Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-06-12

The Postal Theory Applied to Tele.
phone Rates.
BY J. T.. JONES.

Inc success or the parcel post ap-
pears to have inspired the postOffice
department with the notion that
and Mr.. Burleson is said to be i'm
patient with anxiety over the fact
that the program of the present ses-
sion of congress has at no time in
cluded moving the central offices"
rom which 100000 telephones
are operated into the sanctums of his
lostmasters throughout the country.
Congress realizes that with SO many
wires in the air, the undertaking of
government ownership of telephones
may be a difficult problem to pull
across. The postmaster general re-
fers to the telegraph business as be-
ing of 'monopolistic nature" and
says it is "of vital importance to the
people that it be conducted by un-
selfish interests" Therefore he
would acquire all telegraph and tele-
phone lines.
AS might have been expected one
of the first demands upon Washing
ton in anticipation of government
ownership has called for an eqaliz-
ing of rates for telephone service and
1t is pointed out that this policy which
has been applied to the whole postal
system, including the recent acquisi-
ton of the parcel post, should relieve
New York of the average rate of $50
a year for business phones and SINH
larly high residence rates, and dis
tribute the burden on the cities
throughout the country. Quite natur-
ally telephone users in the big cities
would welcome system by which
they could average up" with the
greater portions of the country,
where 50 a month for residence SER
vice and SO a month for business
phones, is the usual rate. The aver
age rate for all phones in New York
is $50 a year, while the rate for the
entire Bell system is $30.93. OF
course New York thinks it is abused
and so do the people of San Fran
cisco, Seattle, Chicago, and all other
cities.
England has been averaging up"
since taking over the telephones, with
the result that outside of London
residence rentals average $38.SS,
while business phones limited to 1900
calls cost $43.74. London, Liverpool
and other metropolitan centers have
lower rates in consequence. indie
pendent of the larger issues involved
in government ownership there is a
good deal of talk. among members of
congress to the effect that there
has already been too much of
this sort of business that "aqual-
ICES" in favor of the cities at
the expense of the rest of the coun-
try, and while following the story of
rates at home and abroad the student
of the question finds that while there
are not nearly as many telephones in
proportion to population in Europe
as in the United States, there is a
good deal more profanity over there
because of the inefficient service.
Roosevelt, PenrOse, Cannon, ct al.
During the past seven months
Senator Boise Penrose has been hav-
To- I1I; ,h f,,1 in ha or 70 Of
| Pennsylvania and the news of his
rogress has been joyfully received
by standpat Republicans and has
brought woe and CONSERVATION to the
Progressives. Penrose has developed
into a good deal of Progressive Re-
publican himself during the past two
or three years and being very adap-
| table politician, he early declared in
favor of the direct election OF United
States senators. But now Colonel
Roosevelt is back from the wilds of
South America and he is regarded as
| great big buzzing fly in the Penrose
ointment The Colonel has always
been very loyal to his friend Pinchot
and he promises fight to finish in
the Keystone state in behalf of the
former forester. Perhaps in due time
the case of Senator Gallinger, who is
a. candidate for reelection in New
Hampshire, and Uncle Joe Cannon,
who aspires to his old seat in con-
gress as a representative from the
Danville, Illinois, district, will come
up for especial attention of the chief
of the Bull Moose party. In any
event, there has been no intimation
that Penrose, Gallinger or Cannon
have been showing any disposition to
Join the welcome home to the gentle
man from Oyster Bay.
Washington's Relation to Things.
The national capital has been en-
joying the delights of early summer
and the breezes have whisked through