Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
READY TO GIVE AID
SHOULD WAR COME
7. P. Sylvan Announces TeIe-
phone System in Complete
State of Preparedness.
ADDRESSES CITIZEN BODY

War will not find tho nation unpre-
pared with respect to facilities for
telephone communication. An auxiliary
signal corps made UP of the countrys
leading telephone and telegraph en-
gineers has been organized and its
services have been offered to the gov
eminent.
These statements made last night be-
fore the Federation of Citizens As
sociations by T. P. Sylvan. assistant to
the president of the Chesapeake and
Potomac Telephone Company, unex-
pectedly injected the threatened war
situation into the question of govern
ment ownership Of telephones in the
District, which the federation has I'M
der consideration.
What Mr.. Sylvan said left the decided
impression that preparedness measures
by the telephone people have been In
process of formation for some time and
that Immediate outbreak of war would
find a well organized corps OF experts
ready to direct flexible and effective
telephone and telegraph service for the
government under the direction of the
War Department..
Talks of Municipal Ownership.
Mr.. Sylvan had a great deal to say on
the subject of municipal ownership. in
which he criticised freely the views of
Representative Lewis, author of the
municipal ownership bill now before
the House District committee. The
federation did not vote on the measure,
but is expected to take action at its next
meeting, February II.
| Much of the telephone officials re-
marks was directed to a defense OF the
public utilities commission. which, he
oh hn civ
prove whether or not regulation Of
public utilities is better than govern
ment ownership. He frequently re-
ferred to statements by Representative
Lewis as being unfair" referring par
ticularly to the assertion that there is
a higher utilization of telephones
abroad than in this country. This, he
said, is due to the fact that there are
fewer telephones in foreign countries,
which necessarily makes a higher utiI-
cation per phone, but not for the total
service. In this connection, he pointed
out that the city of New York has more
phones than has the government of
France. and Washington more than are
in use in Spain.
The speaker also stated that the Bell
company throughout its history had con-
Stantly reduced rates; that in 1895 the
average earnings per telephone for ex-
change service were $69.75, whereas in
| 1915 this amount had been reduced to
$3.50. In Washington, in 1916, the
Refers to Critical Times"
| He said that Washington is to the ma
ton what the heart is to the body, and
| that at this critical time no chances
should be taken by separating the man
agement or introducing divergent IDEAS,
no matter how good such ideas might be
| if applied to the. national system OF
telephones AS example of the I'M
portance which the company places on
Washington being connected with the
system he called attention to the large
amount of money spent on building the
underground system from Boston TO
Washington, so that the experience
! which was had with the snowstorm
when former President TaIt was lhau-
gurated might not be repeated.
| Mr. Sylvan referred to the cheaper
rates that Representative Lewis says
will be realized under government
| ownership and control as doiiar
bunk" and concluded by expressing
the conviction that there was no chance
of Congress passing the bill.
Disposes of Resolutions.
The federation disposed of num-
Der of resolutions reported from COM
mittees, devoting most Of the discus
sion to a. proposition to have all the
school Fairgrounds open and in opera
ton during the summer under the d.
rection of the municipal Fairgrounds
department An effort to amend the
resolution to have the entire play
grounds department transferred from
the supervision of the Commissioners
to that of the board of education was
defeated.
william NICK. Clayton introduced a
resolution indorsing the action of the
Senate committee in including in the
District bill provision for the erection
of a municipal hospital on reservation
l13 President Shreve ruled that this
was a sectional question, affecting resi-
dents in the southeast part of the city,
and should not properly come before
the federation. The ruling was APP
pealed from and the presidents posi-
ton was not sustained. Before the
question was put to a vote Delegate P.
E. Mckinney of the Randle Highlands
Association observed that representa-
tives of the southeast associations affil-
lated with the federation were not
present and that they should be given
an opportunity to express their views
in the matter.
Request for Action Withdrawn.
This resulted in Mr.. Clayton with
drawing his request for immediate ac-
ton, the resolution being referred for
report to the committee on public
health.
Authorization was given the commit