New-York tribune., 1910-03-21
A Business Necessity.

4 Business Necessity.
4 The report says in general:
4 The - stem or communication totween
tine diferent parts Of the country hy tele-
graph and telephone D. not only a modern
o1nN enltnce but has become a business ne
cCSsitN- n H. the opinion OF the committee
that said business Is such, from its nature.
a. al Tie public interest and private neceS-
sity require that IL shall Ie operated IN
large enough units and over sufficiently
broad stretChts of territory - that MS de-
Nelopmeut need Tot require duplication Of
plant ana service ano unnece>~dfa expense
Tor maintenance. "lftdlloI or oNethtaH
charges. IL should. therefore. be developed,
maintained and operated hy large corpora
tion~ or by the state, ana f not by the
state. then the business and the COM
panies operating il should he subject 10
state supervision.
The state is already committed 10 the
policy of controlling and regulating public
s'ri"e corporations ~ The power et SUI
and finances Of "A corporation operating IN
this state and throughout tne United
states The commission Woulo be required
10 have system oi Inspection cNtendlnS
beyond the boundaries n New York state
without such power commission repr.-
seuting this state cannot pass lntellisentN
upon mn, issues Of capital stock securities.
the proceeds from the sale of which are
To- be used m the development Of prop
critics bevond The borders OF this state
The committee believes that the commis-
sion should have power 10 regulate rates
and telegraph corporations ana propeTti~S
within this state. and the issue of capital
stock securities the proceeds from the sale
~ which are 10 h used IN extensions or
hetternen's % properly situated IN this
state.
The general characte- of the tangible
prOpertv operated by the telephone and
telegraph companies. and Of the devices
employs hv them i'm carving ou their
Tho principal business centres. the neces-
-ity for complet- systems Of intercom-
N.-HHn 80
importance renders Iratucahle Inc ~
vision Of the state into districts. $50 FAR a,
tions. The division of the responsibility tor
such regulation between two commission.
as is properly done IN regard TO other pub
E lir service coruoratlons. seems aS 10 these
. corporations Impractical lle and INV iSe
such subdivision would not result iu q
rractlcsl working arrangement such as
would he productive Of the best or most
eatiSfactorv administration and enforce
rcent of the proposed law
Committee Named Last Yes-.
This committee was appointed AZ the
end of last years Legislature. when Tor
The second time The telephone ane tele-
graph regulation bill recommended 10y
Governor Hughes had been killed under
conditions which produced much public
dcnunciation. Certain defiant speech,s
and interviews from auti-Hughes Iegis-
iators az that time indicated that the
! committee was intended 10 he used as
weapon against the Public Service com
missions and 10 investigate them quite
az much as 20 investigate tho general
conditions - telephone and telegraph
business IT, make-up. since, ~ consisted
Il Senators Davis. Ki~s,l and FraWlo.
and Assemblvmen Neritt. YALE. Caughlan
4 Walters a.d Ward. most of them consid
cred anti-Hughes men. gav, some color
10 those statements
However tho committss did nothing
~ the sort. and some IF its critics hav.
proclaimed that il didn't do any great
amount 81 hard Investigation Of the teic-
phone and telegraph concerns
After its Organization tho committee
drew up snd mailed 10 every telephone
aud telegraph company in the state set
~ questions regarding its organization
capitalization. outstanding securities i'm
come. tangible property AMI the ira-
4 Most 90 fhe companies answered these
though with widely varied degree "f
uronptnsss some companies never 80.
sw~red them. the report says. IN. iu-
formation thus collected Was supple
mented by hearings at Buffalo. ROCHESTER
and New Iork city
The report takes ur FIRST the telegraph
ibusin.ss. which IL saNs Is controlled by
two great syst-ms, the WeSt.rr s-as.n
and the Postal Telesr4ra ccmranIes
4 The bookkeeping methods ~ both oi
these concerns the repprt SAYS. are such
dat il is impossibl, % learn ho,y mu.h
IS earned by them ,ithis This state The
( ,on,r.ittee gives considerable attention
~ TO involved stock ,uorship Of the
latter system. which nually seems to cen-
;r. ina ths Mackay Companies au unin-
,..,rporlt.d association. having its head
,.,,9,t.rs in Boston. which owns the ses-
6no 600 capital stock of the Commercial
rall. company. hich owns an. stock -
the Postal Telegraph Company and tho
other companies in the Postal system
IN. New England Telegraph company
b. tb.. concern which handles th, Imsi-
ness ir New york state This report
s,,s mat aft,r this fact u;s brought OUT
al a hearing th- company Immediately
ne.a, proc.sodines 90 change its name.
Also thc report saws that the ,apital uf
,bis company is s5oono and % has no
handed indehtedness, though % reports