The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-15
CITY-OWNED
 PHONES FAILED
GLASGOW FAR BEHIND NEW YORK
 IN SERVICE.
Scotch Expert Dalrymple Astonished ss What He Saw Here-Municfpal Ser vice Never Able to Equal Pri-
 vate Company in Number.

Vute SOmYmmy GN0ssAOSAs
 
 William Jennings Bryan, having been interviewed again, this time at Lima, O., has expressed the opinion that the Government ought to own not only railroads and telegraphs, but also rural telephones; also, MT. Bryan thinks, the city governments ought to own the telephone lines within city limits.
 James Dalrymple is the Scotch ex- pert on municipal ownership who vis- ited the United States this summer to help Chicago plan out its system of mu- nicipal street railways. It Is he who offended the enthusiasts by expressing a cautious Scotch doubt whether the American political system is good soil for public ownership plants.
 While he was in New York he was shown over the building of the New York Telephone Company. They have a plant in Glasgow run by the city. With its workings MT. Dalrymple is thoroughly familiar. When he had fin- ished his inspection. MT. Dairymple turned to the official who had shown him through.
 Compared to this." he said. "our system is a toy"
 It was in 1899 that Glasgow decided to adopt the municipal system. They had a private company which had been giving service regarded Is unsatisfac- tory by most of the subscribers. Par liamentary consent was obtained and In 1901, with impressive ceremonies. the service was opened to the public. The old company kept right on doing busi- ness For a time. since there was great enthusiasm for municipal owner ship in Glasgow, it looked as though this company would be driven out of the field.
 The city corporation of Glasgow started to improve the telephone ser vice by installing a system which was discarded in the United States in the early sos. Certain minor flaws in its switchboard features would be under stood only by experts.
 The general public will understand this part of It's shortcomings, however. Whenever a subscriber wanted central he had to ring a bell and wait for cen tral to answer, as Is still the method in the American backwoods. Then, hav- ing got the person he wanted, he rang again In the write ups in the Glas- gow press at the time the system was was made of that fact. It let the sub scriber do his own ringing. and saved labor at the central office.
 There were kicks on this system from time to time, so the corporation tin- kered with it. They did not go to the length of putting in a modern auto matic service; they installed Improve ments" in various exchanges. So, at present, on one exchange a card warns you to ring before you take the tele- phone off the hook. In another you must take the telephone off the hook before ringing; in still another you must press the red button" before you get a connection.
 Finally, last February, the corpora ton voted $1,5o0 to install a system of automatic calling with lamp signals" in one exchange, merely as an experi- ment
 Although offering rate lower on the whole than that of the old company. the municipality has never been able to pass 1t In number of telephones in use, The city's own figures, published in December, 1904, showed 11.077 subscrib- CTS for the municipal service, and 12,- 934 for the National Telephone Com pany, the old corporation.
 The National Telephone Company has always disputed the city's sfigures. In 1903 1t showed that while the official figures were about 5000. the city sys- | tenn had only about 7,b00 telephones in use The city's figures. published year by year, have seemed to show that the profit of 31-2 per cent, which was to be applied to a sinking fund to pay off the fn1tlal cost, was COIllIB III WltI steady regularity, and small profit besides. As a matter of fact, this phrase occurs at the close of the last report Accounts examined subject to question of sufficiency for depreciation. | No allowance, or only a small one, has been made for depreciation of the plant. Further, the National Company's ex- | perts declare that the cost of soliciting new subscribers has been charged all orNif foI Od n
 In its issue of July 5. 1905. The Glas- gow Herald published communication from a citizen. It reads: ..*. l Sir-I have just had an experience with the Corporation Telephone De- l partment, the circumstances of which | may interest rate payers who contem- l plate paying for a Corporation Tele- | phone connection Some time ago, af- | ter vigorous canvassing, l was induced to order telephone; some days later had formal intimation that the mat 1 ter was receiving attention. and after l some further days delay there came a curt request for a bank reference. This seemed little less than insulting. after l the pressing solicitation of the depart ment to obtain my order, and l at once replied by cancelling my application To the insult the corporation added the | Injury of dragging me into court on a summons for pounds sterling shill- ings for telephone rental" The sher- if held that there was no binding con- tract, although he gave a decree against me for l pound sterling, with out expenses, no doubt in consequence of a statement by an official that some indefinite amount of expenses 4n ar ranging wires, etc.-outside, for no tel ephone had been fitted in my premises
 had been incurred. Apart from my personal grievances these methods of delay and blundering tactlessness dc not reflect creditably upon the business system of the corporation. in this de-
 partment at least. and they would gc far toward running any private enter prise. In conclusion. I may mention that the National Telephone Company
 gave me an almost immediate connec-
 tion without demur, although in this
 case I approached them. not they me. as the corporation did.