The Washington times., 1918-03-04
BURLESON CAN CUT
PHONE RATES, HE
TELLS SENATORS
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service Of the District OF Columbia
and be able to
"(a) Operate it without increased
charges TO the patrons.
"Cb) Without reducing the salaries
OF employees.
"Cc) And pay for the system out OF
the surplus revenues OF the postal
service
ITO which propositions I am able
to add another:
Second: That within a reasonable
time after receiving such authority
the Post Office Department will per-
manently remove the present conges-
tion Of telephone traffic, and bring
about a more general use Of the lines
to both the Government and private
patrons.
81 have only to further add that
so much as might be necessary OF the
surplus Of the Postoffice Department,
for the fiscal years 1916 and 1871
could nowhere and in no way be
more appropriately applied than in
giving the Government, in its stress,
and the people Of the Capital City.
permanent, adequate facilities for
rates.
to the fact that there is no govern
ment engaged in the present war
there is hardly a government any
where-which entrusts its official
secrets and correspondence to unoffl-
cial and private carriers"
Gives History.
Mr.. Burleson briefly gives the his
tory of propositions before Congress
in the pasS for Government owner
ship of telephone lines in the District
and the fact that his views have here
I tofore been given before committees
of Congress considering proposed
legislation. He declares that "if any
of these measures had been enacted
! into law, the present telephone sys-
tenn in Washington, WHICH MAY BE
| DESCRIBED AT THIS TIME AS DE-
PLORABLE, would have been
avoided"
Telephone experts reported to Mr..
! Burleson in May, 1917. that a network
OF $4,000 telephone stations could be
provided here at q comparatively
small cost above the existing valuA-
tiou of the Chesapeake and Potomac
Telephone Company, and that the
cost per telephone could be easily
REDUCED MORE THAN ONE-THIRD.
The telephone company estimates
the expense per telephone in 1915 to
be S3S.1O, without allowance for cap
ital charges or taxes This, Mr.. Burle-
son says, is grossly in excess OF what
the cost would be II the system were
operated by the Postofhce Depart
ment.
Cites Statistics.
Mr.. Burleson declares that before
the war the quantity OF service rem
dered in the city Of Washington was
| "the lowest per telephone reported in
the United States, while the average
rate charged for completed calls was
, the highest for all cities reporting
with one exception"
In New York city, in 1914, the an
nual calls per telephone averaged e62,
! with a rate per 100 local calls OF SAB.
The annual calls per phone in Wash
ingtOn averaged SOB, for which the
local rate per 100 calls was S4.2I.
Independent telephone lines in Phil
adelphia, indianapolis, Kansas City,
Buffalo, Louisville, and other large
cities. reduced the rate per 100 calls
! to exceptionally low figures with eX-
ceptionalIy large use OF the service.
Mr.. Burleson says that while Wash
ington IS given a service OF only 500
to LOO calls per telephone. "the
! average calls per telephone in the
| United States was 2,055, according to
the census Of 1912, and some of the
cities show a phone utilization OF
! more than 5000 calls per annum. For
/ this half normal service. l am inform
| ed that the average paid per 100 calls
/ IN Washington was So to 81, when the
average for the United States was 50
cents per hundred for independent