Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1911-11-25


viee.President Of the chicas
pressure Of public opinion compel the
granting Of a franchise to an auto
matte company charging the lowest
possible rate.
But II 10 difYicult to get business
men to unite; difiicult to make them
resent effectively even the most pal.
pable extortion.
The chief hope lies in the courage.
energy and business knowledge Of
such Q man as Armour, who has the
money, who 10 not frightened By the
power Of monopoly, and who might,
II he chose. be remembered 40 one Of
the real benefactors Of the country
by breaking down the telephone mon.
opoly and making Of the great tele.
phone convenience q blessing within
the reach Of all and AZ cheap. In pro-
portion. 40 the national postofice.
Action by the city council upon the
question Of doing away with the tele-
phones In which nickel Is required
before the attention OF central IL oh.
tained is likely to be taken at the first
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 tho 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 1t to q
committee, several aldermen having
promised to support 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 they are of protection to
which they are entitled against fre
and robbers" he said. with these
devices at work II is impossible to
obtain the attention Of the telephone
operator until nickel has been de.
posted In the box. Every one who
is familiar with the nickel In the slot
telephones knows how often one finds
ones self without q nickel.
"A mans home might be burned
down or he might be robbed and muir.
dered simply because he did not have
a coin OF the right size at the right
time. Another dificulty Is that form.
erly a 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 where the
money Is deposited before patron Is
able to get the operator at the re.
quest Of Aid. Charles M. Thomson.
Mr.. Sexton holds that the city can
regulate by it's police power In case
the services rendered Is unreasonable
or unfair.
Drop a penny In the slot and tele.
phone"
Aid. Herman J. Bauler, who origi-
mated the Seventy Cent Gas league in
the mayoral campaign, proposes to
settle telephone rates now that the
league has completed its end of the
gas price rates and left It for the
courts to say whether the rs to IS
cent sliding SCALE ordinance Is fair.
Aid. Bauler insists that the penny
telephone idea Is all right and says
he has worked out the idea without
the aid of any expert like Edward w
Bemis or w. ]. Hagenah, who were
engaged in both the gas and telephone
rate investigations.
Aid. Bauler wants to change the
name of the Seventy Cent Gas League
, to the penny Telephone League
The alderman declares that the tele
, phone meter problem may be salts
, factorily solved, although mechanical
experts throughout the country have
been endeavoring to solve 1t for years
We take the following from page
I24 Of the Report on the Causes OF
! Municipal Corruption in San Fran
: cisco as disclosed by the investiga
! tions of the Oliver grand jury and the
: prosecution of certain persons for
} bribery and other offenses against the
state" made by committee appoint
ed by the mayor of that city and pub
lished by order of the board of su
pervisors. city and county OF San
. Francisco, January s, 1910:
: "The Pacifl Telephone and Tele
graph Company bribed the Supervis
, ors to prevent the Home Telephone
} Company or any other organization
! from obtaining telephone franchise
In San Francisco No attack of any