Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1911-12-23
has grown to be an unbearabie nui

has grown to be an unbearable nuts
ance.
The service II rotten.
The scandal attendant on the pass.
age Of the telephone ordinance by the
council i've years ago 10 not forgot |
ten.
The passage Of the present ordi. |
nance will result In something more
than scandal for the facts will be
easier to get at.
Any alderman who votes for an in.
crease Of rates will be branded AZ he
ought to be.
The Chicago American Of June rs
contained the following vigorous ar.
ticle on the subject Of a 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
Is said to be back Of the plan.
The idea 10 to buy up certain fran.
chises in the State Of New York, %.
pecially to get an entrance into New
York City. and to give to the citizens
the beneft Of telephone competition
and Of actually cheap service.
The idea Of cheap telephone service
10 going to grow in the United States.
and eventually It 10 going to be real.
ICED, despite the power Of any mon.
opoly or the profits Of any group Of
individuals.
It 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 OK.
plotted the mails and when the citi.
zen writing q letter paid from ten
cents to q dollar or more TO have
II delivered. Government ownership,
economical. businesslike methods.
have reduced the price Of sending lot.
tiers to two cents al over the United
States-even in the Klondike. where
.. the letters are carried on dog sledges.
And sane. businesslike administra.
.. ton Of the telephone system Of this
country. with the latest up.to-date au.
tomato methods. would make tele.
phoning AZ cheap as writing letters.
and cheaper.
That will not come at once, but q
very great Improvement will come,
and right away.
; The price charged BY the Bell mon.
: opoly IL preposterous-there 10 no
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 .
Communication ticket. Tho railroad
carries his two-hundred.p0und body
back and forth twice . day for
twenty-five cents q day. II he wants
to talk to his house twice q day the
telephone company charges him sixty
cents. and charges for the wire b.
sides.
In other words, the telephone mon.
opoly charges more than twice a.
much to carry over Q wire Q human
voice. which weighs nothing, % the
railroad charges to carry q two.hun.
dred.pound man over thirty miles of
solid steel rails.
And the railroad has to have ter.
minals. and locomotives. and power;
.. whereas. with the telephone. the
mans own voice Is the chief power
involved.
Armour OF Chicago IL Q man who
r could give the people of this country
, the benefit OF cheap telephone service
!. If he should make up his mind to dc
. H. He has proved his ability 40 IN
!. organizer; he Is man Of great
wealth and of unusual industry and
, application. II Ia notorious that his
/, working hours are from seven in the
,. morning until six In the evening" and
|, that work 10 HE only amusement.
. The idea h not visionary, for Ar
!. mour associated with others-with the
a Hartman estate, with Kennedy Todd
. and De Forest of New York, and with
!. the receivers of the Chicago subway
as a body-has already begun the
:. work of giving genuinely cheap and
. efficient telephone service to the city
!. Of Chicago
/ In Chicago the receivers Of the sub
q way have installed already more thar
' twenty-five thousand automatic tele
|. phones. They give an unlimited serv
ice for $S5 a year-about one-halA tht
q charge Of the Bell monopoly. They
r give unlimited telephone service Il
. private families for less than thirty
I dollars a year. With full extension
q of their system even the poorest fam
\ lilies will use the telephones. and b.
> better OF at the end OF the year
a through the saving Of carfare.
!. The charge for pay stations will
|. this new system. which 10 backed BY
. Armour and the others. 10 three cent?
: per call, and the intention 10 10 lowel
.. this rate eventually from three cent
, to one cent At one cent the pro1,
: would b enormous. with the econo
!, mics OF the automatic telephone ant
. suhicisnt number Of subscriber.
The night plan would b. Of course
for the business men Of New Tori