Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1912-01-06

such Q man % Armour, VINO mas the
money, who 10 not frightened By the
power Of Q 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 blessing within
the reach Of al and % cheap. In pro
portion. % the national postomcs.
Action by the city council upon the
question Of doing away with the tels-
phones In which nickel IL required
before the attention Of central 10 oh.
tained is likely to be taken at the frst
meeting after the council vacation.
Announcement was made by Aid.
Britten Of the 23d ward that he In.
tended to present at the meeting an
ordinance compelling the telephone
company to remove whot are known
as "tick tick" phone boxes. His en-.
nouncement followed the delivering
Of an opinion by Corporation Counsel
Sexton that such an ordinance could
be passed under the police powers Of
the city. An effort will be made to
have the council take action upon the
ordinance without referring II to
committee, several aldermen having
promised to support motion for the
suspension Of the rules for this pur.
pose.
It 10 asserted by Aid. Britten that
the "tick tick" telephones constitute
Q serious menace.
"The installing Of these devices
has deprived the persons In whose
homes they are Of protection to
which they are entitled against hre
and robbers" he said. with these
devices at work It 10 impossible to
obtain the attention Of the telephone
operator until o nickel has been de.
posted In the box. Every one who
10 familiar with the nickel In the slot
telephones knows how often one finds
ones self without . nickel.
"A mans homo might bc burned
down or he might be robbed and muir.
dered simply because he did not have
a coin Of the right size a, the tight
time. Another dificulty Is tha, lorm
erly q person had to take chances
only because his telephone might be
out OF order. Now the telephone itself
might bs working. but the slot ma
chine box device be out Of order"
Corporation Counsel Sexton gave
his opinion on the authority given the
telephone company to install the de-
vices on nickel telephones whore the
money 10 deposited before patron 10
able to get the operator at the ~
quest Of AID. Charles NJ. Thomson.
Mr.. Sexton holds that the city can
regulate by its police power In case
the services rendered II unreasonable
or unfair.
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 81
pervisors. city and county of San
Francisco, January s. 1910:
"The Pacifi- Telephone and Tele
graph Company bribed the Supervis
ors to prevent the Home Telephone
company or any other organization
from obtaining 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 &
, profit which might be cut by thu
competition OF business rivals Tht
Supervisors were paid In all ovel
$50,000. The managing committee o
, the board of directors OF the compan!
: swore before the Grand Jury that the!
did not know how the funds wer'
procured for the bribery"
! This report was signed by william
, Kent, formerly a we'll known alder
: man and reformer of Chicago and si'
] other members OF the committee ar
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 telephon
, company to do away with unlimite'
} service as far as possible and to re
, quire all users OF its instruments t,
, go on the measured service basis. Or
} position to the measured service plal
, is aroused whenever a patron Of tn
telephone company Is made to pa.
two tolls where one should be sum
J Client.