The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-03-07
leommon sense.ln thls nost Importaht
GoofI ,Telephone Service.

line Telephone systems Of this coun-
FRY shall be taken over By the goy-
ernment-whieh question VIII DC
answered by the people and by them
ialone-resoives itself into this single
inquiry: What is best for The body
ipolitic?"
AS a first consideration. 1t would
seem that the American public must
take counsel with itself as to the
probability of the Federal govern
ment's maintaining tn high standard
of telephone service which now OBJ.
tains in this country; for goou tele-
phone service it must and will have.
AS a nation, America is gladly pay
ing for speed and efficiency, comfort
and even luxury in Its public service:
the best is none too good. anc never
will be. Particularly as to means OF
transportation, either of goods, or
persons of written word or speech,
the increasing demand for speed is
insistent and extension of facilities
Imperative Thoroughly efficient and
satisfactory telephone service is de-
handed and-because that is the
only standard our business and EoCtai
development will tolerate-the Amer
lean people are disposed to pay q fair
price for 1t.
Therein do they differ fro j theic
neighbors acI Lss the sea. The Ion
ldoner or the Partisan will endu e in
! d ,fferent tet.phone service IL only It
IS cheap. A. rule, the question of
increasing the quality disturbs him
not a bit, so long as the service does
which has recently called for the
widespread indignation and protest
of several European nations.
h. On the, other hand, the telephone
service of this country is the best in
the world; foreigners. who have used
IL do not hesitate 10 agree. 1t is bet
tiers not merely because this country
has the biggest switchboards, or the
longest lines, or the best trained OPP
Grating force, but because it is most.
widely available and most widely
used. What the American people
have demanded and received is the
imosts useful, telephone service. That
has been their principal demand, for
/ it has been their most essential re-
quirement.
Our American telephone systems
have left far behind their government
owned imitators in Europe, far be-
hind in every respect-service, devel-
opment and availability. The United
States now has approximately 20 per
cent of all the Telephones in the,
world, although 1t has less than per
cent of the population. We have ten
times as great development per
hundred population as Europe has,
and this In spite of the fact that our
population is. in comparison, sparse
and widely scattered.
The telephone service of this coun-
TRY is as conspicuously prompt as
Europe's is VIGOROUSLY slow. Local
connections which are made in a few
seconds here are very often found to-
take as many minutes over there. The
long distance services between London
and Paris is subject to a wait of six
! Il, Il
erpool, twenty minutes; between Ber-
line and Paris, thirty-five minutes;
and correspondingly long delays are
occasioned on calls between practical-l
ly all of the large cities on the conti-
nent..
On the other hand. but five and a
half minutes-on the average
lance Bell telephone message in this
country is filed and the time the con-
|nection is established.
AS to the continuity of service, the
American people must have their tel
ephones available for use every hour
in the day. Effective night and Sum
day service, an undisputed necessity
in this country, is-a distinct luxury
across the ocean,-though apparent-
ly no effort is being made by foreign
governments to profit by this exam
pie of the telephone companies in this
country.
So much for Comparisons. Private
enterprise has developed for this lana
telephone system of superlative eff
ficiency and extension, system the
like of which will be found nowhere
else under the sun. The highly cen
tralized governments of Europe
England, France and Germany-have
wrestled with the problem but to no
avail, The telephone service over
there is Laughing stock of every
American traveller; and this despite
the fact that the population is cen
tered, distances are short, labor
cheap, and that the whole political
| development of those highly central
| lied governments have-unlike our
own-been fostered by spirit of ma
(, tionalism and autocracy.
Based on the numerous examples
of inefficiency in the operation of ma,
tional telephone systems by foreign
governments, there would seem to be
neither expectancy nor promise that
this country's standard of efficient
/, telephone service could be maintained
should its operation be taken from
the hands of progressive private en-
/ terprise, which, while guaranteeing
to the nation a continued expansion
and Improvement, is surrounded by
/ federal and state regulation of con-
spicuous effectiveness.
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