Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1911-08-12
Telephone Trust deserves the ignom.
iny which he will certainly receive.

~E
The telephone monopoly in Chicago
has grown to be an unbearable nuis.
ance.
The service is rotten.
The scandal attendant on the pass.
age Of the telephone ordinance By the
council FIVE years ago IL 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 is 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 is to buy up certain fran.
chises in the State Of New York, 20.
pecially to get an entrance into New
York City, and to give to the citisens
the benefit Of telephone competition
and Of actually cheap service.
The idea Of cheap telephone service
is going to grow in the United States,
and eventually II 10 going to be real.
ICED, despite the power Of any mon.
opoly or the profits Of any group Of
individuals.
II 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 letter paid from ten
cents to dollar or more to have
II delivered. Government ownership
economical, businesslike methods,
have reduced the price Of sending let.
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 rs 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 is 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 O
Communication ticket. The railroad
carries his two.hundred.pound body
back and forth twice q day for
twenty-five cents day. II he wants
to talk to his house twice 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 az
much to carry over q wire q human
voice, which weighs nothing, as the
railroad charges to carry q two.hun
dred.pound man over thirty miles oi
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 man who
could give the people Of this country
the benefit of cheap telephone service
ii he should make up his mind to dt
It. He has proved his ability as ar
organizer: he Ia man OF great
wealth and of unusual industry ant
application. II Is notorious that his
working hours are from seven In the
morning until six in the evening, and
that work is his only amusement.
The idea is not visionary, for Ar
mour, associated with others-with the
Hartman estate, with Kennedy Todt
and De Forest of New York, and with
the receivers of the Chicago subway
as a 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 thar
twenty-five thousand automatic tele
phones. They give an unlimited serv
Ice for $85 year-about one.half the
charge of the Bell monopoly. They
give unlimited telephone service tC
private families for less than thirty
dollars a year. With a 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 10 backed by
Armour and the others. Is three cents
per call, and the intention 10 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
sufficient number of subscriber.
! The Hight plan would be. OF course