Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-25
Mr. Pa hin ptOn said.

positiOn. Mr.. Darlington said: Il
am extremely sorry that the people
of your city have had any occasion to
register a kick against the methods
and service of the company. l deep
" regret that such is the case. Since
our company has been in Gaffney we
have been accorded the most cour-
teOus of treatment. not only by the
council and subscribers but the peo-
pie as we'll For this we are more
than grateful and it is fully appre-
ciated. | will discuss first the phrase
in the franchise unlimited service
around which the entire trouble re-
garding non subscribers using the
phones seems to hang. This express
sion in the contract between the city
and my company means that the SER
vice shall be unlimited to subscrib-
er: that he shall have as many calls
as he desires each month without eX-
ira pay. 1t does not apply to nom
subscribers, however, and we did not
intend ii in that way when II WIS
inserted in the franchise. You Will
find that some towns, Charlotte for
instance. has a system by which
man may have 200 calls month at
low rate. All above 200 he pays for
at the rate of three cents per call.
Il
vice and an unlimited one also. The
council will grasp my explanation of
the unlimited part. The purpose OF
eliminating the deadheads was TO
give better service to the subscribers
Our company has in this city 300
subscribers. Yet we are continually
called upon to serve from 1000 TO
5000 people at all times. 1t is i'm
possible for the subscribers tC eX-
pect a prompt and immediate service
and good service if the operators are
forced to answer two ead-heads TO
every one subscriber. We have been
to the several thousand dead-heads
that are using our lines and solicited
them asking that they have a tele-
phone installed. To this they nave
paid no attention. They have been
solicited again and given one more
month of use Of the lines and then IN
case they do not have a telephone
installed we feel that we have per-
feet right to demand nominal
charge for each call that such nom
subscriber desires" Mr.. Darlington
was asked by the mayor as to whether
or not q guest at the hotel was allow
ed to use the phone in the hotel free
of charge Mr.. Babingron replied to
this that n booth had been placed in
the hotel for this express purpose
and that $50 per year was paid by
the telephone company to the pro-
prietor for the purpose of this booth.
He stated that he saw no reason why
the drummerS should have any more
privileges than any other non-sub-
scribers and that in his opinion they
should be made to pay. Mr. Babing-
ton concluded by stating 1t was an
utter impossibility to care for 5000
calls with a capacity of 1,6OO. Mr.
f. d. Houser. local manager of the
company stated that in some parts
of the city there were as many as
four people paying for the same
phone and that one man in town was
getting a phone for $3.50 and mad
actually collected $1.75 for the use
of the phone from his sub-renters
Mr.. Houser pointed out that this per-
son had secured the use Of the phone
gratis and was also 25 cents ahead
of the game. The matter OF whether
or not the subscribers in this city
could phone 10 Blacksburg without
charge was discussed and it was de-
cided that any subscriber could phone
from any business phone in this city
to any Part Of Blacksburg without
cost but that no residence phone could
be used without a payment Of ten
cents. The council finally decided
that if any neighbor desired to use
the phone of a subscriber that said
subscriber. if he was so inclined,
could do the talking and transact the
business for said neighbor and this
without charge but that the afcre-
mentioned neighbor was liable to a
charge of five cents in case he or she
attempted to use the phone them
selves. This was the opinion Of the
council. although no definite action
was taken by them and the matter
will be discussed again at the next
regular meeting.