The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-17
INDEPENDENT TELEPHONES.

the State of Connecticut. that an addi- tional telephone service would pc great thing for the people of the State. The people who are interested l in starting it make definite promise l of @ more efficient service at lower rates, and offer certain additional 1 privileges in the size of the service zone. In so far as one can judge who is not in the business of providing telephone service the promoters have seized upon all of the shortcom- ings of the existing service. actual and imaginary, and promise seriously to correct them.
 It is because this Is the situation that the strongest sort of light Is shed upon the wisdom of the general tele- phone law which was enacted at the last session of the legislature. The telephone business. of all the busi- ] nesses dealing in public service con venifnces, has at least some body to which it can appeal to protect it in its right of exclusive control while the general assembly ls not in session which is three quarters of the time i Under this law anyone is at liberty tc incorporate as telephone company but before 1t can undertake to do bus iness 1t must satisfy a judge of the superior court that public necessity and convenience demand additiona telephone service. This involves more than the assertion of good will on tho part of the new company Promises are not such fine things in this con. nection that they cansbe accepted without an appeal to experience. The new company must show that the ser. vice given Is poor. out of all propor' Etion to the tolls charged and the dlvi dends received, and that the spirit o the management is greedy and selfish In other words, while the State o Connecticut is not partial to private monopolistic rights, 1t meets the situ alton as conditions have shaped | and 1t undertakes to see that honestl, invested capital is not molested b, frivolous attempts to embarrass it As The Journal-Courier has said man, times in considering the public servic, problem in Connecticut. the alterna tive ofthat policy Is either the impos sible return 10 open competition O, government ownership.
 Ii Is we'll that the question Is belnr considered In this -blooded man ner because the president of the Inde pendent Telephone company s one o the foremost men in the State. Ever his faith in the venture should no close the eyes of people to the exper. fence other States have had with thes, independent telephone movements Indiana has an experience on 1t. hands now in the city of Indanapolls The need of an additional service wa. proclaimed very much as It has beer 1 proclaimed here and probably tht same promises were given of lowe, rates, better service and a blgge, measure of general contentment Tn, persuasive voice was sympatheticall, listened to and the company got it. charter. Like the flying machine which did not fly, though the plans from which if was made answered al of the requirements of the mathemat ical problem involved. experience has shown that the telephone business Is z very practical undertaking. Thi, Indianapolis company has found thai it must have. a more liberal franchise | It wishes to advance rates and te have the term of its franchise extend. ed The News of that city is respon. sible for the statement that the com. pany wishes, too, 10 issue additiona securities. It says; Tt may be tha- the only way or the best way to main. tain moderate rates for telephone ser. vice in Indianapolis Is to continue the nuisance of duplicate service and tc give to the new company some con. sessions in its contract. But that ne cessity has not yet been demonstrat ed"
 One of the purposes of the Connec ticut law must be to have just sucf experiences as this threshed out i, court before the doubtful experimen is tried of a duplicate telephone ser vice. Figures have been piled upoI figures tc prove the beneficence of double service, but it has not as ye been satisfactorily established that tn, community is in consequence bettel off than it was before. We suspec | that the conservatism of Connection will yet act to defer duplicate ser vice until the principle back of 1t has ! secured more intelligent endorse ment than it has yet received