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

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 40 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
IL said to be back Of the plan.
The idea 10 to buy up certain fran.
chises In the State Of New York. -.
pecially to get an entrance into New
York City. and to give to the citisens
the beneht Of telephone competition
and Of actually cheap service.
The idea Of cheap telephone service
10 going to grow in the United States,
and eventually It 10 going to hs real.
ICED, 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 than 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 70 have
II delivered. Government ownership.
economical, businesslike methods,
have reduced the price Of sending let.
ters to two cents all over the United
States--even in the Klondike. where
the letters are carried on dog sledges.
And sane, businosslike administra.
ton Of the telephone system Of this
country. with the latest up.to.date au.
tomato methods. would make tele.
phoning as 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 preposterous-there is no
worse form of extortion among all the
extortions in the United States.
A man who lives In the suburbs
thirty miles from a big city gets a
Communication ticket. The railroad
carries his twohundred.pound body
back and forth twice q day for
twenty-five cents a day. II he wants
to talk to his house twice q day the
telephone company charges him sixty
cents, and charges for the wire be'
sides.
In other words. the telephone mon
opoly charges more than twice ID
much to carry over q wire human
voice. which weighs nothing, % the
railroad charges to carry 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 10 q man who
. could give the people of this country
the beneht of cheap telephone service
If he should make up his mind to de-
, It. He has proved his ability 40 aI
organizer; he is man Of great
wealth and Of unusual industry and
, application. II Is notorious that hi
working hours are from seven In the
morning until e!x in the evening, ant
| thot a hlS nn1u
, The idea tS aot visionary. for Ar
mour, associated with others-with thu
Hartman estate, with Kennedy Todt
, and De Forest of New York, and will
the receivers of the Chicago subwa,
as a body-has already begun the
work OF giving genuinely cheap ant
, efficient telephone service to the city
Of Chicago.
! In Chicago the receivers of the sub
, way have installed already more thar
twenty-five thousand automatic tele
phones. They give an unlimited serv
ice for $50 a year-about one.half thu
charge of the Bell monopoly. The!
give unlimited telephone service Il
private families for less than thirt!
dollars a year. With a full extension
, OF their system even the poorest fam
lilies will use the telephones, and b'
. better of at the end OF the yea
through the saving of carfare.
The charge for pay stations will
this new system, which is backed b,
Armour and the others, is three cents
!, per call, and the intention is to lowe
this rate eventually from three cent
TO one cent. At one cent the proh
, would be enormous, with the econo
mics OF the automatic telephone ant
a sufficient number Of subscribers.
The right plan would he, OF course
for the business men OF New Yori
o who pay enormous tolls to the tele
,. phone monopoly to get together. Il
bind themselves TO take a new service
A.