Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-01-19

war tax, and that the tax statutes are
so fixed that the company lis really a
tax collector for the government"
You are then not a taxpayer, but
n tax collector" suggested Representa-
tive Bailey.
You might say it amounts to that.
The government imposes taxes and the
taxes must go into the rates"
The telephone official said in Wash
ington there is telephone to every
six of population. while the proportion
In Philadelphia Is one phone to sixty
four of population.
Much Traffic Not Measured.
Analysing the Lewis table, which
showed a usage of s33 messages per
telephone per annum for Washington
and a cost of s4.21 per hundred mes
sages. Mr.. Bethel pointed out that a
vast amount of traffic flows over tie
lines and through a clearing house
switchboard, special and unusual equip
pent installed for the government and
others in the interest of economy and
efficiency and to permit of the passing
of messages from the point of origin
to the point of destination without
passing through a central office, and,
therefore. not being measures at all.
He stated that 1t was the practice of
the company to make record on
one day in each month of the traffic
Sowing through the central Office, and
that records for October, November and
December of last year show an av-
erage flow of 100000 calls a day. or
at the rate of 100000 calls a year.
that there is no traffic at all on Sun
days and holidays. which, of course, is
not the case, there is shown by these
carefully prepared records an average
Of i've calls per day per telephone.
which for the year is 1900 calls per
telephone, and not 833, as is shown in
the Lewis tables. Consequently the
rate per hundred calls is not $421, as
this is without including in the calcu-
lation the tremendous amount of traffic
that flows over the tie lines and
through the clearing house switch
boards to which I have referred.
'T am not claiming that the annual
traffic can be fairly based on records
made in October, November and De-
cember. but i do claim that the plant
and the organization must be provided
for the maximum amount of traffic that
nows, and that therefore the expense
of conducting the business is great
In July and August, when the traffic is
less. as 1t is at the busy season The
company's revenues decrease as the
traffic decreases, but, however. its ex-
penses do not"
Calls Comparison of No Value.
Mr. Bethel called attention to COM
parison which Mr.. Lewis had made be-
tween telephone traffic in Washington
and the telephone traffic of the Key
stone Telephone Company. at Philadel-
phia He said the table is of no value,
because the Keystone company, accord
ing to its own reports, was not serving
the entire city of Philadelphia. but is
restricting its bushes to the heart of
the business section.
hi q
elf 1t were my desire to present these
statistics to make a case against the
keystone in Philadelphia, rather than
against the Bell in Washington, as is
being attempted. 1 would show 1.G00. 900
population. using $4,000 telephones. or
one telephone to each sixty-four of the
population. against $4,000 people
washington's population-using 10000
telephones. or one telephone for each
six people"
Mr.. Bethel said that with 6,SS3 tele-
phones, SO private branch exchange
switchboards, 377 trunk lines the lines
and other special equipment designed to
meet the requirements of the govern
rnent, the stations being about 10 per
cent of the total number in the city in
service. the governments annual bill
for local telephone service is $91, 340-
less than per cent of the total reve-
nues, and an average of only s13 per
telephone.
taxes $1,000, or $4,000 more than was
collected from the government both
federal and District, for telephone serv-
ice rendered" continued Mr.. Bethel.
.In a word, the government Is receiv-
ing now in its telephone service all that
AZ requires and in addition thereto near
ly $40, 900 in taxes, which under govern
ment ownership, of course. would not
be paid"
In this connection Mr.. Bethel point
ed out that the tax bill of the com
panies of the Bell system for 1916, fed
eral, state, county and municipal
amounted to approximately S14,s00. 900
No Further Hearings Until Tuesday.
Just before adjournment the COM
mittee heard J. II. Kimball. treasurer
of Tome Institute of Port Deposit. Nd
He said he had not signed repor,
given out by Frank Odell. chairman OF
the Farmers National Congress- The
report deals with the government
ownership of telephones, showing a
greater utilization of the instruments
in the rural counties of Nebraska than
In France in the same class of dis
tricts-
Questions as to whether it is ar
accepted report of the congress having
il arisen. Mr.. Kimball endeayored tc
straighten il out. but the committed
adjourned before a definite conclusion
had been reached. No further hear.
ings will be held until Tuesday next