The Greeley tribune., 1906-06-21
GIVES REASON WHY
Delay in Telephone Consolidation
and Relief Given

The following letter received by
the Greeley Commercial Club In re-
gard to the delay in coupling up the
two telephone systems is upon re-
Quest published in full:
June 5. 1906.
Hon. w. L. Clayton.
''Prest. Greeley Commercial Club,
Greeley, Colorado.
Dear Sir Upon my return from
an extended trip east | find matters
in regard to the proposed consolida-
tion of the two telephone plants at
Greeley ina rather chaotic condition.
II presume it is in your mind, as
we'll as in the minds OF majority
of the business men of Greeley, that
l promised you consolidation Of the
plants somewhere in the neighbor-
hood Of July lst.
Il find that it will be impossible
TO comply with this promise; this is
due to several causes which greatly
regret; the first and paramount one
being that it is impossible for this
company to secure the necessary ap-
pliances to serve the telephone users
of Greeley from single central sta
tion.
Undoubtedly to the average lay
mind three months Is ample time
in which to procure such supplies;
and in the average business delay
of this length would be considered
abnormal. However, the manufact-
urers of cable are actually working
their plants to full capacity night
and day; and three months notice
is required to get a shipment from
the factory.
THE manufacturers of fswitchboards
are in similar predicament, and
they. as we'll as the manufacturers of
cable, are 10th to Install any addi-
tional machinery, because it is gen.
orally felt that this rush cannot last
any great length of time.
''The earliest promise we can get
on the additional switchboard re-
quired for our Greeley exchange is
completion Sept. 1st, with delivery
to us some time during that month.
The necessary labor Of connecting it
up will take some time longer, and
even this promised delivery is SUBJ
] ject to further possible delay.
There is this additional item that
l can advise you as to why sundry
material required has not been de-
livered to us: AS you are probably
aware, in order to secure supplies at
the lowest possible figures, all of the
Bell companies practically rely upon
one general source of supply, which
is the largest in the world. The
San Francisco disaster made 1t neces-
sary in the opinion Of this supply de-
partment to rush all material avail
able to the relief of the San Fran
cisco telephone company; and there
has been a consequent scarcity of
material with the other companies,
our own among the number.
II have only recited this to you
that you and your club may appre-
ciate the embarrassing position in
which we are placed; but do not
wish the citizens of Greeley to feel
that we cannot afford them some re-
lief.
"We will: do the next best thing in
this instance, and that is, furnish
them the duplicate service of the
Colorado Wyoming Telephone COM
pany without cost after July 1st.
Premit me to explain just what l
mean by this:
ITO all telephone subscribers in
the Greeley exchange who have at
this date both the Colorado Wyom-
ing and the Colorado Telephone
company telephones in service, for
which they are paying rental to
both companies, no charge will be
made for service furnished by the
Colorado Wyoming Telephone COM
pany, beginning July 1st. This
will relieve entirely the financial
burden imposed upon the public by
two telephone systems, and it seems
to me that the proposition is as lib
eral one as this company can ex-
tend. All other patrons of the
Colorado Wyoming Telephone COM
pany will be billed at the same rates
they have heretofore paid, and the
company will continue under its
present management; this, because
1t is practical impossibility to me-
chanically connect the two systems.
II trust that our action will meet
with the approval of your club, the
telephone patrons, and the public at
| large generally.