Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1911-04-05
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.
All Page Boys.


While the Vermont United States
senators, in common with others, had
strenuous times during the closing
session of Congress, especially during
the last week of almost solid sittings,
day and night, there were not few
amusing incidents to help the sena-
tors while away the flibustered
I hours One of these involving Sena-
| tor Page of Vermont is thus narrated
by Fred C. Kelly in the Cleveland
! Plaindealer:
A capital guide had just been point
ing out all the senators on the floor at
the request of two women he had in
| tow
Gracious, l never saw so many
senators - one of them exclaimed
lis that man that just came in an
other senator?"
Eyes. that's Senator Page of Ver-
mont"
"And all these little boys running
around-what do they do?"
"Oh, those are page boys" replied
| the guide.
"All Page boys, you say? Well,
we'll Vermont is we'll represented,
isn't it?"
We suspect that if the good ladies
who were thus impressed at the
national capital were to come to Yer
mont, they would find all Page boy 8
here also. -Burlington Free Press.
Telephone Competition.
! It is a remark ably clever annual
report that Theodore N. Vail, presi
dent, acting for the directors, has fur.
rished the stockholders of the Ameri-
can Telephone and Telegraph COM
pany. It is remarkable in that it
tells a story of remarkable gro with.
1t is clever in that it bows gracefully
to regulation, but shows by skillful
arrangement of words and argument
that competition in the telephone bust
ness is not desirable from any point
of view. The report says: "Our
policy in respect to the opposition
has been consistently followed through
! gally done and done with the acuui-
panies have been acquired and merged
into the Bell system. There is no
question but that the public are tired
Of dual telephone exchange systems,
and that so fast as confidence in pro-
lection against the real or imaginary
evils of monopoly increases, opposi.
ton against mergers will decrease
The report says: "Public control OF
regulation of Public Service Corpora,
tions by permanent commissions, has
come and come to stay. Effective,
aggressive competition and regulation
and control are inconsistent with
each other, and cannot be had at the
same time. Aggressive competition
means duplication of plan investment
The ultimate object of such compe
tition is the possession of the felc
wholly or partially; therefore it means
, either ultimate combination on such
basis and with such prices as will
cover past losses, or it means loss OF
return on investment, and eventually
; loss of capital. However it results
all costs of aggressive. uncontrolled
competition are eventually borne, di
rectly or indirectly, by the public"
There is much more to the effec
that monopoly in the telephone ane
telegraph business is good thing fol
everybody. Granting that the tele
phone business is in class by itself,
| can't the same arguments be applied
to the common carriers of merchan
disc as we'll as of conversation
Much can be said in favor of one rail
road and one express company cover
: ing the entire United States to the
exclusion of all others. However, il
that condition ever comes, it will hav'
to be through government ownership
= Bellows Falls Times.