The Johnson City comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1916-1917, 1916-07-20
PROPOSED TELEPHONE MERGER

At a largely attended mass meeting
on Monday night at the Chamber Oh
Commerce the question was fully de
bated. The Chamber of Commerce
took the matter up with Mr.. Partlett
president of the Bristol Telephone
company, and invited him to appear
and make a statement of what tht
company proposed to do.
Mr.. Partlett made a full statement
1t is proposed to merge the two pres
ent companies, and to put in the m $
modern system of telephones. TIL
wolves an expenditure here and ii
Bristol of $175,000 At present thI re
are some 1850 subscribers to both
systems. After consolidation it is IS
timated that there will be $50 sub
scribers, and of course each of the sc
will receive full service. The L L
company will retain the toll lines, | n,
they will be operated by the consOi'
dated company, so there will be bu'
one service.
AS 10 cost of service Mr.. Partlct'
explained very carefully what is
well-recognized principle in telephone
business, and that is that the teie-
phone or instrument is not the unit
INl. ~, tao M
number of connections one can gel
This costs the company more ant
the result is that with icrease IL
number of subscribers the rate in
creases, up to a certain point.
The city is to be congratulated tina
the new system is in sight. The pres
ent dual system is a serious draw
back 10 the town and even if rates
are slightly increased it is hoped
that the improved service will indu i
everyone to subscribe to the new sys
TEN and SO make the financing of il
easy. We do not usually get some.
thing for nothing and if the company
can show that the new rates are faii
and equitable the slight increaGe
in cost should not stand in the way.
1t is to be hoped that the Mayo.
and Board of Alderman will take VI
the telephone matter and push
thr )ugh to a definite conclusion, fol-
Johnson City can scarcely be called
progressive until it has the most mod
ern telephone system.
The following resolutions were
passed. Discussion waxed warm ov
er the matter of rates, many claim
ing that they were too high, or thai
the rates should be fixed by the
Mayor and Aldermen after all invest
cation as to cost of similar service
elsewhere
At mass meeting of the telephone
users u Johnson City, duly advertis-
ed and held under the joint auspices
of the Chamber of Commerce and the
Retail Merchants Association, it was: .
Resolved, That it is the sense of
this meeting that the apparatus and
equipment now in use in the eX-
changes of the two telephone com.
panies operating in Johnson City Il
not of type sufficiently modern to
reder the class of service desired by
the telephone users of this city.
Resolved, That we prefer and re-
quest che modern telephone service
of size and design sufficient to meet
all needs of the subscribers to both
of the present exchanges, so that each
telephone user may be enabled to
communicate with every other tele"
phone user without being Obliged to
subscribe for two telephones with the
consequent increased trouble and
expense.
Resolved, That we hereby call upon
the Cumberland Telephone and Tele-
graph Company and the Bristol Telc-
phone Company to take the necessary
steps before all the proper authori-
ties in order to effect a consolidation
of the two existing systems, and to
provide at once for the construction
and operation of a modern telephone
exchange of ample size, with new
common battery switchboard and tel
ephone instruments, and eauippcd
with necessary facilities whereby all
telephone connectios reached over
both OF the present systems may be
made available to the subscribers to
the new service.
Resolved. That we hereby request
the Board of Mayor and Aldermen Of
Johnson City to grant the necessary
franchise amendments, to the end
that the changes in service now
sought may be speedily brought
about.
Resolved, That If such consolidation
OF properties is effected, and condi-
TONED upon the construction and
of modern telephone ex-
change with new common SWITCH
board telephone Instruments as above
mentioned, we hereby express our
approval of the following scale of
rates to be charged:
individual line business telephone,
$3.50 per month.