Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-07-11
Tuesday, July IL, 1905.

SiilCS the arrival VI tic Dcli, uC WOlhu
get out Of this field at once. He prslc-
tically admitted the claim of Mr..
Brice that the recent raise Of rates
by the Piedmont was unwarranted
and promised that this exchange
would at once be put back on the
same footing as before the Bell took
charge.
Mr. Jennings questioned Mr.. Maui
an exchange increased in geometicial
progression while the income in
creased only in arithmetical progression.
the two gentlemen had quite lively
tilt of the matter. Mr.. Jennings get
ting decidedly the best Of 1t and put
ting Mr.. Maupin to considerable con-
fusion.
Mr.. Jennings went on to tell OF an
occurrence in Columbia after the alb
sorption Of the South Carolina Tele-
phone company by the Bell. A liv-
cry stable caught fire. Somebody
who was not a subscriber went to
phone and asked for the fire de-
partment. Central answered, Mum
Der, please" The request for ths
fire department was repeated but the
demand for the number" was In
sisted upon. The fire department
could not be gotten and there was
heavy loss all because of the mean
ness of the Bell. Mr.. Maupin ex-
planned the necessity Of having rules
and sticking to them, and claimed a
little sympathy on the ground that
the Bell had suffered the loss Of
two-horse team in that very fire.
Mr.. Jennings had not heard Of the
circumstance before; but was pleased
to learn that some measure Of justice
had been meted out to the Bell for
its contumacy. Laughter and ap-
plausel.
Mr.. John r. Hart was opposed to
the appointment OF any more COM
mittees for the examination Of books
We had appointed one such commit
tee and thought we had some infor-
nation. Now we are told that we
had only been shown the books.
What we want Is not to see the
books; but to get facts. I suggest
that we appoint a committee to go
before the city council and request
the annulment Of this franchise, or
in the event the city council Is not
able to give relief to proceed in the
courts on the ground of poor service.
Mr.. Maupin says this is the poorest
system he has ever seen and we can
use him as a witness to support our
contention.
Senator Brice said that notwith-
standing all the claims Of Mr. Maui
pin, he knew citizens Of Spartan
burg, Columbia and Anderson who
were very much dissatisfied with the
Bell service, and he felt sure that 1t
would be a mistake to establish re-
lations with the Bell. He therefore
offered the following:
Resolved, That a committee of five
be appointed to appear before the
town council and ask for the annul-
ment of this franchise, after which
said committee will proceed to solic-
1t subscriptions to the capital stock
of the Citizens Telephone company.
After some little discussion Of this
proposition. Mr.. McDow offered the
following as a substitutes:
Resolved, That a committee Of five
be appointed to draft a telephone
franchise calculated to conserve the
interests Of the community in the
most satisfactory manner possible
and 10 offer this franchise TO the
Bell, Piedmont or any other company
that can give a satisfactory guarantee
of it's ability to live up to its terms.
II the franchise be accepted, we'll and
good. Otherwise the committee Will
report back to the citizens who Will
take such further action as they may
deem proper. .......... ........ !
This resolution was adopted by a
vote Of 20 to Z, and the chair named
the committee as follows: Thomas F.
McDow, chairman, ]. S. Brice, w. r.
Carroll, w. D. Grist. w. d. Glenn.
Mr.. Brice took occasion to say that
he did not want his attitude in this
matter to be construed as personal
opposition to Mr.. Moore. Mr.. Moore
was the pioneer in the telephone bus
mess in this section; he had given
us a remarkably good service con-
sidering the circumstances, and the
people owe him a debt OF gratitude.
Mr.. Moore thanked Mr.. Brice for his
kind reference and said he appreciat-
ed 1t.
AS the meeting was about to ad-
journ, Mr.. Moore took occasion to put
the assembled citizens on notice that
If any attempt was made to revoke
his franchise he would take steps to
maintain such rights as had been
granted to him for the remaining two
years of the old franchise as we'll as
for the three years extention.