Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1911-12-09

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 viii b |
easier to get ct.
Any alderman who votes for an In. |
crease Of rates will b branded % hs
ought TO bs.
The Chicago American Of June 20
contained the following vigorous ar.
ticle 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, e.
pecially to get an entrance into New
York City. and to give to the citissns
the beneht Of telephone competition
and Of actually cheap service.
The idea Of cheap telephone service
is going to grow in the United States.
and eventually Il 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 70 send .
letter.
There was q time In the United
States when private individuals ex.
plotted the mails and when the citi.
zen writing . letter paid from ton
cents 70 Q dollar Or more 70 have
II delivered. Government ownsrship.
economical. businesslike methods.
have reduced the price Of sending let-
tsrs 70 two cents all over the United
States-even in the Klondike, where
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 a..
tomato methods. would make tsle-
phoning 40 cheap % 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 10 preposterous-there II no
worse form Of extortion among all the
extortions In the United States.
A man who lives In the suburbs
thirty miles from . big city gets .
Communication ticket. The railroad
carries his two-hundred.pound body
back and forth twice Q day for
twenty-five cents day. II he wants
to talk to HE 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 %
much 70 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 tor.
minals. and locomotives. and power:
whereas. with the telephone. the
mans own voice IL the chief power
involved.
Armour OF Chicago 10 q man who
could give the people Of this country
the benefit Of cheap telephone service
Ii he should make up his mind to dc
It. He has proved his ability 40 O.
organizer: he 10 q man OF great
wealth and Of unusual industry and
application. It is notorious that his
working hours are from seven In the
morning until six In the evening, and
that work 70 hSs only amusement
The idea y not visionary. for Ar
mour. associated with others-with the
Hartman estate, with Kennedy Todt
and De Forest OF New York. and with
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 sub
way have installed already more thai
twenty-five thousand automatic tele
phones. They give an unlimited serv
Ice for $85 q year-about one.half tn
charge Of the Bell monopoly. The,
give unlimited telephone service Il
private families for less than thirt,
dollars a year. With full extension
Of their system even the poorest fam
lilies will use the telephones. and b.
better OF at the end Of the yea
through the saving OF carfare.
The charge for pay stations witt
this new system. which 10 backed b,
Armour and the others, Is 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 be enormous. with the econc
mics of the automatic telephone an
q sufhcient number OF subscribers.
The night plan would be, Of course
for the business men OF New Yorl
, who pay enormous tolls to the tels
? phone monopoly to get together. =
bind themselves TO take . new servic
-an automatic cheap service Wit
eAPfaln RuaPAHtnAn - And thfOuG