The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-10-04
TWO COMPANIES SEEM
TO Be FAVORED BY PUBLIC
Automatic Telephone Company and
Chicago Telephone Company Meet
With General Favor Among the
People-Attitude of Board Seems
Doubtful.
Especial to Lake County Time..l

Especial 10 Lake County Timen1
Gary. Ind, Oct. 4.-The people of this
city are almost as interested in tho
telephone franchise they were ia tho
matter Of granting a traction company
the right to use the Gary streets, ana
the conditions under which the two
franchises are to be let are quite SINH
lar
The people OF Gary are convinced
that some action should be taken at
once to provide Gary with telephonio
communication with the outside world.
AS 1t is, the only way TO reach Gary
by phone is through Chicago. and as
there is but one private wire the SER
vice is necessarily very poor.
1t is safe TO say that public sentiment
has crystalized on two very important
matters. One is that the Gary tele-
phone system must be put in by re-
liable company and the second is that
the service must be available at the
earliest possible date.
Much Time Wasted.
Instead of being a rift in the VIII
derness Gary has become a pulsatIng
hive of industry The volume OF busI-
ness done is wonderful. There are ten
thousand people in Gary now and as
yet they are entirely isolated from
the outside world 50 tar - telephonie
communication Is concerned.
The amount Of surplus energy that
the citizens of Gary are spending ev-
cry month in running around to do
their errands. is costing thousands of
dollars. If it could be measured IN
cash. And SO they are anxious that
company be given the franchise that
Will be best able to install the service
in the immediate future.
| Another important consideration IS
that of toll connections. The people
of Gary, as well as the people OF Chi
cago, Hammond and Indiana Harbor.
realize that they are but part of the
great industrial region of the Calumet
Gary Interdependent with Other Cities.
They are daily impressed with the
interdependence OF Gary upon Indiana
Harbor; of Indiana Harbor upon East
Chicago; OF East Chicago upon Ham
mond, and back around the circle. OF
Hammond upon Gary.
The business men of the whole ter
ritory have interests in Gary and many
Gary people have interests in these
places and as the region becomes more
thickly populated this interdependence
Will become more marked than ever.
This shows the importance of having
toll connections with these places and
the sentiment in favor of a system that
will insure this outside service IL
marked.
There is one thing that is ceru
The people OF Gary viii look
disfavor upon the granting of a n
chise to any applicants where the
there is the slightest suspicion that
they desire the franchise only a mat
ter of speculation. to be disposed OF
to the highest bidder after the fran
chise is granted, as was the case with
the traction franchise.
Want No Traffic in Rights.
They want to feel assured that the
company which is seeking the telephone
rights in Gary is not intending to traf-
fc in them but really propose to put
in the system themselves.
The two companys which seem to
have made the best impression upon
the public in general so far, are the
Automatic Telephone company and the
IChicago Telephone company.
The automatic phone is recognized
las a great advance over the old hello
girI' kind but this raises the question
Of tolls and as the only city in the
region that has the automatic service
lis Chicago, and that city has only a
limited number, the question OF inter-
city service becomes an important onee
In fact. if the Automatic company
could give the toll service that the
Chicago Telephone company could. il
would probably be as favorably con-
sidered as is the Chicago company.
Automatic Tell Fees High.
However. it does not seem likely that
the Chicago Telephone company would
permit the use OF its toll lines BY a
competing company. and 50 nine out
of ten disinterested people viii tell
YOU that they think the town board
. should award the franchise to the Chi-
cago people. The other applicants for
the franchise would be up against tho
same problem regarding the toll con-
nections as the Automatic people and
could not possibly have the resources