The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-12-22
No Benefit to Public.

dlssolutioue.
No Benefit to Public.
''What grounds have you for feeling
that way about jt2'
because / see little if anything in
the agreement that is going to benefit
the public in any way; while even a
cursory examination of the plan as an.
nounced reveals q great deal that will
prove injurious to the public.
Mr., Taft told the country that tpe
solution of the trust question lay in
the rule of reason as applied by the
supreme court, Mr.: Wilson tells the
country that the solution of the trust
question lies in the rule of reason as
applied by the attorney general and
Endorsed by himself.
"One was programme to interpret
the Sherman law by executive orders
We cannot rest our business fabric on
such shifting sands as the personal
views of succeeding administrations,
The country knows what q dismal fail
urc Mr.. Taft's programme proved to
be and this was so primarily because
the public gained absolutely nothing
by the Taft dissolution suits.
Says Policy Will Fail.
"Witb all due respect, it seems TO
me that the Wilson policy Of personal
and private negotiation, case by case,
as now announced, will fail for the
same reason. In the first place, Mr..
Wilson says in his note to the attorney
general that 'he is glad TO know that
the telephone company will adjust its
business to the conditions of compe-
titioni'
'iIf there is any business that cannot
and should not be adjusted to conpe-
titioD, that cannot be efficiently con-
Quoted along competitive lines. it is
the telephone business, We might just
as well try TO conduct the postal busi-
ness on competitive basis. Anyone
who has. been in town in which there
is more than one telephone company,
knows how inefficient and how costly
is the telephone service i'll that town.
81 cannot but believe that Mr.. Will
son s proposition of establishing compe-
titioD in the telephone business is eco
nomically and fundamentally unsound.
II that is going TO be done, we are en-
barked on a thoroughly reactionary
programme. The telephone business of
this country must be carried on in one
Of two ways-either through govern
ment ownership, as is The postal busi-
ness, or by q great telephone system
under supreme court supervision and
regulated as rates by the government
Agrees With Burleson.
Postmaster General Burleson, in bis
report of last Wednesday, recommended
congress TO take over the telephone and
telegraph lines to unite and operate
them, because they are monopolistic in
nature. Mr.. Burleson is right.
"Was the telephone companies al
lance with tho Western Union In re-
straint of trade? Did il put up prices
or did it increase business aud add to
the public convenience Who benefited
most, tho companies or the public7
''There is certainly no one in busi.
ness, and 1 doubt if there is anyone,
who believes that the acquisition by
the American Telephone company of
80 per cent interest in the Western
Union company resulted in restraining
trade.
"If there has been a. shining ox-
ample OF cooperation resulting in the
expansion of trade benefit TO the pub.
lie, cheapening Of rates, improved ef-
ficiency, it has been this very CO.
operation between the Bell system and
the Western Union system.
"Why, just look at It, II gave us the
night letter rate MESA ge. the day ate
message II gave us the improved ssrv-
ice Of telephoning a telegram and receiv.
US more rapid communication. moro ef-
ficient communication, more economical
communication.
Efficiency the Test.
Mr.. Wilson himself. In his speeches
and papers has questioned the ability of
large corpora tions to do business eff