Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-03-17
TELEPHONE FIGHT
HOLDS INTEREST
WARM SESSION OF JOINT COM.
MITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
ON cLEARY SILL.
OPPONENTS OF MEASURE AS
SERT TENDENCY OF LkaGER
CONCERNS TO DOMINATE.
Madison, March II.

hduiSOus March IL
The hearing on the Cleary bill,
349A, providing that telephones shall
take their place under the public util-
tues law, requiring certificate OF
public convenience and necessity be
lore duplication OF service Is to be
permi tied, proved all that had been
iprophesled concerning it. Telephone
men We're present from all parts OF
the state and the assembly parlor
was crowded at the hearing yester-
day afternoon before the joint com
mittee on transportation.
Among the speakers were Mr..
Cleary. the author of the bill, who
set forId the reasons existing for 1T;
&C.. D. Eastman u Plymouth, James
McMullen of Chiffon, ex-senator Cav
eny of Arcadia, Speaker Bancroft. r.
F. Wieder of the Juneau and Mauston
companies, r. Valentine of the Rock
County line, V. A. Miller OF the Cen
trail Wisconsin company J. W. Alder
son of Mineral Point, l. G. Steite of
Reedsburg, - " Borum of the Bar
ron county company and J. II. Nenl
of the Superior and Tri-State compa-
MES.
At the evening session J. B. Ware
OF Chicago representing H. D. Critch-
field, Milwaukee. and the Independent
telephone interests, charged that John
c. Winterbotham, secretary of the
Wisconsin railroad rate commission,
had acted as go-between in the trans
fer of the Dane County Telephone
company, the Madison independent
company. TO the Wisconsin Telephone
company, the Bell organization, re-
ceiving a commission therefor.
The natural tendency. he said, was
for the large corporation to buy out
the smaller competing plant and
thereby wipe Que competition. and
the employees of the commission
found Il possible to use their position
larger company, to conduct negotia-
tons and receive a commission on
the transfer
Mr.. Cleary, in closing the discus
sion, asserted it was simply ques-
ton whether unrestricted competition
should go on until the stronger cor
poration created a monopoly by alb
sorbing the weaker or whether the
state should create a monopoly I'M
der regulation. Without state regu-
lation the public would inevitably
suffer
He asked in view of some OF he
objections raised, that the committee
amend the bill by defining what was
meant by telephone exchange" and
what by a municipality"
winterbotham Explains.
Mr. Winterbotham secretary of
the rate commission, said last night
in regard to the Ware charges:
Il did nothing in connection with
the transfer of the Dane County
Telephone system to the Wisconsin
company as secretary of the railroad
rate commission For u years l was
a "a" pa StIi vi MI VI DIV iDiu Ildi "
er, who with his family held about
IS per cent. of the stock ip the Dane
County system, and when the transfer
was talked, after consultation witt
him and with F. w. Hoyt. probably
the next largest stakeholder, bought
up the shares of the fourteen or if
teen remaining stockholders fol
transfer to the Wisconsin company.
"One of the stockholders holdins
six shares. as remember it. asserted
afterwards that he had not understood
about the commission. and as Mr.
Harper said, he himself was probabI,
to blame for not having stated tbs
matter clearly to the owner of the ST,
shares, he, as | understood il. per
/