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

Popular Business Man Z
pressure Of public opinion compel the |
granting Of Q franchise 70 IN auto.
matte company charging the lowest
possible rate.
But II 10 diflicult 10 get business
men TO unite; dimcult 10 make them
resent effectively even the most pal.
pable sxtortion.
The chief hope lies in the courage.
energy and business knowledge Of
such Q man - Armour. who has the
money. who 10 not frightened By the
power Of . monopoly. and who might,
II he chose. be remembered % 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 a. cheap. In pro-
portion, % the national postomce.
Action BY the city council upon the
question Of doing away with the tels.
phones In which nickel 10 required
before the attention Of central 10 oh.
tained 10 likely to be taken at the nrst
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
40 "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 It to .
committee, several aldermen having
promised to support q motion for the
suspension Of the rules for this pur.
pose.
It 10 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 hre
and robbers" he said. with these
devices at work It 10 impossible to
obtain the attention Of the telephone
|operator until nickel has been de.
posted In the box. Every one who
IL familiar with the nickel In the slot
telephones knows how often one hnds
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
q coin OF the right size at the right
time. Another diniculty is that form.
erly q 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 do.
vices on nickel telephones where the
money is deposited before patron 10
able to get the operator at the re-
quest of Aid. Charles M. 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 q 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 8, 1910:
"The Pacifi- 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
profit which might be cut by thu
competition of business rivals. Th(
, Supervisors were paid In all ovel
$4,000. The managing committee o.
, the board of directors Of the company
! swore before the Grand Jury that the!
. did not know how the funds wer(
, procured for the bribery"
This report was signed by william
! Kent. formerly q well known alder
. man and reformer Of Chicago and si1
, other members Of the committee ap
pointed by the mayor Of San Francis
CO. Oct. ~. 1908.
, The woods are full of congressiona
. candidates. Here they are BY did
l tricts: