Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-01-09
HEARING HELD0 ON
FEDERAL PHONES
Mr.. Lewis Sees ''CarnivaI of
Waste" in Present Wire
System.
FARMERS FOR TEST HERE

ana prophet and exponent of the postal
ixation of telephone and telegraph lines
was the chief witness before the House
District committee today in advocacy
OF his bill providing government owner
ship of the telephone system within the
District of Columbia
| "A carnival of waste" was one of the
characteristic descriptions given by
representative Lewis to paint the pic
ture of his idea of the present situa-
ton, which he said could be cured by
government ownership, under the con-
troll of the post office. of the telephones,
teiegraphs and express companies.
The hearing today was a brief one,
owing to the District committees rule
that hearings cease ten minutes before
the House conveneS. The House met
today at II o'clock. and Representative
Lewis barely got start.
He opened the subject and answered
many questions, and then introduced
Oliver Wilson of Illinois. grand master
OF the National Grange. who said the
farmers. organization thinks it emf
nently fair to test out the government
ownership of telephones within the
District of Columbia, because that is
the smallest unit and If it is a success
1t can be tried elsewhere"
No Thought of Failure.
What If it's a failure?" asked a
member of the committee.
| "Oh. hadn't thought much of that 7
suppose the government could sell if
again. That's the way We fellows on
the farm do"
There were present, also, F. H.
Bethel, president of the Chesapeate
and Potomac Telephone Company:
Henry B; F. Mcfarland. Washington
counsel for the company. and i 7.
swayze of New York city. general
| counsel.
AZ the outset there was discussion
as 70 limitations to be placed on the
hearings. Representative Lewis show.
ed a disposition to have a short hear.
ing, but Chairman Johnson. and Repre-
sentative Lloyd opposed that pJan.
making 1t evident full discussion of the
pLoposai ior government-owned tele-
| phones VIII be permitted. Following
| that. Chairman Johnson. in reference to
statement made by Mr.. Lewis, said:
Inc post office has no monopoly on
me, 1ne carriage OF letters. l have sent
ietters by express. also by hand"
general. said Representative
Lewis, lit is economically correct to
nave a monopoly Of postaIiy carried
| Representative Johnson and p.n-.-
sentative Lewis also had a little dis
cussion over the power Of Congress- to
condemn the telephone system Repre-
sentative Lewis also said that he had
PROVIDED in his bill for valuation of
the telephone company by the inter
state commerce commission rather than
the public utilities commission. be-
| cause most people would think the,
interstate commerce commission offered
a higher guarantee of confidence"
How It Works in GERMANY.
He continued:
| Il would like to take you" he said
into an average town in Germany and
introduce you to the postmaster. You
go into his office. 1t is the express Of
fce. the telegraph Office. the telephone
office all in one. He shows you his wire
system.
the street, carrying the teIegraph-tele-
phone wires. The toll telephone u,ire
is also the telegraph wire, and YOU
| can use it for both purposes at the same
moment. The German postmaster uses
| all the five fingers of the postal hand
the express package up to 110 pounds
the savings bank. the letter, the tele-
graphic and the telephone agencies Of
communication. Unity. efficiency. econ
omy. and an annual surplus of s22. 900.
900 is the result.
Other Countries Have Systems.
THE above picture is true not only Of
Germany. but of all leading countries
Austria. Belgium. Denmark, France
Great Britain. Hungary, Italy, Japan.
Norway, Netherlands, Russia. Sweden
| Switzerland and New Zealand: and in
1910 the gross profits from their postal
that is, their mail. express, telegraph
! and telephone activities-amounted to
$l24.335.211, or 20 per cent of their
gross receipts.
[
meet the American postmaster II would
be Il misnomer to call him a postmaster
/ in other countries. for his functions have
/ been divided among strangers. Looking
from the post Office window, he shows Won
| their rudimentary fragments You see on
one corner the Office of Wells Fargo. ON
another the Adams. farther down street
the American and the National express
offices. And even in the field of COM
nunication. sacred to the postal system
under the Constitution, what do you see?
Well all still in sight, you see the SEN
arate Offices of the Western Union and
the presumptuously named Postal Tele-
| graph companies, all vying with one an
other and the express compa MES in a pro-
digious waste Of the postal resources.
Only One Line of Poles.
when Alexander G. Bell found he
could talk a wire the news w.s
cabled to Europe. and the Postal TeIe-
graph engineers soon found they could
use the telegraph wires for telepbon;p,
and telegraphing at the same moment
and so In Europe you see only one lin.
of poles for both. But on the MARYLAND
roads. the glory of the Union, YOU see
! three lines of poles-the Western Irni,,
the Postal Telegraph tneither renderina
any telephone service). and the pole lines
of the Bell system. a better telepr.nh
structure than either telegraph com
pany's. yet it is rendering no public tele-
graph service whatever. Three pole lines,
I Yes. even a fourth. for sometimes the mol.
line of competing telephone coun.ny
stalks into the phantasmagoria Wsste
waste. perfect carnival of waste ~
overhead. Of men. of material of cani,,J
OF managerial and executive labor.
Different From Other Economics
| In answer~to Representative IJo,a
Representative Lewis asserted thar ~.
monopolistic principle would not apn,v
to stores. etc: that II would nor ha
economy to have one store instead n,
four. and that the economics of ..mat-
ters carried postaliy are entirely air
ferent from the economics of Other suh-
jects."
1t was apparent that Representative
| Lewis could not be drawn into a dis.
cussion of the broad governmental
ownership problem, his sole amhition