Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1912-02-10

EASE,
lean Leader.
torney- General regarding the alleged
Bell telephone monopoly.
Il II reported that IN investigation
national In IL scope. 10 being carried
on By the forces Of Attorney. General
wickersham looking to the nling Of
proceedings for the dissolution q the
alleged trust. An exhaustive invests.
cation has been going on In Chicago.
Il 10 said, Of the operations Of the Bell
syndicate alleged 70 be In violation Of
the Sherman law.
"You have been West Il 10 under.
stood for the purpose Of getting data
bearing ON the alleged telephone
trust. have you notf Dewoody was
asked.
"That IL Q matter that cannot
possibly discuss. There 10 nothing
that we can announce regarding any
such investigation" was the reply.
~
We take the following from page
q Of the Report on the Causes Of
Municipal Corruption In San Fran.
cisco - disclosed By the investigar
tions Of the oliver grand Jury and the
prosecution Of certain persons for
bribery and other ofienses against the
state" made By . committee appoint
cd by the mayor Of that city and pub
lished BY order OF the board Of 90
pervisors. city and county Of Gan
Francisco. January s. 1910:
"The Paci6" Telephone and Tolo-
graph Company bribsd the 6upsrvis.
ors to prevent the Home Telephone
Company or any other organization
from obtaining . telephone franchise
In San Tranciseo. No attack OF any
kind on the Pacific Telephone and
Telegraph Company was threatened
by the Supervisors. and tho sole pur.
pose Of the crime was 70 maintain .
profit which might bs 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 . well known alder
man and reformsr Of Chicago and six
other members Of the committee ap.
pointed BY the mayor Of San Francis.
co. Oct -. 1905.
Chicago Daily News editorial. De-
cember 10. 1911:
It has been the aim Of the telephone
company to do away with unlimited
service as far az possible and to re.
Quire all users Of its instruments to
60 on the measured service basis. Op.
position to tho measured service plan
Is aroused whenever q patron OF the
telephone company IL made to pay
two tolls where one should be sum.
Client.
The ordinary person in attempting
to telephone to q railroad passenger
station, for example. 10 likely to ask
for the wrong number for the purpose
Of his call. for 80 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 o railroad station
when appealed to. refers the inquirer
to another telephone number In thu
same building. This necessitates thu
payment OF a second toll. Telephon,
operators are careful to prevent tn,
second call from being made withou
the payment of second nickel.
Both the railroad companies and tn
telephone company should do thei
/ best to see that the arrangement o
department names in the telephone d
rectory is sufficiently clear to enabl
inquirers to call the first time 10
/ the number they really want.
, The city ought to have bureau o
. complaints to which appeals for tn
Improvement of faulty conditions o
service might be made by patrons O
local public utility corporations.
Penny telephones are to be estat
llshed in Detroit and there is no goo
! reason why they should not be estal
lished In Chicago. The followin
dispatch from Detroit explains itself
, Reduction of local telephone rate
80 per cent for the average usel
elimination OF the distinction betwee
residences and business telephone
and the establishment OF q rate q
3 $3.50 per month and / cent each 70
outgoing messages In excess Of 20
. per month on single party lines. wit
no limit on incoming calls are pr