Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1912-01-27

ADAM or
Highly Respected Brewer 9
energy and business knowledge Of
such . man az Armour, who has the
money, who 10 not frightened BY the
power Of monopoly. and who might,
II he chose. be remembered % one Of
the real benefactors Of the country
BY breaking down the telephone mon.
opoly and making Of the great tele.
phone convenience Q blessing within
the reach Of all and as cheap, In pro.
portion. a. the national postofice.
The telephone trust is the most
grinding of the many trusts that exist
in the United States.
II snuffs out competition by the
power of Its money and the people
are like so many serfs to be used at
Its own beck and call.
The rising tide of indignation will
never subside until the whole tele.
phone trust and its aides and abettors
are punished.
Charles +. DeWoody, division super.
intendent in the Department OF Jus.
| tice secret service, returned from q
trip on which 1t Is reported he has
been gathering information for the At.
torney. General regarding the alleged
Bell telephone monopoly.
It Is reported that an investigation
national in its scope, is being carried
on by the forces Of Attorney.General
Wickersham looking to the filing Of
proceedings for the dissolution OF the
alleged trust. An exhaustive investi.
cation has been going on In Chicago.
1t is said, OF the operations OF the Bel,
syndicate alleged to be In violation Of
the Sherman law.
"You have been West 1t Is under
stood for the purpose Of getting data
bearing on the alleged telephone
trust, have you not?" DeWoody was
asked.
"That Is n matter that I cannot
possibly discuss. There is nothing
that we can announce regarding any
such investigation was the reply.
~
We take the following from page
"a OF the Report on the Causes OF
| Municipal Corruption In San Fran.
cisco as disclosed by the investiga.
tions Of the oliver grand jury and the
prosecution of certain persons for
bribery and other offenses against the
state" made by committee appoint.
ed by the mayor of that city and pub
lished by order of the board Of su.
pervisors, city and county Of San
Francisco, January 8, 1910:
"The Pacif Telephone and Tele.
graph Company bribed the Supervis.
ors to prevent the Home Telephone
company Or aby other organization
from obtaining a telephone franchise
In San Francisco. No attack Of any
kind on the Pacific Telephone and
Telegraph Company was threatened
by the Supervisors. and the sole pur.
pose of the crime was to maintain Q
profit which might be cut by the
competition Of business rivals. The
| Supervisors were paid In all over
$4,000. The managing committee Of
the board of directors Of the company
swore before the Grand Jury that they
did not know how the funds were
procured for the bribery"
This report was signed by william
Kent, formerly we'll known alder.
man and reformer OF Chicago and six
other members OF the committee ap.
pointed by the mayor Of San Francis.
co. Oct. ~. 1908.
Chicago Daily News editorial. De.
cember 10, 1911
1t has been the aim OF the telephone
company to do away with unlimited
service as far as possible and to re.
| quire all users OF Its instruments to
go on the measured service basis. Op-
position to the measured service plan
Is aroused whenever a patron of the
telephone company Is made to pay
! two tolls where one should be sum.
cient.
The ordinary person In attempting
to telephone to n railroad passenger
station. for example, is likely to ask
for the wrong number for the purpose
OF his call, for so confusing Is the
array OF titles and numbers in the
telephone directory that it is often
difficult to decide upon the department
that is wanted. Frequently the infor-
nation bureau at railroad station,
when appealed to, refers the inquirer
to another telephone number in the
same building, This necessitates the
payment of second toll. Telephone
| operators are careful to prevent the
second call from being made without
the payment of second nickel.
Both the railroad companies and the
telephone company should do their
best to see that the arrangement of
department names in the telephone di.
rectory is sufficiently clear to enable