Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1911-11-11

enough showed that the Chicago
Sranch Of the monopoly 10 owned
body. boots and breeches By the
American Telephone crowd who con.
troll the telephone business Of the
whole country. His report also shows |
that the Chicago branch Of the monop.
oily is obliged to buy all Of It's equip
ment from notorious Electric Com.
pany which IL also owned by the
American Telephone Trust. This com.
pany makes its own prices for what
II sells to the other concern and the
people Of Chicago are expected to pay
for the profits Of both subsidiary insti.
tutions Of the Trust.
Talk about the Tobacco Trust, the
Standard Oil Trust and every other
trust. The trust that 10 the real thing
Is the Telephone Trust. This Trust
hits over q quarter Of million people
in Chicago. Recently It has grown 20
bold that It managed to grab OF for
the purchase Of It's watered stock
big sum Of money donated by the gen.
erous Chicago public for the immedi.
ate relief Of the widows and orphans
OF brave firemen who gave up their
lives last December In the discharge
Of their duty. Any alderman who
votes for an ordinance favoring the
Telephone Trust deserves the ignom.
my which he will certainly receive.
The telephone monopoly In Chicago
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.
Tho passage Of the present ordi-
nance will result in something more
than scandal for the facts will bs
easier to get at.
Any alderman who votes for an in.
crease Of rates will be branded 20 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. %.
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
is going to grow In tho United States.
and eventually It 10 going to be real.
lied, 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 .
telephone message than to send q
letter.
There was q time In the United
States when private individuals ex.
plotted the mails and when the citi.
zen writing letter paid from ten
cents to dollar or more to have
It 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, businesslike 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 9
very great improvement will come
and right away.
The price charged by the Bell mon
opoly Is reposterous-there is NJ
worse form of extortion among all thu
extortions in the United States.
A man who lives in the suburbs
thirty miles from a big city gets {
Communication ticket. The railroad
carries his two-hundred.pound bod,
back and forth twice day fol
twenty-five cents a day. II he wants
to talk to his house twice a day tn,
telephone company charges him sixt!
cents. and charges for the wire be
sides.
In other words. the telephone mon
opoly charges more than twice a
much to carry over q wire q human
voice. which weighs nothing, % thu
railroad charges to carry q two-hun
dred-pound man over thirty miles o.
solid steel rails.
And the railroad has to have ter
minals, and locomotives. and power;
whereas, with the telephone. thu
mans own voice is the chief power
involved.
Armour Of Chicago is . man who
could give the people OF this country
the beneft of cheap telephone service
ii he should make up his mind to de-
II. He has proved his ability - a
organizer: he 10 q man OF grsat
wealth and Of unusual industry and
application. II is notorious that hil
! working hours are from seven In the