The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-19
BETTER CAR AND PHONE
SERVICE IS DEMANDED

I considerably over score OF the mem
the meeting. President A. q. Forbe.
reported generally on the work the or
ganization had been doing. with spe'
tions which have been held in Mont.
gomery. He spoke of the State Dem
ocratlc Convention. the arrangement o.
the details of which had been looked
D. Mallory of the State Executiv,
Committee. he said, had written tbs
Club a letter Of congratulation and
thanks for the manner in which the
Convention was cared for.
Another convention which the Cluf
: had looked after was the recent meet.
! passed off with marked success;
Chairman kohn was called on for the
] report of the Committee on Agricui-
! ture and Cotton Trade. Owing to the
OF the Committee, he stated. no meet
ing had been held since the previous
meeting of the Club. President Forbes
vious meeting recommended the prep
aration of an exhibit for the State AZ
ricultural Fair. This matter. the
caarnan P Pians viii IL Sc give made %
snort time and submitted to the Board
of Directors for their sanction, He
promised to get ready suitable ex-
It was following Mr.. Kohn that
Chairman Ball of the Committee on
City Development was called upon ne
rum at a meeting which he had called,
he could not present a report from the
Committee. He had prepared a number
would submit to the Club, which would
be taken up more fully and presented
to the organization as soon as he could
make report p for the s null committee
Montgomery. Ala. Sept: is. 1905.
''Gentlemen-For want OF a quorum,
the City Development Committee has
not considered this report which III
made by its chairman.
HE presents for consideration, first,
the necessity for a study of municipal
problems. Montgomery exists under a
legislative charter, more or less I'M
perfect and inadequate. Formerly snch
charters were amendable at pleasure.
The Constitution of 1901 prohibits such
amendments and requires the Legisla-
ture to pass general laws for munich
pal government. At least two ,volum-
nous bills were Offered for this pur.
pose at the session of 1903 and one OF
the most difficult and delicate tasks OF
the Legislature of 1907 Will be to
frame a comprehensive system for the
administration of municipal affairs In
which may be harmonized the conflict
ing views of the adherents to the old
regime and the advocates OF enlight-
ened progressiyeness
Unfortunately, no one knows 10
whom the task will fall and time for
adequate study will not be given dur
ing the legislative session. So vital Is
this matter to Montgomery. Mobile and
Birmingham that We recommend that
special committee on municipal legis-
latiOn be raised to study the problems,
and, after approval by this Club, to ad-
ture of the fruits of their work.
Incidental to this subject we sug-
gest the consideration of better finan-
cial sytems. greater publicity In city
ff.fw 10 ia ant NJ nrdi In lag
and contracts with owners of public
utilities, practical and economical ad-
ministration of public works, and i'm
provements in city public schools.
so common are the complaints against
the street car service that IL Is as
compiacentIy to its impositions Some
of the cars are but little short of al
public nuisance. Most of them are un-
clean. and some are filthy. Broken win
dows and ventilators, rickety seats and
bolts, grinding growing motors and
humping fiat wheels, burning. smok-
ing hot boxes with an occasional car
afire, tell part of the story of the roll
ing stock. Slow and broken schedules
with no apparent effort to furnish GER
tain and rapid transit. with frequent
interruptions of current at most mop
perfume times, are the evidences of the
magnificent system promised for many
concessions, including the remarkable
three-track system on the most crowd
ed part of Dexter Avenue.
THE city has ordinances and officials
charged with their enforcement. 1t
every two weeks and his condemna-
ton viii send defective cars to the
barn. or subject the company to a fine.
One car was arrested last week for not
being fit to appear in public. Flat
wheels, defective brakes and noisy.
leaky cars are prohibited. The COM
pany Is required to maintain the streets
between and for two feet outside the
tracks and conform the or do
with it's rails.
This Club cannot enforce these or
dinances, but 1t can use its influence /
with those who can and should. and Sc |
cure the enactment of other ordinances
II necessary.
Telephone Service, Too.
Another public utility against which |
complaints are lodged is the |
telephone. One large concern cut off |
an entire day without excuse; another |
calling in vain for central for ten min
utes; one merchant threatening to |
charge the company 500 a day'damages |
out of order a whole week without |
attention. and the oft-repeated busy |
when in fact the number called is out |
of order, are few of the reports that |
pany's only response is that delicious |
piece of presumptuous humor pasted in |
dazzling red and yellow on the last |
directory imparting to the innocent |
ANSA6 t'AC SNstA ling luOuSuI that
busy does not mean that the operator |
is busy, but that the line is busy. /
DOUBTLESS the operators are also busy. |
too busy, and, perhaps a sufficient num-
Der of neither operators nor linemen
are employed. and 1t is limited that |
the switchboards are inadequate to the |
demands of the growing business
BE these things as they may the |
service Is almost universally unsatis-
factory and much inferior to what IL
was few years ago. What to do is
the problem. The subscribers can do
nothing. for they are at the mercy of |
a monopoly, bound by contracts of the
company's contriving, by which they
must pay In advance. can claim no re-
bate except for want of services after
reasonable notice in writing to the
company, and waive all other liability
on its part, while the company NAV
stop the service for nom payment Of
any sum due. The City Council can
10 but little, as the telephone company
has all the franchises IL wants. and
he charter gives no control over its
services.
This Club can do something and
We recommend that it's Board of hi.
'ectors be requested to consider sug-
sestions and make recommendations Ia
IN early meeting of the Club.
Respectfully submitted,
Fred S. Ball,
Chairman
Subject Is Discussed,
At the conclusion of the reading of
DR.. Balls suggestions, President