Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1913-07-25
PREPARED TO
FURNISH FACTS
Telephone Company Replies to
Governors Committee
COUNSEL JONES' STATEMENT

to Receive lt-Protest Against Re-
ductlon of Rates, Which Business
Does Not Warrant
Mr.. M. B. Jones. counsel for the
New England Telephone and Tele-
graph company, takes direct issue
with the recommendation for reduc-
lions Of telephone rentals and toll
rates by Governor F1etcher's special
telephone commission. He denies
that his company declined to furnish
information to this commission and
sharply questions the accuracy OF
several of the statements of fact pre-
scented In these recommendations
Mr.. Jones says: II have read
the report of Governor 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 Telephone and Tele-
graph company and its subsidiaries to
furnish Messrs. Graham and Cook
with information.
Upon this point desire to take
direct and emphatic issue with these
gentlemen.
Instead of refusing them informa-
ton | wrote to them on June Of
fering any information concerning the
New England company and its subsid-
iaries that you may desire and since
that date information, both verbal and
written, has been furnished at great
length. In only one instance was In
formation declined. Messrs. Graham
and Cook requested us to furnish the
names and addresses Of your stock
holders, the amount held by each.
This declined to give. on the ground
that it involved the personal rights
of our stockholders, but at the same
time I offered to furnish them with
q statement of the amount of stock
held by the New England company in
each Of its subsidiaries. To this Of
fer Messrs. Graham and Cook 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 data
was forwarded as rapidly as it could
be prepared. forwarded certain data
as late as Monday, July IL, as no init
nation had been given by the special
commissioners that they had filed
their report or even that they were
near the point of completing their in
vestigations. In fact the attitude. of
this special commission has appar-
emily been that of unwillingness to
use information rather than eagerness
to receive 1t. I have no desire to
thresh out the detail Of this extended
matter at this time but in support Of
my statement I will cite two or three
illustrations from the report.
Il. The report states that traffic
contracts between the New England
Telephone and Telegraph company
and the independent companies pro-
hibit them from connecting with any
other company without our consent.
THE fact is that all our contracts
made since 1910 expressly permit a
connection with any other company
and l explained verbally to the spe-
cial commissioners In response to
their question that we had repeatedly
! urged all companies to substitute this
form Of contract for the old or obso-
lete one.
90. The report says that the New
| England company leases receivers
and transmitters to all its subsidiaries
and majority of its other connect
ing companies. charging to some rs
cents and to others $1.2 year.
THE fact Is, as pointed out by me
in a memorandum sent to Messrs.
Graham and Cook on June %, that no
connecting company, subsidiary or
otherwise, is obliged to rent its in
struments of the New England COM
pany, but Is at liberty to purchase
their own instruments. Where COM
panies elect to lease their instru-
ments the price to all is rs cents per
year. This information was fur
nished Messrs. Graham and Cook in
writing.
80. The report says that copies OF
contracts between the New England
company and the American Telephone
and Telegraph company and a copy
of our contract with the Western
Electric company have not been pre-
Bented to us or furnished In accord
Rnce with our requests
'As to our contracts and relations
with the American Telephone and
Telephone company made an ex-
tended statement at st. Adams on
July in response to questions OF
Messrs. Graham and Cook, and as to
the Western Electric company con-
tract, | personally sent copy of this
contract to Mr.. Graham on July 8
with the following letter:
July 8, 1918.
Hon. Warner A. Graham, Special
Counsel Vermont Public Service
Commission, Bellows Falls, VT:
n