The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-07-24
THE TELEPHONE DEFENCE
Claim That the States Report Il
Incorrect

! NJ. b. Jones, counsel of the New
England Tel: & Tel. Co: says:
have read the report of Cover
nor .Fletcher's special commission"
| with interest.
The principal attempt to justify,
the report appears to be based upon
the alleged refusal or neglect of the
New England Tel. & Tel. Co. and lis
subsidiaries to furnish Messrs Ora
ham and Cook with information.
Upon this point | desire to take di-
! rect and emphatic issue with these
gentlemen:
Instead of refusing them informa-
| ton | wrote to them on June 9th of
| fering amy information concerning
the New England company and its
subsidiaries that you may desire"
and since that date information both
verbal and written has been furnish
ed at great length. In only one in
stance was information declined.
| Messrs Graham and Cook requested
us to furnish 1.-THE names and adj
| dresses of your stockholders. the
amount held by each" This / de-
clined to give on the ground that it
| involved the personal rights of our
stockholders but at the same time
offered to furnish them with state
| ment OF the amount of stock held by
| the New England company in each of
| It's subsidiaries. TO this offer Messrs
Cook and Graham made no reply.
The requests made by these gentle.
men were very general and it was
matter OF much time and labor to
compile the statistics desired. but da.
Ia was forwarded as rapidly as il
could be prepared. | forwarded Ger.
tain data as late as Monday July 18th
as no intimation had been given nv
the special commission that thew HAD
MED their report or even that thev
were near the point of completing
their Investigations. In fact the at
tltude OF this special commission
has apparently been that of unwil
llngness to use information rather
than eagerness to receive il.
| have no desire to thresh out the
detail OF this extended matter at this
time but in support of my statement
VIII cite two or three illustrations
from the report.
l. me report states that traffic
contracts between the New England
iei- Tel. Co. and the independent
companies prohibit them from con.
meeting with any other company with
out our consent.
| The fact is that all our contracts
made since 1910 expressly permit n
| connection with any other comnsnv
| ana | explained verbally to tho sna.
ciai commissioners in response to
| ,heir question that We had repeated.
| ~ urged all companies TO substitute
tnls form of contract for the old or
| obsolete one.
| q Inc report says that the New
england company leases RECEIVERS
ana transmitters to all its subsidiar-
les ana majority of its other con.
Iec'lhg companies charging to some
'oc, and to others $1.25 n year.
] me iact Is, as pointed out by mo
III a memorandum sent to Messrs
uraham and Cook on June 23rd thar
no connecting company subsidiary or
| otherwise is obliged to rent it's IN.
slruments OF the New England Co
Dut Is at liberty to purchase their
own instruments. The price 10 nil e
zoe per year. This information was
furnished Messrs Graham and Cook
| in writing. wv"
). The report saws that conios %
oontracts between the New England
ana the American Tel. 4 Tel. Co
anu copy of our contract with the
western Electric company have mot
Deen presented to us or furnished In
accordance with our requests
as 10 our contracts and relations
WIN the American Tel. & Tel. Co 7
made an extended statement nj G,
NiDans ON July in response tn mos
tions OF Messrs Graham and Coot
anu as to the Western Electric com
pahy contract, | personally sent n
copy OF this contract to Mr.. Graham
oh July with the following Letter.
uon u.. July .. 1913.
iioh' warner A. Graham
Special Counsel Vermont p,,hi;,
Service Commission
| Fellows Falls. VI.
| Dear Sir:
Replying to your favor of 1uno
OH l enclose herewith copy OF
ouu contract with the Western Flee
TIC company. You will note that
tnis contract is dated March 81 leTs
rs matter OF fact the relations 90
tablished by this contract have boer
IN effect between the commands
since 1908. but the New England
company did not care TO enter inf,
formal contract until ii had thor
, oushly demonstrated the desirabIlit,
OF the arrangement thus created
III Yours very truly
VI. ID. Jones. Counsel
Messrs Cook and Graham in tbei,
report deal largely with tho Now
England company and apparon,I,
Mish To convey the idea that the New
fhE'nd comnary had been given an
opportunity to be heard upon the sub
Ject matter OF their report. In fac
they asked the Public Service Com
mission to make certain orders on
me basis OF the special commissions,
nearing. The facts about this al
ieged hearing" are as follows.
AS the special commission had in
Vestigated the affairs OF the Pnssum,
SIC Telephone company at grea
4 length propOunding a list of over 3,
4 ,htefrogations which were answere,
Dy Gen. Mgr. Brown OF that comnan,
IN writing. Mr.. Brown suggested ina
4 me oncers should have oppor,unit,
to confer with the "special co,,,,i.
I