Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-01-31
MAKESF|NALP[EA
FOR HIS PHONE BILL
Mr.. Lewis Goes Over Previous
Arguments for Govern
ment Ownership. /.
LAST ACT OF HEARINGS

The closing chapter of the Lewis bill
hearings. with which the House Dis
trict committee has been engaged dur
ing past weeks. opened this morning
when Representative Lewis, author of
the bill. took up his final statement
Representative Lewis testimony took
the form Of a resume of his previous
arguments in favor of government
ownership of the Washington telephone
system. Little new evidence was sub
mitted.
One Of the major objections Of those
opposed to the bill received its final
quota of argument by Mr.. Lewis.
1t had been argued by representatives
of the local telephone company that the
provision in the bill which stipulates that
low rates be established between farm
and kitchen" in the District and its sub
urbs is unfair because Of its discrimina-
tory nature. Representative Lewis ex-
planned that In placing this provision in
the bill he had felt that no such traffic
as that contemplated under the provision
exists at this time and that the toll lines
out of Washington were idle ut the time
when such traffic could be built up
1t seems likely that the committee may
object to this provision" he said land il
is possible that I may withdraw it,
Facts Not Disproved, He Says.
Continuing, he said: The repre-
sentatiyes of the Bell system have not
essayed to disprove the general state
ment of facts in my testimony except in
the following particulars: Telegraph
utilization. Washington toll rates and
telephone utilization in Washington.
Independent arguments were set up
on two grounds-the greater telephone
development in the United States and
the danger of isolating Washington by
an automatic plant.
IT shall discuss these matters in their
order and show that the Bell toll lines,
although a better telegraphic structure
than the Western Union or Postal. did
no public telegraph business. That is
true; cannot send a telegram over the
Bell wires. They do lease their wires
to the big packing companies, but they
are not open to the popular service, and
it is almost social crime, too. The
toll wires go into ten million homes
and off1ces direct: that is, ten million
distributing centers, as against about
ten thousand commercial telegraph Of
fees.
Cannot Pay Toll Rates.
Accepting Mr.. Bethelrs statement as
to the farmers who are subscribers on
the exchanges In territory surrounding
Washington. was in error in stating
that no farmer could be reached from
here at cost less than Ii cents.
Sandy Spring Is Is cents. Rockville is
10 cents, but Hyattsville and some
others are cents or less. and in these
cases. even adding the subscribers local
rates, say an average OF 4 cents, some
of these farmers can be reached as
low as cents. 1 regret the inaccuracy.
I@a,H
ment that the toll rates are prohibitive,
even as they are. for the purpose of a
farm-to-k kitchen and kitchen -to-fsrm
retail service These small transac-
Hons oannoe pay existing toll fates..s
II stated that the average use Of the
phones IN the. United States lis over
1000 calls per year: that In Washington
in 1914 1t was only S23. with an average
rate Of $4.21 per 100 calls. Mr.. Bethel
disputes this datum It's y taken Ken VII
Telephone Company for 1914 to the Dis
trict Of Columbia. That report gives the
total number Of outgoing messages for
the year 42,255,470'' and the number of
stations as 1851; Yeu will ind that
this comes to S23 messages per phone.
In the same report it is stated; Mum
Der of completed outgoing messages
from subscribers having limited service,
1895. 414." which is 665 calls per tele-
phone only: in the 1913 report the like
data is given as 1884 phones and 49,
GIT. 900 completed calls. or Ss7 calls per
phone, and the limited service as 30.341
phones and 1s,O7s.1s6 completed calls.
or $50 calls per phone. The company
would now challenge the accuracy of
these figures by saying that some OF the
government messages are not included
in it's above report. Perhaps the
interdepartmental messages were not
but even that omission would not
substantially modify the statement, for
they would be small compared with the
whole traffic"