Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1911-12-02


t,iqhiy Respected Coal Merehal
pressure Of public opinion compel the
granting Of q franchise to IN auto |
matte company charging the lowest
possible rate.
But It 10 dificult to get business
men to unite; dincult 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 40 Armour, who has the
money, who II not frightened BY the
power Of Q monopoly, and who might,
II he chose, be remembered 10 one Of
the real benefactors Of the country
by breaking down the telephone mon
opoly and making OF the great tele.
phone convenience blessing within
the reach Of all and 40 cheap. In pro.
portion. % the national postofice. :.
Action by the city council upon the
question Of doing away with the tele-
phones In which nickel IL required
before the attention Of central 10 oh.
tained 10 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 the 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 IN ordinance could
be passed under the police powers Of
tho city. An effort will be made to
have the council take action upon the
ordinance without referring It to q
committee, several aldermen having
promised to support a motion for the
suspension OF the rules for this pur.
pose.
1t is asserted by Aid. Britten that
the tick tick" telephones constitute
O serious menace.
"The installing OF these devices
has deprived the persons In whose
homes they are OF protection to
which they are entitled against fire
and robbers" he said. "With these
devices at work It Is impossible l."
obtain the attention Of the telephone
operator until a 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 o nickel.
"a mans home might be burned
down or he might be robbed and inur.
dered simply because he did not have
a coin Of the right size at the right
time. Another difficulty 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 NJ. Thomson.
Mr.. Sexton holds that the city can
regulate by its police power In case
the services rendered Is unreasonable
or unfair.
We take the following from page
"a 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.
cd by the mayor of that city and pub.
lshed by order of the board of su'
pervisors, city and county of San
francisco, January 8, 1910:
"The Pacii- 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
kind on the Pacific Telephone and
Telegraph Company was threatened
by the Supervisors, and the sole pur
pose Of the crime was to maintain O
profit which might be cut by the
competition of business rivals. The
Supervisors were paid in all over
$4,000. The managing committee oi
the board of directors OF the company
swore before the Grand Jury that they
did not know how the funds were
procured for the bribery"
This report was signed by William
Kent, formerly we'll known alder
man and reformer Of Chicago and six
other members of the committee ap
pointed by the mayor Of San Francis
co. Oct. ~, 1908.
The woods are full of congressional
candidates. Here they are by dis
, tricts: