The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1907-01-16
PHONE CONF ANY
OPENS IT'S CASE

The nrst OF series of hearings granted
the Home Telephone company by thu
Joint city council committee on telephones
last eveitlg in the common council cham
Der, which was transformed into rough
and ready central telephone exchange a
battery and switchboard being placed In
the northeast corner. while six telephones
were placed about the room In order 10
demonstrate the merits OF the automatlr
system AT the conclusion of the hearing
a demonstration was given by Ray Man
son OF Elyria. o. and II. Maxwell Eaton
OF Niagara Falls. who explained the
working OF the apparatus and answered
questions.
Judge Thomas u. Lee OF counsel for the
company presented arguments and
brought ont a number OF interesting facts.
There was no stock In the company for
sale; Il has all been subscribed for. he
said. and its financial backing IS certain
Judge Lee quoted statistics, citing tele-
phone rates in other cities. facilities OF
fered and the average number OF tele-
phones TO a community. claiming 1t was
higher elsewhere than In this city.
He announced that the directors and Of
fcers OF the company are: DIR. Clarence
r. Gardner OF Providence. Howard Hen
erickson OF Albany. \. Y, Theodore NJ.
Brush of Elyria. o., William Penn Mather
OF Providence. Arthur w. Dennis OF Prov
idence. Bertrand j. Horton OF Providence
and Thomas u. Lee OF Providence. The
officers are: President. Thomas Il Lee OF
Providence: vice president, DIR. Clarence
r. Gardner Of Providence; secretary and
treasurer, Theodore NJ. Brush OF Elyria.
q.
All the directors. except Mr. Hendrick-
son and Mr.. Brush are weli-known Prov
idence men. Mr.. Hendrickson Is a busi-
ness man of Albany n Y and is presl-
dent OF the Home Telephone company I'm
that city. Mr. Brush is a manufactures
Of electric apparatus and president OF
several Independent telephone companies.
Judge Thomas Il. Lee the president. is
n partner In the legal firm of Barney &
Lee. He was Judge OF the district court
Of Woonsocket for several years and also
reading clerk OF the house of represen-
tatives.
Or. Clarence T. Gardner vice president,
Is a physician on the East Side.
w. Penn Mather is president OF the
American Ball company and OF the
Rhode Island Automobile club
Arthur w. Dennis Is president of the
Eimwood mills. He was n representa-
tive I'm the general assembly from
Providence last year and was speaker
OF the house OF representatives.
bertrand ]. Horton is connected with
the firm OF William III. Covell & Co,
grocers.
The joint special committee OF the
city council is composed OF John r.
kendrick. chairman; George II Grant,
William X REYNOLDS. Howard II. Cor
ham, George w Parks. Henry A. Car
penter and William +. Sears, all cf
whom were present, as was also Mayor
Mccarthy.
The council chamber and tho gallery
were filed with representative busi-
ness and professional men, city offl-
Gals and others, among whom were
Dexter B. Potter, president: Walter n,
Vincent attorney and Charles Il,
Howard, treasurer OF the Providence
Telephone company. DIR. Fenner VI.
Peckham. Councilmen John O. Oar
ling, John Kelso and G. Richmond Par
sons. Edward p. Metcalf president Of
the Old National bank; ex-Councilman
Marvin +. Allen, Alderman George L.
Peterson, ex-Gov. II. Russell Brown,
ex-Councilman w. A. IL Grant, ex-
Councilman Roswell G.. Smith. H. Mar
vim Brown, treasurer OF the United
States Bobbin and Shuttle company;
Lucian Sharpe, Judge Nathan NJ.
Wright, David ]. White Henry j.
Dubois, Frederick w. Godfrey and Ed
ward Streeter
Chairman Kendrick In opening the
hearing said that the hearing would
adjourn at 1880 o'clock, but the COM
mittee would continue it's sitting at
O'Clock this afternoon. s o'clock Thurs-
day evening and o'clock Friday ar
ternoon. Daniel Il. Hayden, clerk OF
the committee, read the call under
which the hearing was held and Judge
Lee made his argument In part he
said:
1T is admitted that I'm Providence roy
alties have been paid on receivers and
transmitters alone TO more than eight
times the value OF every telephone used
There are six reasons why the Bell
company cannot compete with the inde-
pendent companies. These are:
First, too great capitalization by the
Bell companies
Second. the independent companies are
more popular. being of and for the people.