Chicago eagle., 1912-03-23


} for Governor.
to telephone to railroad passenger
station, for example, 10 likely 70 ask
for the wrong number for the purpose
OF his call. for % confusing 10 the
array Of titles and numbers In the
telephone directory that Il 70 often
dimcult to decide upon the department
that 10 wanted. frequently the infor.
nation bureau at . railroad station,
whom appealed to. refers the inquirer
70 another telephone number In the
same building. This necsssitates the
payment Of . second toll. Telephone
operators are careful 70 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 al.
rectory 10 sunicisntly clear 70 enable
inquirers 70 call the 6rst time for
the number they really want.
The city ought 70 have . bureau Of
complaints to which appeals for the
improvement Of faulty conditions Of
service might be made BY patrons OF
local public utility corporation.
We take the following from page
- Of the Report on the Causes o.
Municipal Corruption In San Fran.
cisco - disclosed by the investiea,
tions Of the Oliver grand Jury and The
prosecution Of certain persons for
bribery and other ofIenses against he
STATE" made By Q committee appoint.
Cd BY the mayor Of that city and pub.
lished By order Of the board Of o..
psrvisors. eity and county q Can
Francisco. January 8. 1910:
"Ths Paein Telephone and Tele.
graph Company bribed the eupervis.
ors to prevent the Home Telephone
Company or any other organisation
from obtaining . telephone franchise
In San Francisco. No attack Of any
kind on the Pacific Telephone and
Telegraph Company was threatened
By the SUPERVISOR. and the sole pur.
pose Of the crime was 70 maintain Q
profit which might b cut by the
competition Of business rivals. The
0upsrvisors were paid In al over
$4,000. The managing committee q
the board Of directors Of the company
svore before tAs Grand Jury that tAsy
did not know how The funds weeo
procured for tAe bribery"
This report was signed b william
Kent, formerly . ven Known aldes.
nan and SsSesaee q chicago aAl six
other MEMBER q tAs committee q.
poiatsl b. Tie mayor q Oaa Francis.
%. oct ~. 1ooo.
Penny telephones are 70 bo ostab.
lishsd In Detroit and there 10 NO good
reason why they should not b sstab.
lishe1 IN Chieago. The following
dispatch from Detroit explains itself:
Reduction OF local telephone rates
80 per cent for the average user,
elimination Of the distinction between
'rssidsncss' and business telephones
and the establishment Of . rate OF
$3.50 per month and ! cent each for
outgoing messages In excess OF 900
per month on single party lines. with
no limit on incoming calls are pro.
vided for in IN ordinance. on which
. common council committee began
hearings."
Telephone rates are entirely too
high In Chicago. The Aldermen have
Q chance to lower them. VIII they
do II?
II IL reported that the telephone
company has hit upon . new scheme
for the extraction Of the nimble nickel
from the clothes OF customers.
The new scheme is called the
short ring"
Heretofore when q call was made
the telephone bells jingled long
time or until they were answered.
Now, In some parts Of the city they
are barely tapped.
OF course Il the party called does
not hear the mild ring or takes the
sound for q crossed wire." Or q mis-.
take" the caller has to try It over
again and drop another nickel.
This nickel movement 10 Q great
thing.
In fact. in Chicago the telephone
company has discovered the richest
nickel mine on earth.
A telephone company that pays
eight per cent dividends on twenty
nine millions of stock is making too
much money. The people are paying
too much for telephone service.