The Muskogee cimeter. [volume] (Muskogee, Indian Territory, Okla.) 1901-19??, 1909-02-12
MUNICIPAL PHONES,
British Cities Abandon Expert.
ment After a Short Trial.
Every City That Tried to Run lee Own
"te,Io" System Got Poor Service and
Lost Money.
by WALTER z. BURGESS.

by WALTER e. BURGESS.
The act Of parliament Of 1890 permit.
ting municipalities to borrow money
for the purpose Of establishing munich
pal telephone systems was taken ad
vantage Of by the corporations Of Glas-
gov, Tunbridge Wells, Hull. Ports
mouth. Brighton and Swansea. The
record Of each has been one of 6nan-
cial failure. At the outset It was stat.
ed by practical telephone engineers that
the plans and estimates on which the
systems were to be built were 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 pc
riod 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
been discarded by telephone companies.
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 reproach, and in July last
the plant was sold after being In op-
Grafton barely Ave years at loss to
the taxpayers Of 100000.
Obsolete engineering methods were
not confined to Glasgow. At Ports
mouth and Swansea the clearing sig.
mails were operated by push buttons
located at the subscribers stations.
while at Brighton and Hull the clear.
ing signals were given by momen.
tary earth contact mnde by the rising
and falling Of the switch hook. Tho
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
year 1905 added 1O.5O3 stations In 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
all small and struggling concerns. For
instance. the balance sheet OF the
Brighton municipality shows that the
CONSTITUTIONAL estimates were exceeded
by 40 per cent. and the whole concern
taxpayers OF $1S.50O.
Further Investigations Of the fnan-
cial statement Of the municipalities
show that II was their practice to dis
cr!mjnate In the taxation OF their own
undertakings and those which were op-
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 OH the tele-
phone system amounted to $217 $50
At the rate for that year the undertak-
ing should have been charged with
about $3.707 for taxes. whereas the
balance sheet shows that only $290
was actually paid.
The Swansea corporation Is the last
to discover that the operation of mu-
nicipal telephony In practice and the
| n ~,
Just decided to cut their losses and
sell out As they were the last OF the
six municipalities to enter. into the