The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-15

telegraph lines In the United states
would come and live In France for
4 few months that he would pray
fer any ownership rather than that
| Of the government"
| This sentiment was penned by an
American. a Philadelphia business man
temporarily residing in Nice. after ne
had had to turn out Of bed at 6, O'Clock
of a cold winter morning in order to
arrange for a long-distance telephone
| connection. 1t may be explained for the
benefit of those who have not had the
privilege of using the continental tele-
phone that a long-distance conversation
| in France can ONLY be had after polite
| and formal arrangement. The appli-
cant for the honor of long distance talk
| must make an appointment Both he
and the person with whom re - 10
, talk must he on hand at the instant or
they forfeit their turn and must make
another appointment, perhaps hours
! later If the conversation exceeds the
! lime limit. the connection Is broken.
! M matter how important the business
, Of the moment may be. the concluding
sentences of 1t are left hanging in the
air and the only way to finish the trans
action il to 20 to the foot of the list OF
| amendments and arrange new hour
| for a second call. The Philadelphia
| who arose in the cold. gray dawn to
make arrangements for call did SO
because he wished to get an early po-
sitiop in the list of appointments. Had
he preferred a half hour or so more in
he'd he would have forfeited all hope OF
| a morning call When he finally got
bathed and shaved and dressed and
| breakfasted and rushed out to arrange
| his appointment, he found that more
| enterprising individuals had pre-empted
| the wire for all day and that his appoint
ment call could not he made until after
a wait of fourteen hours. The wire was
| busy-and there was no second wire
The Question Of Public Debt.
| Recent agitation for government own
! crshp of telephone and telegraph in the
| United states has drawn to its support
| many persons who like the sound of the
| phrase but who have taken no pains
to inquire into the matter, to consider
what results have been obtained by
| governmental ownership abroad. and
what results might properly he expected
| in this country. That many persons
! hay. taken sides on this question. sen
timcntalIy. and without giving IT real
| consideration is unfortunate. because OF
! the great problem involved.
| In the first place there * the nUeS-
ton Of public debt. The Bell 'ompa-
! nic. alone have equipment in use valued
r. S1GI.0'c0nr \ Federal bond issue OF
| almost SoHN.WO.0 would he necessary
| for the purchase Of tho telephone and
telegraph system. The government. with
| it's present debt can borrow money Al
: pcr cent. But with the debt trebIcd
! as would he necessary. the interest rate
| would mount to four or even five Per
| cent. French and German rs were re-
! Gently selling at ~ and Ii respectively,
| and British Consuls We're down to a
! even before the outbreak Of tho war
! The trebinG Of the debt would Nc I'M
| avoidable even at the start. And There
! is every probability that. the social
| istic tendency having developed thus far
among the people. 1t would go further
/ and lead TO the purchase of III" rail
! roads New Zealand shows what may
! be accomplished along this line. The
| public debt of the Southern cross Colo
| ny is 500 per capita. This is equal Al
the same rate. to a public debt for the
! United states of SO 0no On0. The present
| debt is $1,000 OON.nDN We should have
| n dcbt-rdden country. taxed to eNtinC-
ton to meet interest and sinking fund
| obligations.
Opposition on the ground OF public
debt alone would not he justified If W,
were sure tHdt government
! would give us a more efficient service.
! But that is a question:. In this country
We can only point to the nostofflce as
! an example of Federal efficiency in
| service. Abroad we find much govern
ment service. but conditions i'm Euro
! 1can countries differ from those in the
| .'nitcd States.
We have. therefore. to form our own
! conclusions from the material at hand.
! In tn" first place there is the quality
of the service. Considering service alone.
! there is no object in substituting gov
eminent for corporate control unless
there is TO he a hettcrment in the serv-
! ice. Following along the line of this in
vcstigation We come first to the fact
that the Bell companies independents not
countcd are planning to spend In 1915
| for extensions to plants and lines the
sum of $4,000. OON. Since the govern
ment began work on the Panama Canal
| in 1891. it has spent no more on that work
than the American Bell companies in
! the same period have spent on the extern
sion Of their service. II the govern
ment were to take charge and carry
! on the telephone work. il would have
| to appropriate the price of Panama
Canal every ten years to keep the tele-
| phone system improving at the rate at
! which its present owners have improved
1t. The question is, would Congress
| have courage and disinterestedness
| enough to appropriate these huge sums?
| Would the people stand back of Con-
| gress, or would a howl of extravasance
| and mismanagement go up?
| If the sum mentioned is not ex-
pended the service must inevitably dete-
| riorate. That we could expect this 10
| happen. rather than that appropriations
should increase. We may infer from the
government telephone and telegraph sery-
| ice abroad. 1t is the unanimous testi-
mony of Americans returning from
abroad that the European telephone sery
| ice is poor. The head Of one of these
government telephone departments re.
Gently said in New York: 1T Is only
when the telephone facilities that have
been provided for a new territory have
been used up that it is possible for a
government TO get an appropriation for
additional facilities. Before the money
! is provided-which depends upon the po-
! iitical whim of the moment-much time
| has been lost and the old central office.
which was working a 100 per cent pres
sure before. is swamped before extension
| wrok can Begin
/ 1t is an interesting fact not generally
known. that this precise situation in To-
kio has resulted in a waiting list of more
| than 5000 applicants. These persons
! cannot have telephones because the gov
| eminent cannot equip the system tc
serve them. So remarkable is the situa-
| ton that telephone subscriptions are
dealt in on the stock exchange. just as
railroad shares are in this country