The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-18
POSTMASTERS
WILL MANAGE
WIRE BUSINESS
Saving in the Operation Of
Telegraph Lines Is
Forecast.
CENT PHONES PREDICTED
Government Control Awaits
Only tho Signature Of
President.
CENT PHONES PREDICTED
Special DespofcA to The srS.

WASHINGTON, July 17.-With the
principal difficulty in the way of taking
over the telegraph and telephone wires
OF the nation now removed. President
Wilson Is ready to sign the formal
Executive order. Postma ster- @ eneral
Burleson Is already named as Director
General OF the systems. David j. Lewis,
former Representative from Maryland.
will be his principal assistant and prob
sbly the active head OF the system.
one cen, phone calls are predicted under
the Federal management
The main difficulty has been the for
eign owned or controlled cable systems
having terminals In the United States.
The President has received an opinion
from the Department o. Justice that
these may be taken over without COM
pcations II necessary. agreements
will be made with the owners.
The time of the signing Of the Exec
utlye order is now the only question. 1t
is entirely in the hands of the President.
II has been urged upon him that the
military situation necessitates control at
this time.
The President has been advised, and
10 agrees. that the Post Office Depart
ment should be charged with the ad-
ministration OF the system.
POstmasters to Have Charge.
u IS the plan of the Administration,
I: was learned. to utilize the present
organization OF the Post Office Depart
ment throughout the country. The post
mpete- in each city and town will be In
charge Of the telegraph and telephone
systems there. Payments will be made
through .he postmas;or. thus utilizing
~ Al nd thnrnrtRh
checking up post Office accounts.
I'll. Presidential order will take over
oil Of the telephone systems OF the
country. including smaller lines and In
dependent systcmL
Representative Aswcl! (La). who
fathered the legislation In Tho House,
and who has been In almost constant
communication with the White House
,ince the inception OF the plan, declared
to-day that considerable saving in oper-
s:!ou ard consequent reductions In
rates are certain to result.
VIII Unity Phone systems.
REPORTS have already been received
showing that 9l7 cities throughout the
country have more than one telephone
system, some of them having three
This added expense to telephone users
Federal control goes into effect through
abolishing competitions
While Mr.. Aswell refused to disclose
the Presidents views he confidently
prophesied that instead of the increase
IN rates which resulted after the Gov
eminent took control of the railroads.
both Ntelephone and telegraph rates
would be reduced rapidly and would
continue to be cut so long as the system
is In operation.
Local telephone calls will, in the
course of a short time, drop. and II
the system is in effect two or three
years will be one cent instead of five,
Mr. Aswell declared. THE huge over
head charge carried by the companies
will he cut in half Immediately by con-
solidation. and the public will benefit
directly from it. Using telephone wires
for telegraph messages and vice versa
will result In enormous savings"
Mr.. Aswell said that leased wire
charges would be considerably less I'M
der Government control OF the wires
He is believed to reflect the views OF
the President