Denver labor bulletin., 1917-12-08
DAVID J. LEWIS ADVOCATES THE
POSTALIZATION OF TELEPHONE
AND TELEGRAPH LINES IN THE i. s.
Former Labor Congressman rendered Banquet
Makes Instructive Address Parcel Post
of Great Wastage Under the Present System
of Communication

lZ-cent rate, shows nine kilograms
per capita, the United States but
1-15) one per capita. And yet with
the same letter rates we send 1O1
letters per capita, and the New Zeal
ander, our closest rival, sends ninety
three. But we rank thirteenth, not
first among the telegraph users of the
world.
This low telegraphic patronage
means an average operating cost of
80 cents per telegram to the Ameri-
can company, while the Australian
postal telegram is handled at cost
of 81 cents.
"For 100 miles over the telephone
we pay three times, for 300 miles five
times, for 400 miles six times, and
for 700 miles eight times the rate on
the continent of Europe for a three
minute conversation.
We Talk at Ton Rates.
Il am obliged to make seemingly
sensational statement about these
long distance rates. Our electrical
communications do not compare in
cost with European communications
at all. They compare with the cost
of shipping ton of freight 1t costs
the American as much to ship his long
distance conversation over the wires,
4llllt lOT Hlllt, as IL Gusts MIN 10 snip
ton of freight over the rails. The
mile for moving the ton of freight.
The telephone system charges 6 mills
mile for carrying the three-minute
conversation. Gentlemen can realize
how weighty their conversations
sometimes are. They weigh about a
ton on the long distance wire.
Second only to the letter in i'm
portance is the local telephone call.
Perhaps it would be first. # its cost
permitted the use of the telephone by
all the people. In other countries the
average postal rate for the local tele-
phone call is about a cent q call, or
half the letter rates, while in our cit
les the rates run from u 10 cents a
call. You can now send a four round
parcel $50 miles for cents. the postal
system making cent profit.
1T seems n duty to say tina: these
telegraph and telephone rates arc the
scandal of public-service rates the
world over, and only to be compared
with the express rates before the ad-
vent of the parcel post We rank
twenty ninth, or the highest but two.
among thirty-one telephone institu-
tions, on the rates for the local call,
NilAit w ann Aiit lONtNa bNA bilt lil
the world on our letter rates. Our
measured service rates run from two
to three times the like rates elsewhere.
even in Australia.
Phone in Every Home
You ask what would the postal
system do? / answer that Just as
with the letter and now with the par
eel. the American postal system
(Which is the most efficient in the
world. much more efficient than the
German, for example,. can give US
telephone and telegraph rates as low
as those of other postal systems. And
that means n telegraph rate of u
cents for short distances and 25 cents
from coast to coast instead of dol
lar; ten cents a hundred miles for
long distance talks instead OF GO cents
1t means n cent call for local serv-
ice. All these are realized by postal
systems today.
There is road to every mans
house-there ought to be a telephone
on the inside to carry the communica-
tions of the poor. for the doctor, rs
well as the fortunate And the Amer
lean postal system will put it there,
at coin box, penny-in-t -the-slot rates
1t is only question of time. The
signs of the times, the movement of
events all testify to its inevitabilitv."