily
congratulate our fellow citizens and
share with them the pride of having
our public affairs in the hands of
such honest and Trustworthy officials.
This 10 the more noteworthy when it
Is borne in mind that the men who are
interested in the local company are
among our richest and most infuen-
tial citizens, and the pressure brought
to bear by them was certainly very in
sistent and difficult to withstand; and
the credit for having done their duty
fearlessly is all the more conspicuous
as We are informed that aldermen of
other cities in this state and North
Dakota have shamelessly and treach-
erously abused the trust reposed in
them and for paltry telephone pass
or q money consideration, have be-
trayed their constituents and shut out
the competition so much needed to
r. rsgulate rates and insure good serv-
ice.
In short interview with Mr.. Moul-
ton, president of the Tri- State and
Twin City companies, who was pres
ent In the city at the time the franchise
was granted, we obtained = short his.
tory OF the Twin City and Tri-State
companies, which, to all intents and
purposes, are practically ore enter
prise.
The Twin City Telephone company
II 9 reorganization of the old Missis-
sippi Valley company, which three
years ago, came to standstill from
lack OF money to carry it on. Under
the presidency of MIR. Moulton, the
company has had wonderful career.
Beginning three years ago with but
three hundred, it has now twelve
thousand subscribers, which are in
creasiDg at the rate of three thousand
year. Tie gross receipts are ap-
proxlmately four hundred and ten
thousand (S4l0,0O dollars, which is
sufficient to pay all expenses for ope-
ration, maintenance and depreciation.
leaving net surplus of enough to
pay q six per cent. dividend on the
common stock. The Twin City CON-
pany, having arrived at q stage where
it was aE unqualified financial success,
the same interest which owns the Twin
City company, year ago organized
the Tri-St company for the pur-
pose OF building a complete system of
long distance and trunk lines in Min
nesota and the two Dakotas.
In order to insure q close aff'liation
between the two companies, the Tri-
State company bought one million
dollars of the stock of the Twin City
company. This not only insures .
unidcation of the two companies, but
the earnings of the Twin City COM
psny which now belong to the Tri-
State company insure the latter COM
pany an income sufficient to pay q
dividend on its common stock. In ad-
dition to this income from the Twin
City earnings, there are also the earn
inqs from the long distance lines,
which will exceed those from the Twin