St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-07-23
TELEPHONE REPORT


Continued from page %
paniJs prohibit them from connect
ing with any other company without
our consent. The fact is that all
our contracts made since 1910 ex-
pressly permit a connection with any
other company and / explained verb
ally to the special commissioners
in response to their question that
We had repeatedly urged ali COM
panies to substitute this form of con-
tract for the old or obsolete one.
y. The report says that the New
England Company leases receivers
and transmitters to all it's subsid-
iaries and a majority OF its other
connecting companies charging to
some rs cents and to others SI25 a
year. The fact is, as pointed out
by me in a memorandum to Messrs.
Graham and Cook on June 23rd,
that no connecting company subsid-
larry or otherwise is Obliged to rent
its instruments of the New England
company. but il is at liberty to pur-
chase its own instruments. Where
companies elect to lease their instru-
ments the price to all is 20 cents per
year. This information was fur
nished Messrs. Graham and Cook in
writing.
.. L he report says lndL COplcS Ol
contracts between the New England
Company and the American Tele-
phone & Telegraph company and a
copy of our contract with the West
ern Electric Company have not been
presented TO us or furnished in ac-
cordance with our requests. As to
our contracts and relations with the
American Telephone and Telegraph |
Company | made an extended state |
ment at st. Adams on July in re-
Spouse to questions of Messrs. Ora
ham and Cook and as to the Western |
Electric Company contract, l person |
ally sent a copy of this contract to
Mr.. Graham on July 8 with the fol- |
lowing letter:
July 9, 1913.
" Hon Warner "A. Graham,
Special Counsel Vermont Public |
Service Commission, Bellows |
Falls, VT.
Dear Sir:-Replying to your favor of |
June 25th, / enclose herewith copy /
of our contract with the Western |
Electric Company. You will note |
that this contract is dated March 81,
1913. AS a matter of fact the re-
lations established by this contract
have been in effect between the
companies since 1908, but the New
England Co. did not care to enter
into formal contract until it had
thoroughly demonstrated the desir- !
ability of the arrangement thus
created.
Yours very truly.
M. B. JONES, Counsel
'Messrs. Graham and Cook in l.
their report deal largely with the
New England Company and appar-
emily wish to convey the idea that the
New England Company had been
given an opportunity to be heard,
upon the subject matter of their re-
port. In fact, they asked the public
service commission to make certain
orders on the basis of the special
hearing
"The facts about this alleged hear
ing are as follows:-As the special
had investigated the af-
fairs of the Passumpsic Telephone
Company at great length, PROFOUND
ing a list of over so interrogations
which were answered by General
Manager Brown of that company in
writing, Mr.. Brown suggested that
the officers should have opportunity
to confer with the special commits
sion as to information obtained by
it from other sources before it was
made the basis of a report. On July
l Mr.. Brown was verbally informed
that Messrs. Graham and Cook were
to be in St. Adams on July and
would hear officers of the company
if they desired to be present on the
day named. Messrs f. w. Story,
president, and G. A. Brown, general
of the Passumpsic Comp
any and myself appeared before
BTessrs. Graham and Cook. In re-
spouse to their suggestion I spoke Z
concerning the affairs of $
the Passumpsic Company and then j
for several hours they piled me with
questions not only about that comp I
any but especially about the New :
England Company and it's affairs.
To each and all of these questions t
/ gave a full and frank answer so I
far as my preparations permitted. | !
am not, however omniscient even as \
10 the telephone business of Yer
mont and in some instances had to G
admit my inability to answer. Some I