Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1908-05-16
MUNICIPAL PHONES,
British Cities Abandon Expert,
ment After a Short Trial.
Every City That Tried to Run Its Own
"HeIIo" System Got Poor Service and
Lost Money.
BY WALTER F. BURGESS.

The act of parliament of 1899 permit
ting municipalities to borrow none,
for the purpose of establishing munich
pal telephone systems was taken ad
vantage of by the corporations of elias
gov, Tunbridge Wells, Hull. Ports
mouth, Brighton and Swansea. The
record of each has been one of finan
cial failure. At the outset it was stat
ed by practical telephone engineers tina
the plans and estimates on which the
systems were to be built We're falla-
cious and would inevitably lead to dis
astcr.
The municipality of Glasgow, which
trades in everything from street cars
down to lodging houses for hoboeS,
was the first to take advantage of the
act. Their license was granted in
March, 1900 and was valid for a pc
Rod of thirteen years. Instead of adopt
ing a modern common battery system
they decided to install modification of
the Old law system, which had already
Almost Immediately following the open.
ing the predicted faults became appar,
ent, and changes in the plant became
necessary. SO many methods of work
ing the telephone were introduced that
the department rapidly became a by
word and a reprOach, and in July last
the plant was sold after being in op-
a a
the taxpayers of 100000.
Obsolete engineering methods were
not confined to Glasgow. At Ports
mouth and Swansea the clearing sig
nails were operated by push buttons
located at the subscribers stations,
while at Brighton and Hull the clear
ing signals We're given by a momen-
tary earth contact made by the rising
and falling of the switch hook. The
service given by these municipalities
was so poor that the increase of sub
scribers, which was at first rapid owing
to the cheap rates and the glowing
promises of an efficient service, almost
ceased. official statistics show that the
National Telephone company for the
=
competitive areas as against 2,149 sta
tons added by the municipalities them
selves Although Glasgow was the lar
gest of the municipal systems and con
spicuously the worst from a technical
point of view, its financial losses were
not proportionately greater than either
of the other municipalities, which were
al small onJ opncarDc For
instance, the balance sheet of the
Brighton municipality shows that the
constitutional estimates We're exceeded
by 40 per cent, and the whole concern
was sold last August at a loss to the
taxpayers of $lS,590.
Further Investigations of the finan-
cial statement of the municipalities
show that it was their practice to dis
criminate in the taxation of their own
undertakings and those which were OPP
Grated under private control A fair eX-
ample of this discriminating policy may
be found in the statement for the fiscal
year ending March 81, 1906 of the
Brighton municipality. The capital eX-
penditure up to this date on the tele-
phone system amounted to $217,550
At the rate for that year the undertake
ing should have been charged with
about $3,707 for taxes. whereas the
balance sheet shows that only $296
was actually paid.
The Swansea corporation IS the last
to discover that the operation of mu-
nicipal telephony in practice and the
DRY is entirely different, and they have
just decided to cut their losses and
sell out. AS they We're the last of the
six municipalities to enter into the
telephone business, their selling out
may be referred to as the Swan song"
of municipal telephony in Great Brit
ain
Immediately they announced their
intention the local press was inundated
with letters of protest. The mayor
was requested to convene town meet
ing to discuss the proposed sale. At
this meeting a number of speeches
were made and deal of enthusiasm
displayed. 1t was resolved that the
subscribers to the municipal system
should be invited by circular to agree
to pay an increase on their rate
amounting to So per annum for three
years, and thus avoid the SALE
Considering the loud trumpetings of
the profitable" results that had been
claimed at the existing rates, this pro
posal seems to be more than passing
strange. The result of this highly
original poll is extremely amusing.
The official statistics of the telephone
system show that there We're 1887 sub
scribers, so, judging from the enthu-
siasm displayed at the meeting. one
might have anticipated that the mu-
nicipality could count upon an increase
of revenue amounting to at least $1,000
per annum from the proposed canvass.
In the circular sent out it was stated
that no reply would be construed as a
refusal to pay. Now for the result:
Total number of subscribers circular
lZed ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 800
Agreed to increase rate. 2i7
Refused to ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. lo9
Agreed conditionally.. Observation-Disclosures. 81
D4u not iepIy' fo'
1t will be noticed that out of 1887
subscribers after four years of active
development there were only 900 who
could be circulariZed on a question Of
payment, and out of this number rs
per cent would not pay beggarly So
per annum even for sentimental con-
sideration. Surely no outside criti'
ciSm can so Dointedly indicate the ut