The Washington times., 1914-05-20
"OBSOLETE" TELEPHONE
RATES.

The local telephone company ha:
aotifed subscribers who hold con
Syacts for unlimited business service
1T a fat rate, that those contract:
iii be terminated June ]. These art
I'll very old contracts, and the tele'
hone company has been trying tc
rid itself of them for long time and
install contracts for service at fixed
rate per call.
People who have held these old
contracts and enjoyed very cheap
service are naturally indignant
They protest that the telephone COM
pany has prospered despite the low
ate they have enjoyed, and they are
particularly disguised with the fact
that the very first regulation of
telephone rates inaugurated by the
rev Public Utilities Commission re-
suits in an increase of rates for a
considerable class Of subscribers.
The Times finds it easy to under
stand the position of the subscriber
Who sees his telephone cost about to
le hoisted to a figure perhaps sew
ral times what he has formerly
raid. Moreover, The Times is very
Ositive that there is every justifica-
lion for a general reduction, rather
than an increase of the telephone
charges of the community.
But this newspaper nevertheless
feels that in the present instance the
telephone company and the Public
tilities Commission are right. The
INES has for many years advocated
The peoples side in matters involving
the relations of the public and the
Utility corporations. Its record is
50 well established that it has no
tear Of being regarded as a special
advocate or admirer of the Chesa-
peake and Potomac Telephone Com
pany. But The Times would be in
sincere and dishonest with its con-
vlctions, if in the present instance it
Joined in the criticism of the tele-
phone company. 1t believes, on the
ether hand, that what the company
Is doing in this matter of unlimited
fiat-rate contracts is the right thing
TO do.
Let the whole situation be under
stood fairly, and there will be less
indignation about the withdrawal of
these contracts.
1t is reasonably apparent that if
all telephone subscribers had these
anne unlimited fiat-rate contracts
the company's revenue would not be
efficient to maintain its service. The
telephone service would be starved
20 death.
1t Is also apparent, we think, that
ne fair way to charge for telephone
service is in proportion to the use
made Of it. That is the way we pay
for street car rides, for taxicab fares,
for gas, sugar, beefsteak, and about
"verything else. Nobody assumes
he right to ride all months because
he buys one strip of car tickets; why
Should he expect to use the telephone
I'd lib because he pays "fat rate p"
The "fat-rate" unlimited contracts
cate back to another and very diff
ferent era in telephone development.
hat kind of rate making was pos
slble when telephone service was
United; it is still in vogue in small
communities, where it does not in
olive great determinations.
But things are changed now.
Washington is not a country town.
There are subscribers to telephone
Service in this city whose bills
mount to several hundreds of dol
ars per month. The Times pays
bout $4,000 per annum for tele-
phone service. Would it be fair for
his office to get that service for
80 year, merely because it had an
ancient contract, inherited from the
day when this was a small city, and
there were only a few scores or hun
Greds of telephones? Is it not ap-
parent that such an arrangement
would be highly discriminatory in
favor of this office? Would not
other subscribers, paying by the logi-
cal plan of fixed charge per call, in
fact be compelled to pay the actual
cost of providing this unreasonably
cheap service TO The Times?
The whole spirit and purpose CT
present-day administration of public
Utilities is to prevent discrimination.
There are anti-rebate and anti-dis-
elimination laws for the railroads,
and all manner of public utilities;
State laws, national laws, local
regulations. There is just such a |
provision in the Public Utilities Com
mission law of this District. In ac-
cordance with that provision, the
commission has ruled against the
unlimited, fat-rate contract on the