Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1911-12-30

Popular coun
money, who 10 not frightened By the
power Of monopoly, and who might,
II he chose, be remembered % one Of
the real bsnefactors Of the country
BY breaking down the telephone mon.
opoly and making Of the great tsls.
phone convenience . blessing within
the reach Of oil and % cheap. In pro.
portion. % the national posto6ics.
Action BY the city council upon the
question Of doing away with the tels-
phones III which o nickel IL required
before the attention Of central 10 OBJ.
tained 10 likely to be taken at the nrst
meeting after the council vacation.
Announcement was made by Aid.
Britten Of the 23d ward that he In.
tended to present at the meeting an
ordinance compelling the telephone
company to remove whot are known
as "tick tick" phone boxes. His en-.
nouncement followed the delivering
Of an opinion by Corporation Counsel
Sexton that such an ordinance could
be passed under the police powers Of
the city. An effort will be made to
have the council take action upon the
ordinance without referring It to q
committee, several aldermen having
promised to support q motion for the
suspension of the rules for this pur.
pose.
It is asserted by Aid. Britten that
the tick tick" telephones constitute
q serious menace.
"The installing Of these devices
has deprived the persons In whose
homes thcy are Of protection to
which they are entitled against IRE
and robbers" he said. '"With these
devices at work It IL impossible to
obtain the attention Of the telephone
operator until nickel has been de.
posted in the box. Every one who
IL familiar with the nickel In the slot
telephones knows how often one hnds
ones self without nickel.
"A mans home might be burned
down or he might be robbed and mur.
dered simply because he did not have
a coin OF the right size at the right
time. Another diHlculty Is that form.
erly o person had to take chances
only because his telephone might be
out Of order. Now the telephone itself
might be working, but the slot ma.
chine box device be out Of order"
| Corporation Counsel Sexton gave
his opinion on the authority given the
telephone company to install the de-
vices on nickel telephones whore the
money is deposited before patron IL
able to get the operator at the re-
quest OF Aid. Charles NJ. Thomson.
Mr.. Sexton holds that the city can
regulate by It's police power In case
; the services rendered 10 unreasonable
or unfair.
We take the following from page
"a of the Report on the Causes OF
Municipal Corruption sin San Fran
, cisco as disclosed by the investiga
! tions of the oliver grand jury and the
prosecution of certain persons fol
. bribery and other offenses against the
. state" made by committee appoint
I ed by the mayor Of that city and pub
, lished by order OF the board OF 81
y pervisors, city and county OF Sar
. francisco. January s. 1910:
1 "The Pacif- Telephone and Tele
= graph Company bribed the Supervis
ors to prevent the Home Telephone
J. Company or any other organization
D from obtaining a telephone franchise
, in San Francisco. No attack OF an!
;. kind on the Pacific Telephone ant
0 Telegraph Company was threatened
y by the Supervisors. and the sole pur
o pose Of the crime was to maintain
y profit which might be cut by tn
q competition OF business rivals. Th
!. Supervisors were paid in all owe
Q $4,000. The managing committee O
r the board of directors OF the compan
swore before the Grand Jury that the
h did not know how the funds wer
v procured for the bribery"
q This report was signed by WilliaI
n Kent, formerly a we'll known aldel
n man and reformer Of Chicago and 81
n other members of the committee al
0. pointed by the mayor Of San Francl'
d co. Oct. ~. 1908.
X Chicago Daily News editorial, D.
D cember 10, 1911:
10 1t has been the aim Of the telephon
% company to do away with unlimite
b service as far as possible and to r
h quire all users of its instruments
10 60 on the measured service basis. O
O position to the measured service pla
st is aroused whenever patron of I'll
telephone company is made to pa
30 two tolls where one should be suf
m Client
i. The ordinary person in attemptir
to telephone to railroad passeng'