Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1912-01-20

crease Of rates will bs branded % he
ought TO be.
The Chicago American Of June 70
contained the following vigorous ar.
ticle on the subject Of . merger:
Tho New York Times announces
that there 10 hope Of telephone com.
petition IN New York City and that
Armour. the great packer Of Chicago
10 said to be back Of the plan.
The idea 10 to buy up certain fran.
chises in the state Of New York, o.
pecially to get an entrance into New
York City, and to givs to the citissns
the beneht Of telephone competition
and Of actually cheap service.
The idea Of cheap telephone service
10 going to grow In the United States.
and eventually II IL going to bs real.
ICED, despite the power Of any mon
opoly or the profits Of any group Of
individuals.
II costs less, or under proper man.
agement would cost less, to send
telephone message than TO send .
letter.
There was q time IN the United
States when private individuals ex-
plotted the mails and when the citi.
gen writing q letter paid from ten
cents to . dollar or more 70 have
II delivered. Government ownership,
economical. businesslike methods.
have reduced the price Of sending lot.
ters to two cents al over the United
states-even in the Klondiks. whore
the letters are carried on dog sledges.
And sane. businessliks administra.
ton Of the telephone system Of this
country. with the latest up.to-dats 90
tomato methods. would make tele
phoning % cheap - writing letters
and cheaper.
That viii not come at once, but Z
very great improvement win come
and right away.
The price charged By the Ben mon
opoly 10 preposterous-thsre 10 n
worse form Of sxtortion among all th(
sxtortions In the United States.
A man who lives IN the suburbs
thirty miles from . big city gets (
communication ticket. The railroa(
carries his two-hundrsd.pound bod,
back and forth twice Q day fol
twenty-five cents . day. II hs want
TO talk 10 HE house twice Q day III
telephone company charges him sixt,
cents. and charges for the wire Be
sides.
In other words. the telephone mon
opoly charges more than twice q
much to carry over Q wire humal
voice. which weighs nothing, - th(
railroad charges to carry . two.hun
dred.pound man over thirty miles o.
solid steel rails.
And the railroad has 70 have Tor
minals. and locomotives. and power;
whereas. with the telephone, Ii,
mans own voice 10 the chief pows
involved.
Armour Of Chicago 10 Q man VII
could give the people Of this countr,
the beneit Of cheap telephone service
If he should make up bic mind to d
It. He has proved his ability % q,
organiser: he 10 q man OF grea
wealth and Of unusual industry an,
application. II 10 notorious that hi
working hours are from seven In tn
morning until ok In the evening. an
that work y ~ only amusement
The idea = not visionary. for Al
mour. associated with others-with tn
Hartman estate, with Kennedy Tod
and De Forest Of New York, and wit
the receivers OF the Chicago subwa
as q body-has already begun th
work of giving genuinely cheap an
efficient telephone service to the cit
OF Chicago.
In Chicago the receivers Of the sul
way have installed already more tha
twenty-five thousand automatic tel
phones. They give an unlimited ser
ice for $S5 year-about one-half u
charge OF the Bell monopoly. The
give unlimited telephone service
private families for less than thirt
dollars a year. With full extensic
OF their system even the poorest far
ilies will use the telephones. and I
better OF at the end OF the ye,
through the saving Of carfare.
The charge for pay stations vii
this new system. which 10 backed I
Armour and the others. is three cen
per call, and the intention 10 TO low
this rate eventually from three cen
to one cent At one cent the pro-
would be enormous. with the econ
mics of the automatic telephone Al
a suflicient number Of subscribers.
The right plan would be, Of cours
for the business men OF New Yol
who pay enormous tolls to the tel
phone monopoly to get together.
: bind themselves to take q new servi
An automatic cheap service vi
certain guarantees - and thPoul
pressure OF public opinion compel d
, granting Of . franchise TO an sut
matte company charging the lowe
possible rate.
: But II 10 dimcult TO Get busine
} men to unite; difacult 10 make the
} resent effectively even the most p'
pable sxtortion.
>. The chief hope lies In the coursa