Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1912-09-21


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 a gen.
eral contribution to the necessities Of
the phone gang His report strangely
enough showed that the Chicago
branch Of the monopoly Is 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 is also owned by the
American Telephone Trust. This com.
pany makes its 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 In
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 1t monopoly and they are not
going to stand br any such action by
:he city.
For years they have suffered pa
tiently the wrongs put upon them by
the trust and they have como to the
position where they are not going to
stand for II 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.
tion.
Chicago Daily News editorial. D.
csmber 10. 1911:
II has been the aim Of the telephone
company to do away with unlimited
service a. far % possible and to 70.
Quire all users Of its instruments to
60 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 sun.
Client.
The ordinary person In attemptins
to telephone to . railroad passenger
station. for example. 10 likely to asls
for the wrong number for the purpose
Of his call. for 30 confusing 10 the
array OF titles and numbers In the
telephone directory that II 10 often
dinlcult 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 10 sufficiently clear to enable
inQuirers to call the hrst time for
the number they really want.
The city ought to have q bureau of
complaints to which appeals for the
Improvement OF faulty conditions of
service might be made by patrons of
local public utility corporation.
%S
| HDw tho penn1a ~ rhica do onef
from that Bell phone!
The broken ear drums which SO
many OF its patrons complain OF are
as nothing compared to the lost TEN.
pers of usually good natured patrons,
who get wrong numbers and other
wrong treatment.
Not to speak OF the broken rest of
people aroused from their beds by
these same mistakes and who are so
mad themselves that they fail to
grasp the predicament of the fellow
at the other end OF the line who has
paid a nickel in advance to have
wrong number" slammed into his
ear
Then the tedious wait for the
rlght NUMBER!
Some times minutes elapse before
the operator finds her stick OF gum
or gets ready to answer.
The automatic service does away
with all of these annoyances and the
Bell monopoly has the awful nerve to
ask the city council to drive 1t out
Of the city.
The city council will meet In few
weeks and the Bell monopoly will be
on hand with modest request for
permission TO raise it's rates.
Its dividends are not big enough
already.
Competition In the telephone field 10
necessary II the people are to get re-