The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-04-24
SAYS PHONE RATES
BEING INCREASED
Subscriber Addresses Letter 10
City Commission; Com
pany Explains.

y. l.. Stayucr. - subscriber uf the
Mountain states Telephone & Telegraph
compauyl has addressed = csusdc letter
TO the city commission. which Was read
at Yesterday session Of that body anl
rcfcrrcJ 10 the legal department of ihc
city administration. Mr.. S,aynci complains
bitterly ~ recent raise In the price oi
his telephone service and chprs"terizes the
telephone people as "a bunch OF grating
parasites"
The letter addressed 90 Mayor Parr;
reads rs follows.
Dear Sir-sEc have just had our
phone rate raised from s. to $3.50 a
month Cphouc number, Wasatch iS"'l.
When the Mountain States Telephone q
Telegraph company bought out both limos.
were the peoples interests protected IN
any way so that the phone company
could not raise rates aud rob MS. oI
was bunch Of grating parasites allowed
iu get control Of both lines with no pro-
lection for the public? I am very truly
yours, u. l.. STAYNER."
In reply To- the statements of MIR
Stayner y. g. Mackenzie, representing
the telephone company. said. last evening
The fact is that there have been mum
bet OF business telephones in salt Lake
city under which the subscriber received
loo calls month FOR 81. calls in excess
OF 100 10 be paid for AT message
rates. This service was found tn bc
satisfactory and the company ceased Ia
sell II more than u year ago. The only
DuSln"SS IAl' AZ Wnl'n service mas DeCn
sold since that time is the Individual. un-
limited business rate Of $3.50 month.
The measured service at s. has been in
cral months before the purchase of the
Independent plant. 1t was not a Bell
rate, but an obsolete rate. at The time
the announcement WAS made that Bell
rates would moi he increased The state
mont made then is being adhered To and
will be. This is not Al rate raise but
an equitable Standardization OF rates and
Is eliminating determinations. The com
pany proposes 20 standardzc all it's rates
and viii not give service to one person
at rate denied others for the same
service. Ii is our desire tO have all ir-
regular rates eliminated before the Scrv-
Ice Is consolidated next month,
Instead OF raising rates the company,
as result Of the consolidation. with
out increasing rates. is actually saving 10
the telephone users Of the city many
thousands OF dollars annually. The exact
ngures will be made public by us in a
day on two. These figures arc derived
from detailed examination of the books
OF both telephone companies and are open
10 tho inspection OF any fair minded telc-
phone subscriber.
in case there may be Il question as "a
what rates VIII obtain hereafter, il may
be well tp say In this connection that ON
rates nS they have existed for the last
year and longer. are not To he changed
They are: Individual business. Sc 80, in
dividual residence. So. two party resid ence
$50, four party residence, 81. In addi-
''''' 80 -, 'il'et We Si'dI' sHi'h'Sn WIFI TIC
consolidation new business rate, de-
signed 10 care for small business users
and special conditions. AT L. cents a daN
guarantee. This is d. coin service. Calls
In excess OF the IL cents day guarantee
viii he given at the rate of cents a
call. All business service will be on in
uividual lines.
1T seems 10 me that this explains tho
situation. The rates arc reasonable and
The company is not seeking al this time
70 do more than to cqualize rates FOL
which think We ought to he commended
instead nf being rensurCd.''