The Donaldsonville chief., 1920-10-30
RAISE IN PHONE RATES.
No Clear Reason for Granting rs Per
Cent Increase Asked by Company.

~
In view of the petition of the
Cumberland Telephone and Tele-
graph Company asking for an in
crease of rs per cent in it's telephone
rates throughout the state, which is
presently pending before the Rail-
ticle taken from the st. Landry
Clarion, published at Opelousas, IS
timely and to the point:
"The Cumberland Telephone Com
pany has requested the State Rail
road Commission for permission to in
crease telephone rates twenty five
per cent throughout the state Of Lou
isiana. This request will no doubt
come up before the commission IN
due time and action on same taken.
''Thc telephone company claims it
has in view extensive extensions Of
its service and in order to make this
Improvement will require raise in
rates. However in it's request, it
does not say anything about an i'm
provement in existing conditions
where poor service is complained Of
by patrons. If it's claims for an in
crease is really based on a desire to
make more money out Of it's patrons
in order to pay the cost of ,exten-
turned down. sssas.ssssg
"As a matter of local interest, It
is well to recall that Opelouses pa
irons Of the company have been the
victims of poor service for q long
me, and several vigorous kicks reg
istered about the same have really
amounted to naught, True after
these protests there has been some
temporary improvement but as soon
as the matter dropped from public
view the company slipped back into
the old groove Of poor service. We
recall that within the recent and dis
tant past there have been innumer-
able kicks about the poor service
rendered. We also recall that rates
nave been increased several times
during this period. The same pool
equipment is here and slight I'M
provement in the service did not con
tinue for very long.
Prices for many commodities afs
dropping rapidly, and it appears thai
the era of price-raising is a thing Of
the past. The war has been ovel
practically two years and many be
lievc justly that it is time to retur1
to a pre-war basis. Those people
and corporations who endeaVor K
either bolster or boost higher price
are sure to get jolt. If the Cum
berland company desires an increas'
in order to improve service OF tt
existing lines, there may be some rea
son for granting it. But If, on tn
:ther hand, it desires to wrest NOR
dollars out of the people in order t.
invest these dollars in extensions
then the request should be forthwith
rejected"
The company asked for a hearin.
before the commission at its session
this month. but the commission order
ed continuance until its Decembe
meeting and instructed the compan,
o print its proposed new rates II
pamphlet form for distribution at al
points to be affected by the increase
This was no doubt done so as to civ
ample time and opportunity to tn
neople in sections to be affected by tn
change to familiarize themselves Wit
the proposition and prepare such ob
iect:ons to the company's appllcatlo'
las they may care to urge before tn
commission. 1t will be remembers
that while the telephones Of the coun
try We're under government control
little over year ago there was a,
arbitrary increase in exchange and to-
rates, to enable the company to NEE
the alleged increased cost Of materla
Iaquipment. labor, etc, but the SAL
increase in rates was not followed D.
an improvement in service. Subse
.uently, under another arbitrary ruls
bills for exchange service were mad
,,avable at the beginning Of the cur
rent month instead of during tn
early part Of the following month
and this change produced no improve
! n1ent The commission would do We
to 90 slow in the matter of grantln
he increase prayed for.
It is easy TO raise rates. but I
might be found extremely difficult !
7ot impossible to reduce them whe1
the price Of everything has decrease
and conditions return to normal. a
it is reasonable to expect that the
,.iiI in . vary short time