Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1911-10-28

Whose Nomination for Judge
council Ave years ago 10 not forgot
ten.
The passage Of the present ordi.
nance will result In something more
than scandal for the facts viii bs
easier To get at
Any alderman who votes for an In.
crease Of rates viii b branded % he
ought 10 be.
The Chicago American Of June 80
contained the following vigorous Or.
ticie on the subject Of . merger:
The New York Times announces
that there 10 hope Of telephone com.
petition in New York City and that
Armour, the great packer Of Chicago
10 said to be back Of the plan.
The idea 10 to buy up certain fran.
chises in the State Of New York, q.
pecially to get an entrance into New
York City. and to give to the citizens
the bcneft Of telephone competition
and Of actually cheap service.
The idea Of cheap telephone service
IL going to grow In the United States.
and eventually II 10 going to bs real.
ICED, despite the power Of any mon.
opoly or the profits Of any group Of
individuals.
Il costs less. or under proper man.
agement would cost less, to send .
telephone message than to send .
letter.
There was Q time In the United
States when private individuals q.
plotted the mails and when the citi.
zen writing . letter paid from ten
cents to Q dollar or more 70 have
II delivered. Government ownership.
economical, businesslike methods,
have reduced the price Of sending lot.
ters TO two cents oil over the United
States-even IN the Klondike. whore
the letters are carried on dog sledges.
And sane. businesslike administra.
tion Of the telephone system Of this
country. with the latest up-to-date au.
tomato methods. would make tele'
phoning a. cheap 40 writing letters,
and cheaper.
That will not come at once. but q
very great improvement viii come
and right away.
The price charged BY the Bell mon
opoly 10 osterous-there 10 nc
worse form Of extortion among all the
extortions In the United States.
A man who lives In the suburbs
thirty miles from Q big city gets q
Communication ticket. The railroad
carries his two-hundred.pound body
back and forth twice . day fol
twenty-five cents Q day. II he wants
to talk to his house twice . day th(
telephone company charges him sixty
cents. and charges for the wire be
sides.
In other words. the telephone mon
opoly charges more than twice q
much to carry over Q wire Q humal
voice, which weighs nothing, - tht
railroad charges to carry . two-hun
dred.pound man over thirty miles o
solid steel rails.
And the railroad has 70 have tor
minals. and locomotives. and power
whereas. with the telephone. tn
mans own voice 10 the chief pows
involved.
Armour Of Chicago 10 . man VII.
could give the people Of this countr!
: the benefit Of cheap telephone servic'
If he should make up bic mind to d
It. He has proved his ability % q
organizer: he 10 q man Of grea
wealth and Of unusual industry ant
application. II IL notorious that hil
| u,orl,loo hovru ora penvn aAvou n thI
morning until ok In the evening. ant
that work . ~ only amusement
The idea = not visionary. for Al
mour, associated with others-with tn
Hartman estate, with Kennedy Tod,
and De Forest of New York, and witt
the receivers Of the Chicago subwa.
as a body-has already begun tn
work of giving genuinely cheap ant
efficient telephone service to the cit!
of Chicago.
In Chicago the receivers OF the sui
way have installed already more thai
twenty-five thousand automatic tele
phones. They give an unlimited serv
ice for $s5 q year-about one.half tn
charge of the Bell monopoly. The,
give unlimited telephone service h
private families for less than thirt,
dollars a year. With a full extension
OF their system even the poorest fam
ilies will use the telephones. and b.
better OF at the end OF the yea
through the saving OF carfare.
The charge for pay stations Wit
this new system, which 10 backed b,
Armour and the others. 10 three cent
per call, and the intention 10 to lowe
this rate eventually from three cent
to one cent At one cent the prod
would bs enormous. with the sconC
mics of the automatic telephone an
q sufhcient number Of subscriber.
The right plan would bs, Of course
for the business men OF New Yorl
who pay enormous tolls to the tsls
phone monopoly to get together. u
bind themselves to take new seTvic