Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-02-26

| reese natives nearing Gaze July ~
| 1918. The properties were taken over
| as war measure and solely for thel
! national security and defense. At thaSI
time we were at war with Germany
and her allies on November II AMI
armistce was signed and hostilitiesI
! Immediately ceased"
At the time of the adoption of
that resolution, commissions la all but
five states of the union were engaged
| in regulating the rates and service of
| telephone companies and in a NUMBER
| of states they exercised control over
telegraph companies. Broadly speak
ing. telephone companies are divided
into three classes: exchanges, toll lines
and rural or farm lines. As rule
i only the wires and facilities of toll
lines extended bcyonu the limits of a
| single state. Exchange plants are To-
cal in character The practice of reg
| ulating commiss ons has been to base
| rates on the actual investment or the
! physical value of the properties. A
! substantial percentage of the toll
! rates are wholly between points WITH
! in a single state and were subject to
local regulations. 1t has always been
/ understood that the control of rates
! Is within the police power of the
states. And yet, the postmaster gen
! eral has undertaken to establish ln-i
I stallation and service charges as Well
! as standard toll rates, 10 apply uni
! formly upon state as well as Interstate
business and he has indicated an in-
tention to fix exchange or local rates
| based upon uniform principles,
Resolution Also Asks Return.
! our association at its annual con-
! vention held in Washington, Novem-I
Der 1874 1918, adopted the following
| resolution:
1 whereas, it is apparent that the
4 ends sought to be obtained by fed
| eral control of the telephone and tele-
i already been satisfied as far as is pos
/ sble, and it is not perceivable, that
1 under existing conditions it is desir-
/ able that further government control
be exercised pending the return of
! such properties to state control; and
whereas, during the short period OF
: such control and operation by the fed
| eral government, there has been prac-
ticallv. no interference or change IN
Il the corporate organization, manage
ment or properties of telephone ana
;, telegraph companies and, whereas,
u pending the natural termination OF
such federal control, the state COM
, ! missions are embarrassed by the as
: sumption by the postmaster general
| of exclusive control over rates, there
fore,
''Be ii resolved, that this association
| does respectfully commend to the
postmaster general that the federal
= control of the telephone and tele-
9 graph lines cease as soon as practica-
! BILE, and the military necessity there
fore shall have ended.
! "On taking charge of these systems
Il on August II, 1918, the postmaster
= general said it was the purpose of the
postoffice department to use said serv-
+ ice at least cost to the people.
o Whereas, it is apparent that the
"Keeeping in mind that a high
j.. standard of efficiency must be main
= tanned. In his address at the annual
g convention of our association on No
: vember 13, 1918, he stated the con-
. trolling consideration with the gov
: eminent is to give the largest and best
, service possible at the least cost--it is
our purpose in the management OF
I these systems to unity them and so
: to adjust the rates as to be able to
e take care of the increased volume OF
: business, and when that has been
. done, it Is our earnest hope that we
will be able to adjust these rates as
to bring about a substantial reduc-
ton of them"
on December IA, the postmaste.
general issued his bulletin No. % pre-
scribing schedule of standardized
. toll rates effective January %, 1919
which greatly increased the charges
to the public although the schedule
had this result of station TO station
service is to reduce or not effeC'
about 70 per cent of the rates
Though necessarily slightly raising
about 80 per cent in the process oil
Standardization" the net result of 81
months of operation by the postmas
ter general of these wire systems u
, inferior service and very sLhstaU;ia
increases in charges to tho public.
! No Military Necessity.
1--WE feel that these properties
} should be returned No military ne.
! cessity can now be pleaded in sup
2 port of government control. The quail
ity of the service in many cases ha'
= deteriorated. No rule, regulation
practice or rate increase has be"r
: adopted for military purposes Rate!
T and charges have bean greatly ia
creased without giving tho | 'ltrnns 81
public an opportunity to lie heard a
the reasonableness or the justice
D thereof: though the principle wa,
0 long ago settled that importan
8 changes shall be submitted for public
d consideration before becoming effec
D tive. These rate changes are apple
. able upon state as well as interstate
offices and have thereby caused wide
! spread dissatisfaction with fedora
:, operation which is evidenced by tn
J. fact that judicial protection to pre-
3 vent the collection of said excessive
charges, brought by the states of New
9 York. New Jersey, Florida, Missis
8 sippi, Louisiana, Kansas, Nebraska
/ Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mime
: sofa, Wisconsin and California, ant
e its contemplation by several others
q This toll rate order also prescribed
:. a new and untried system, which ha
;. resulted in general confusion amoni
:. operating officials and the patrons
!, throughout the country.
IL Fundamental changes are being
;. made in the operation of these sys
TENS which probably could not b.
: legally done under private control an:
which upon return to private manage
ment may cause serious disturbance
in the relativee status of the differen
wire systems. Federal operation hal
also disrupted service and resulted il
interfering with many of the estab
lished practices in several states o.
the union. 1t is felt that prompt re