Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-06
FOR A BETTER SERVICE
Telephone Patrons Do Not
Lose Interest.
WILL KEEP UP FIGHT
EVENING STAR RECEIVES MANY
CoMMUNICATIoNS.
One Treats of a Phase Overlooked
Mr. strasburger Tells
Grievance.


Grievance.
Interest in behalf Of better telephone
service for Washington, which was awak-
ened by The Evening Star. seems to be on
the increase.
The patrons of the Chesapeake and Poto-
mac Telephone Company are DESTROYS that
they be given satisfactory service-a serV-
ice that shall be commensurate to the rates
that are demanded by the company. The
company gives assurance that every effort
will be made to satisfy its patrons. That
is the present status of affairs. The Even
ing Star has received many communications
from patrons Of the telephone company and
others which tend to show the spirit Of the
public on this question.
Mr.. NJ Strasbureer of 923 Pennsylvania
avenue to an Evening Star reporter today
said:
One Patrons Position
Promises are plentiful and very cheap.
while telephones come high So far have
heard little or no complaint about the price.
The public is evidently willing to pay the
rates demanded but It Is certainly en-
titled to something in return: and II kick
ing will :. do any good let all get to-
gether and kick in a bunch If we have
any other redress, kindly let us know what
1t Is and we will be glad to resort to it.
"As merchant 1t ra Their surprises me to
find that. we have business houses who are
too weakened to permit their names to
be mentioned In an interview. claiming that
they have patrons among the telephone en-
ployes, etc. This Is certainly lame excuse
l. too. have patrons among the telephone
company's employees, and II each and every
one were a patron OF mine l fail to see
where l could injure any one of them by
criticiSing the service of the company
Their salaries would go on just the same
When the service of the telephone company
Is called rotten 1t is putting it mild.
Troubles Just Beginning
When 1 took possession of my present
place of business there was a party line
wire, and the constant ringing OF the bell
proved q source of great annoyance. The
service was anything but satisfactory.
Hoping to better conditions I made appli-
cation for special wire. signed contract,
and In due time the new instrument was in
stalled. l congratulated myself that my
troubles were at an end; but not so.
The service l. have been getting is too
poor to even think about"
An Observers Complaint.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
III view u tne ConQ1tlON III Inc IelepuOQo
service. as set forth in The Evening Star,
it seems to me that the proper thing to do
is for the users Of telephones to unite and
ask Congress to regulate the service and
fix the rates.
By the act OF Congress. giving the COM
pany the use of the streets for Its con-
Quits 1t is anchored here permanently.
and there can never be a competing COM
pany.. It has in effect a perpetual char
ter and an absolute monopoly.
l. Having given II that, 1t is clearly the
duty Of Congress to fix the rates and pre-
scribe al necessary and proper regulations;
and the act should designate the various
grades or kinds of service and equipment,
so that when brought before the courts the
company could not escape Or defy both the
law Of Congress and Its patrons, as was
done before.
1 notice that, as admitted by the COM
pany or it's manager, this same company
furnishes a house service in Baltimore for
SIS per annum, limited to one message per
day.. and five cents for an extra message.
Why should we not have equally low rates
here. If there were similar rates hund. eds
who do not now use telephones would I'M
doubleday do SO.
1t is highly desirable that this whole
matter should be definitely settled on a
basis that will be just and satisfactory to
the public and the company and will be
permanent: and / see no reason why IT
cannot be done.
l.
by the answer 1.-The wire is busy" have
no hostile feeling toward the company.
recognize 1t Is making large inves ,ment,
and that with the change OF stations and
perienced operatives some confusion Is to
be expected.
This. we all hope, will soon be remedied.
but aside from this, there Is every reason
be regulated by law. and the company be
held to it strictly. Ii. European countries
the rates are far less than with US. and
with our higher rates We certainly are en-
titled to q better service. OBSERVER
Still Another Side.
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
have been noting the various letters
appearing in your paper on the present
condition of our local telephone service and
have noticed that two sides Of the Ques-
ton have been clearly set forth; but the
third, and to my mind the most important,
side has been ignored.
The telephone operators who are mainly
held responsible for the c. and P. telephone
service have had no attention given to their
side Of this important question. I was an
operator in the exchange for about a year
and can fully appreciate what the present
conditions mean to the employees. Even at
that time the work was entirely too heavy
for the operators to handle successfully
and 1t has increased to an enormous ex-
tent during the past fall and winter.
The operators are very poorly paid con-
sider1ng the nervous strain of the work and
the hours they are required to work. They
are of course, locked for every hour and
day lost from the exchange and are re-
CURED to work every third Sunday for eight
hours OF course, the Sunday work cannot
be avoided, but we would suggest that the
Sunday hours be reduced IL possible. in Or
der that more Of the day might be allowed
the operators in their homes.
There is evidently a great deficiency In
the number of operators employed, as the
constant complaint of Central is. I'VE
are too busy to give you better SERVICE"
Let US hope that the company will take
more personal interest In the welfare of
its operators and consider them as earnest
workers, rather than as mere machines to
bring more revenue into the company