Bisbee daily review., 1911-05-02
PHONE MONOPOLY IN
 CHICAGO IS BROKEN
Court Permits Competitor to Connect With Independent
 Company on Outside

CHICAGO. May LA new face was put upon the warfare between the independent telephone interests and the American Telephone & Tel esraph Company by the order is sued by Judge K0hlsaat in the United States Circuit Court permit ting the Illinois Tunnel Company's automatic telephone system 10 con meet with the wires outside Of Chi cago =eE indene.aeas eas.-----ss . . si,,es % lr the face of President Theodore N. Vail s recent declaration that mon op- ely Is to be desired by telephone users Judge Kohlsaat's order was held by the Independents at Q not able victory.
 Base of Operations.
 One event has followed fast upon the heels Of others in this telephone warfare of late. First Chicago was made operating headquarters fol the Bell telephone business in Iii n0is, Indiana, Ono, Michigan and Wisconsin. thereby becoming the largest telephone center in the coun- try. This was a significant move for the Bell concerns have long sought to prevent the completion of the Illinois Tunnel comp pany's system in Chicago and the entrance of the indtI. .endeuts to Chicago by that system.
 The management Of the Fell in terests deny that Judge KohlsaGt s order has the significance of a vic tory for the independents. Neyerthe- less, 1t came almost as an immediate answer to the declaration of war against telephone competition whicn was announced in the annual report of the American Telephone G Tele- gTaTh company recently by Presi- dent Vail. After stating that pub lie control and regulation of public service corporations by permanent commissions already has come to stay and will remedy many corpOr- ate abuses he said: Two telephone exchange systems in the sane place offering identically the same list of subscribers. If such a thing can be imagined. are as useless as . dupli- cate system Of highwavs or streets in a village not connecting with each other, but reaching all the residents Bona flde competition between local exchanges cannot exist.
 Needed an Outlet.
 The Illinois Tunnel company has about 70 miles of tunnels under the business heart of Chicago; it also has a telerhone franchise under which it must have 10000 automatic telephones in service by June 1. It has more than IS,000 now and ex- pects to exceed the 20000 mark in a few weeks. The company re- gently went into receivership, but it is being reorEanized. One of the greatest obstacles 10 it's success ia the telephone field was it's inability tc secure telepbonfc connections with outside cities and states.
 The Interstate Independent Tele- phone & Telegraph company has connection with more than 2,200 cities in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ken lucky, Ohio. Michigan, Wisconsin. Minnesota and Missouri. Its tele- phones are estimated t0 number 2,0G0, ,090 which is more than the Bell people have in the same ter ritory. This company's lines sur round Chicago, but had been unable to reach the city's business district. It also has recently gone into re eeivership.
 Jaasc Kohisaat's order permits the Tunnel comTany ant Interstate com pany to make a working agreement and the agreement has been signed that the automatic telephone system of the Illinois Tunnel company i' shortly to be connected with tht 2,000,000 telephones of the independ ents throughout the middle west with trunk lines to St. Louis. Spring field, Peoria, to the west, south anf east.