The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-11-16
The Decatur County Mutual Tele.
phone Co.'S. plans.

1 Perhaps few words of explanation
and clipping from a telephone paper
would not be out of the way at this
time 1t has been the plans of the com
pany all the time to use the best
material and equipment from the start.
The following expresses our sentiments
exactly.
"ln the construction of a modern tele
phone plant quality should be the first
consideration quality OF material, quail
ity of apparatus and quality of work.
! A system built with this end in view
and with this practice followed possess
! es those two essentials ofsuccess good
service and low cost of maintenance.
While it is almost unanimously the case
that public sentiment is favorable to
| independent telephone companies, COM
| ing as they do in the nature of relief
J from long period of oppressive monop-
| oily, overbearing methods and poor
service, this favorable sentiment must
not be the sole reliance, unsupported by
| any other advantages. We must stand
on our merits. We must give the public
something better than they had or SEN
| timent will not count for much. For
| years community may have tolerated
poor Bell service without much com
plant, because it was all that was to be
had, but when an independent company
enters the field there is an immediate
opportunity for comparison. Nothing
| will give it to them in greater degree
II than good Service--better service than
II had been given previous to their advent.
4 This is even greater lever as a bust
u ness getter than lower rates. A poorly
II constructed plant will not give good
\ service for any length OF time.
u The maintenance account can prevent
/ more dividends being paid than any
Il other. What satisfaction can there be
|! to investors to see revenues poured
back into the plant for rebuilding, re-
NJ pairing and mainintaing, when, had the
|! quality of the work in the first place
been what it should, and the mainten-
L ance thus reduced to the minimum, these
same revenues would be going into the
pockets OF the stockholders in the
n shape of dividends. A little more
l money wisely expended in the original
III construction is better than constant
N drain on a company's resources to do
/ work over and over again, perhaps, that
should have been done rightly in the
N first place. Most Of us have had our
experience with poorly constructed
plants and none of us wants any more
I OF them. am happy to state that the
| period of experimentation and hap
hazard methods Of telephone work is
! past and the overwhelming tendency is
| toward tirst-class construction"
! Competition, which is the life of trade,
! induced the Chicago Telephone Com
pany to offer to furnish the city OF
4 Chicago telephone equipment at one
! third the price it formerly had charged.
"lts no great concession, though"
said one of the Independent telephone
l appliance manufacturers who submitted
bids. Its 70 per cent more than the
city would have to pay if it bought its
| own equipment"
The city has not accepted the Chi
cago Telephone Company's offer, but
have taken it under consideration.
Several weeks ago a Chicago paper
called attention to the fact that the
city was paying the Chicago Telephone
Company $500 year rental on its
police and fire telephones. That
amount tbs per cent interest on $4,000
and the whole equipment could be
bought for between $4,000 and $4,000
The aldermen were struck with the
y force of the argument and advertised
. for bids for furnishing 1852 trans
mitters, 1,G00 receivers, 1,210 induction
~ coils and 80 portable stand telephones
When the bids were opened in the
city electican's office it was found that
a the Chicago Telephone Company, which
ID has been collecting s1.50 a year REM
for each "set" it has furnished the
city, had cut the price to so cents
> Eight Independent concerns submitted
is propositions to furnish the city nee
70 essary equipments for police and fire
telepones and keep them in order
j. Their bids ranged from $3.50 to S5,669
~ One of the Independent bidders mad,
- the observation that the Chicago Tele
IN phone Company to be on an equal foot
J" with the others, should have submitted
propnstions to rent the city equipmen
to the rate of ~ cents set" and Til
~ was the way he explained it:
5. There are 800 sets SO the Chicag,
,'r Telephone Company would be getting
y $500 a year at the new bargain counte
= rate This would represent per cen
or on an investment of S16,000-not a bat
.. thing for the telephone company.
"The average price of the equipment
= according to the bids, would not exceed
, $4,25O. Five per cent on that would b,
{ $212.50, so it is easy to see that tn,
Chicago Telephone Company, to be al
I equal competitor, would have to reduc,
( it's bid 70 per cent and offer to furnish
it's sets at the rate of 121 cents to tn
I city,
( 1t has been argued by the Independ
ent manufacturers that it would b.
I more economical for the city to own al
( equipment, as it would have $500 yea
and pay for the equipment inside of si
I years"
( The above figures should be enoug
: to convince telephone users, that i
would be economy for them to own am
> operate their own plant.
Z Herb w. Edwards Injured.