Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1905-09-21
DOUBLE
SERVICE
A NUISANCE
Fresno City Council Makes Study of Tel
ephOne SyStem.and Reports Against
Second Company

'AANN hIHAANoAANh nus hfNh hAdNt w
salem's city council for franchise
for another telephone company, the
following from the Fresno, Calf,
Daily Republican Of September 9th,
may be Of considerable interest:
The city Of Fresno as represented
by the board Of city trustees, does not
want a double telephone system. Last
night the franchise committee report
ed against granting the application of
p. Kerr Higgins for a home telephone
company. This report was unanimous
ly adopted, and thus the present board
took the same position as that reached
by the former board, as to a dual tele-
phone service The franchise commit
tee Of the old board based its report
upon a personal investigation made in
towns where there are two telephone
systems. The franchise committee Of
the present board found a unanimous
sentiment among business men against
two telephone systems.
The report Of the franchise commit
tee adopted last night is as follows:
To the Honorable, the Mayor and
Board Of Trustees of the City of
/ Fresno;
In regard TO the application of P.
Kerr Higgins for a franchise to con-
struct, erect, maintain and operate a
telephone system in this city, said APP
plication having been referred TO this
committee, we desire to report as
follows:
After discussing the advisability Of
having two separate telephone sys-
tens, among ourselves and many Of the
business people Of our city, we are Of
the opinion the majority would be bet
ter satisfied with one system than two,
as long as they receive frst-elass SER
vice. which, so far as our inquiries ex-
tend, seems TO be the state of affairs
at the present time. We do, there
fore. under the circumstances, recon-
mend that the franchise applied for
be not granted and that the applicant
be notified accordingly.
Very truly yours,
A. u. SUNDERLAND,
JAS. NJ. COLLINS,
J. Q. ANDERSON,
Franchise Committee.
The report Of the former commit
tee, going more exhaustively into the
subject as follows;
To the Board Of Trustees Of the City
of Fresno Gentlemen:
We the undersigned, your commit
tee on franchises and public utilities,
to whoR was referred the petition Of
I. NJ. Hollingsworth, for a telephone
franchise, make the following report;
A former application for telephone
franchise was referred 10 us. At that
time we made a thorough investigation
into the desirability Of having two
telephone systems Notwithstanding
this we have again made careful in
vestigation of the matter, for II our
former position was incorrect, we were
willing TO be convinced.
In our last investigation we inter
viewed many people, in fact we have
listened to every person who had any
thing to say for or against the PROPOSE
tion and have gotten information from
every available source at our command,
and we think that we have not omitted
any circumstances that would enable
us 10 arrive I correct conclusion as
10 what would be the best interest to
the city at large.
To better enable TO come TO an in
telligent decision on the merits OF the
much debated advantages or disad'
vantages Of double telephone system,
and TO be perfectly fair to the aPpli'
| cant, we visited San Jose, Los Angeles,
Sacramento, and San Francisco, TO
Judge for ourselves by personal inspee'
tion on the ground Of practical work
ing Of the system.
Both Los Angeles and Sacramento
have the double system in operation.
At Los Angeles the new system has
Just been installed, and it is the big
gest double system in the state. Here
we spent several days and made a thor
ough investigation. We visited the
central offices of both companies, and
We fnd that though both companies
have been hampered to some extent BY
the linemen's strike, they are now CIV
ing excellent service.
Both companies use the multiple
switchboard. BY this arrangement
each operator has before her every
telephone number in the system She,
however, is only required TO answer
/ ..tg. S.nv, q Ifmffad number OF sub