Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-23
us. TELEPHONES
FOR $9O0,0OO,0OO
Representative Lewis Figures
on Cost Of Taking Over
the Service.
TO CUT RATES IN HALF
UNDER POSTAL CONTROL
Shows Excessive Rates Charged in
American Cities Compared to
Those Of Europe.

Government ownership Of the nation 6
telephone lines would cost less than 5000.
100000 and would present no greater diff
nculties OF financing than did the Pana-
ma canal. Representative Lewis of Mary.
| land told the House yesterday in an ex.
haustive analysis OF his proposal to have
| those lines operated by the Post Office
| Department.
Representative Lewis, who took a lead
ing part in the establishment of the par
Gel post, and who has made a study with
post office officials OF government owner
ship OF the electrical lines Of COMMUNE
cation, does not propose to have the gov
eminent take over the telegraph COM
panies. His plan is to have the govern
ment first own the telephone network OF
the country. operate some of the telephone
| lines as telegraphs. as is now possible
| under modern mechanical conditions, and
have the government system compete
with the private telegraph companies
at the outset in the same proportion as
the parcel post now completes with the
express companies.
Not Yet Administration Program.
With Postmaster General Burleson IA
voring the project for government owner
ship and special committee Of the
Post Office Department making a study
Of the subject. the possibility that a bill
| to that end will come before Congress
this winter, with administration back
| ing, conferred attention upon Representa-
| tive Lewis views on the subject, although
his measure is his own and does not
claim to represent the views OF the post
office authorities.
THE perversion of the laws of public
and private financiering.' said Mr.. Lewis
"by which public governments have beer
disinherited of their normal functions
has led to such corruption and democrat
ization that cities like New York. with it.
street railways; Philadelphia, with its ga,
works. and San Francisco, with it's tele
phones, have shamed the scions of Roman
corruption in their most dishonorabl,
days.
Investigation discloses that our tele
graphic rates are the highest amont
twenty countries The result of these alb
telegraph users Against these condi
tons it appears that our postal rates av
erage lower than other countries, and tina
the number of letters here is the highes
in the world.
Lacking IN GMCleuCy.
1.-The telegraph companies seem to be
lacking in institutional economy or eff
cheney. A striking feature is the discovery
that the telegraph service is a relatively
declining institution. and that it would
be unwise now to postalize 1t alone and
as a single service. To take over the
telegraph lines alone and operate them
merely as telegraph lines might result In
postal bankruptcy There would be nc
advantage In taking over The telegraph
lines; the investigation makes this clear
But our telephone toll and long-dis-
lance rates compare with those of other
countries even less favorably than do our
telegraph rates. 1t is not unfair. or in
accurate, to say that the American inter
urban telephone rates are the scandal OF
public-service rates the world over. The
local rates of the Bell telephone mon
opoly are just twice the average charge
In other countries"
Rates Three Times as High.
THE subscribers rates in American
cities. compared with continental cities,
are about three times as high For ex-
ample. New York, where 5, 400 calls about
fifteen per day, under a measured service
tariff. cost more than the four unlimited
yearly rates of London, Paris, Berlin and
Stockholm together. For like services,
Baltimore people pay more than the rates
for London and Paris combined, and
Washington pays as much as the five
cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Auck-
land, Toxic and Copenhagen combined.
While competition does not supply a
remedy because 1t divides the service and
necessitates the payment for two phones,
yet 1t throws an interesting side light on
the tendency of a private monopoly to
jack up the rates.
Telephone development has reached
it's substantial limits in the United
extension of the service to the very
profitable Office and well-to-do home
traffic To extend 1t to the homes of
the masses. as the public roads and
postal service now are extended, the
postal agency is necessary.
Proposes Bond Issue.
THE cost Of acquiring the telephone
networks is indicated as something less
than $9O0.0O0,00O. for which it is pro-
posed to issue 3 per cent bonds payable
In fifty years. 1t is calculated that the
postal system by superimposing the tele-
graph service on the telephone lines at
half present telegraph rates may net
some fifty millions annually from that
traffic alone which with the present
profits of the telephones and after the de-
duction of interest on the bonds and de-
probation would supply the department
with a large surplus for extensions and
SO forth.
1.-The financing of the acquisition and
the valuations of the properties would
cover several years: and while the prop
critics shou be taken at one time with
their personnel and syStematized, the
payments for them would have to await
the final valuations by the Interstate com
merce commission, the Treasury paying
the owners 4 per cent interest quarterly
during the interim. The. financing would
| thus be decentralized into as many pay
| ments as there are distinct legal owner
ships.
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