Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1911-12-16

has grown to be an unbearable nuis.
ance.
The service 10 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 as he
ought to be.
The Chicago American of June 26
contained the following vigorous ar.
ticle on the subject Of q 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, 60.
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
is going to grow in the United States.
and eventually It Is going to be real.
ized, 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 Q
telephone message ttan to send q
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
It delivered. Government ownership.
economical. businesslike methods
have reduced the price Of sending lot.
ters to two cents all over tho 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 au'
tomato methods. would make tele'
phoning 40 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 10 reposterous-there IL 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. Tho railroad
carries his two-hundred.pound 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 bs.
sides.
In other words. the telephone mon.
opoly charges more than twice a.
much to carry over . 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 is q man who
could give the people OF this country
the benefit OF cheap telephone service
If he should make up his mind to do
1t. He has proved his ability 40 an
organizer: he 10 a man of great
wealth and OF unusual industry and
application. II is notorious that his
working hours are from seven In the
morning until six In the evening, and
that work 10 hss only amusement.
The idea IL not visionary, for Ar.
mour, associated with others--with the
Hartman estate, with Kennedy Todd
and De Forest OF New York, and with
the receivers OF the Chicago subway
as 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.
way have installed already more than
twenty-five thousand automatic tele.
phones. They give an unlimited serv.
Ice for sS5 year--about one.half the
charge OF the Bell monopoly. They
give unlimited telephone service to
private families for less than thirty
dollars a year With full extension
OF their system even the poorest fam.
lilies will use the telephones, and be
better of at the end Of the year
through the saving Of carfare.
The charge for pay stations with
this new system, which Is backed by
Armour and the others. Ia three cents
per call. and the intention Ia to lower
this rate eventually from three cents
TO one cent. At one cent the profit
would be enormous. with the econo-
mics of the automatic telephone and
a sufIicient number Of subscribers.
The right plan would be, Of course.