Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1908-08-01
A TELEPHONE CALL.
French Subscribers Protest
Against State Service.

against STATE Service.
France Has Neither Money Nor AbiI
ity to Reform and Develop Her TeIe
phone System - Private lndustr,
Alone Can Overthrow the Bureau
craey and Establish a Well orderes
Service.
From day to day the telephone crisi,
grows worse. In spite OF the promises
of the administration, the subscriber
have experienced no notable improve
ment In the wretched telephone serv
Ice. Nor does the future appear any
more promising than the present.
The Association Of Telephone Sub
scribers has now been at work FOL
four years, and no one can accuse II
Of having lacked In good win, pa
thence and disinterestedness We have
studied the telephone question In place
Of an administration asleep in routine
With the assistance of eminent spe-
cialists of France and foreign coun.
tries we have established programme
Of reform.
This programme M. Berard promised
to study. but he only eluded the ques-
ton and made the subscribers source
of ridicule. His successor, M. Simyan,
has studied the problem. having recog
nized Its utility and urgency, and
adopted it entirely in principle I'm
fortunately the draft of law which he
presented is absolutely imperfect and
inapplicable, due both to the wording
and to the opposition that the propo-
sition has already met In the chamber
and the systematic hostility Of the ad.
ministration.
Again, parliament by itself is power.
less to reform the telephone service
and to put on foot a rational and co
herent project, for the administration
will not furnish the necessary informa.
ton.
We thus have complete failure OF
reform.
To be patient any longer In the pres.
ence Of this lamentable failure of the
administration is impossible. An ener-
getic and radical remedy is necessary
for an anarchic situation. We do not
any longer care for promises which are
never fulfilled and which after four
years of delay and waiting end In to-
tai ruin.
Our telephone service continues from
bad to worse. Our instruments are
7-i-~ .nast defective in existence. They
- bsy,x ~ ho
civil world.
AS matter Of fact, the state is alb
solutely powerless to exploit the tele
phone, most delicate business and
one of peculiar nature.
The State Is Incapable From a Finan.
cial Point of View.
To provide telephone service suf
ficient for present needs and to assist
its future for Paris as well as the
provinces many hundreds OF millions
Of francs will be required.
The financial requirements and
budget appropriations will not permit
the state to make such an effort.
Again, the proposition now before
the government calls for only $780,
600 in six annual payments. One might
as well throw a drop Of water into the
ocean.
The State Is incapable From Tech
nicai Point of View.
The state has proved its ineficiency
to rapidly put on foot rational and
practical plan Of reform. The slow
ness and complication of administra.
tive routine, the inertia of the bureau
Gratis, do not permit Of timely and
thorough adoption Of improvements
realized by science. By the time II
has been decided to install new sys-
tenn 1t ID already old and has been re-
placed by another.
The State 10 incapable on Account OF
the Personnel.
The state can neither choose nor suit
ably direct the personnel charged with
Hpis extremely delicate work required
Tor repairing the apparatus and giving
exchange connections.
The recruiting Is made by recommen-
dalton.
The personnel is Disguised at the
6udUuclcbS lHNOittAoA WAA~A ~ANPo WV
at every point.
Under such conditions we need not
be astonished IL the work is incom-
petent-
Tho State IL Incompetent From .
Commercial Point of View.
The state has neither commercial
nor industrial aptitude. 1t Is equally
ignorant Of the cost price and the re
turns Of the telephone service. The
personnel. life employees, advance au
tomatically and are not interested IL
the development and efficiency of ths
service.
Instead of trying to increase its pat
ronage the administration does every
thing possible to drive away new sub
scribers.
What would we think of merchan,
who should be afraid of having too
many patronsf
These are the causes of the failures