Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1912-09-14


on the telephone situation. The lex.
pert" whose report Is now In the
hands Of the Council Committee fav.
ored the raising of rates and q gen.
eral contribution to the necessities Of
the phone gang. His report strangely
enough showed that the Chicago
branch Of the monopoly IL owned
bOdy. boots and breeches BY the
American Telephone crowd who con.
troll the telephone business Of the
whole country. His report also shows
that the Chicago branch Of the monop.
oily is obliged to buy all Of its equip.
ment from Q notorious Electric Com.
pany which 10 also owned By the
American Telephone Trust. This com.
pany makes It's own prices for what
II sells to the other concern and the
people Of Chicago are expected to pay
for the profits Of both subsidiary insti.
tutions Of the Trust.
Telephone competition In Chicago 10
needed and needed badly.
The people are sick and tired Of be.
Ing forced to submit to the demands
Of the phone trust. They resent the
gall OF the trust In wanting the city
to give It monopoly and they are not
going to stand for any such action BY
:he city.
For years they have suffered pa
tiently the wrongs put upon them BY
the trust and they have come 70 the
position where they are not going to
stand for It any longer.
The one thing that will put . stop
to the high rates and poor service.
from which the people Of Chicago
have suffered for years, 10 telephone
competition.
Chicago demands phone competi'
ton.
Competition in the telephone neld ID
necessary II the people are to get re-
lief from present high rates for phone
service.
Chicago Daily News editorial. Do
cember 10. 1911:
II has been the aim Of the telephone
company to do away with unlimited
service - far % possible and to 70
Quire all users Of it, instruments to
20 on the measured service basis. Op
position to the measured service plan
10 aroused whenever . patron OF the
telephone company 10 made to pay
two tolls where one should be sum
Client.
The ordinary person in attempting
to telephone to . railroad passenger
station. for example. 10 likely to aah
for the wrong number for the purpose
OF his call. for 20 confusing 10 thl
array OF titles and numbers In thl
telephone directory that II 70 Otter
difncult to decide upon the department
that 10 wanted. frequently the infor
nation bureau at q railroad station
when appealed to. refers the inquiries
to another telephone number IN thl
same building. This necessitates Ii,
payment of q 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 10 sufnciently clear TO enabl
inquirers to call the drst time 10
the number they really want.
The city ought to have . bureau q
complaints to which appeals for tn
improvement Of faulty conditions q
service might be made by patrons q
local public utility corporation.
@6A
The Telephone Monopoly oblige
the users OF nickel phones to guaraI
tee cents per day. If the MONTH
deposit of nickels falls short OF tn
, guarantee the company makes tn
phone renter pay the difference.
there should happen to be an exces
OF nickels the company gobbles theI
, all. The phone renter gets no credi
for that excess. That's the logic g
the monopoly.
, ~
!, The Chicago Telephone Compan
,, charges a much lower rental for II
, service In suburban towns than /
does In the city. Yet the onlcers I
the corporation have the gall to 50
that all OF the big gain In its servic
reported at the annual meeting thl
; year came from the country. This. {
course. 10 . reason for raising tn
rates. The following from the Chic
, go Daily News shows how the phon
|. people bank on the reports Of th
city experts"
"Slight gains in revenues were r
ported to the stockholders OF the Ch
cago Telephone Company at the Al
nual meeting, although there was
!. falling off in the profits In the city {
Chicago itself. This loss was du'
according to President Bernard !
sunny's report. to the constantly II
creasing number OF nickel q day
telephones, the revenue on which a.
: erages s22.70 per annum as against
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