Evening star., 1922-02-07
KICKS
| OVER Pk2NE RATES

ItueTtl,
Secretary of the Treas a-y Mellon. to-
day requested the Pub lc Ctnities
| Commission to consider q REDUCTION
in certain of the chargAS OF the
Chesapeake and Potomac N;lephone
Company for service to Uncle sam.
Correspondence from Secretah Mel
lon reveals the fact that the grAerai
! supply committee OF the government
and representatives of the company
| failed in voluntary conferences to
reach an agreement on the rates al
issue.
The commission, which held hear
| ing on telephone rates two weeks
| ago has postponed a decision. await
! ing the outcome of the goVerhineht
! effort to have its rates revised ny
| the company.
The substance of the government
! request is set forth in the folloWihs
excerpt from the correspondence hled
with the commission today:
REGARDED L. $. Reservation
-Tbat when two government reser-
va tions or parts OF 'one reservation
are separated by a public street.
connection by gOvernment-o"nes
duct or tunnel through such street
shall .be construed as coNsti
tuting the same government
l. ton ~. commit
zee that in view of the demonstrated
annual carrying charges on wlre MI MI
age and the economies resulting from
the handling OF government wire IN ca
hies of considerable size. reduction
of at least so per cent in the agsr--
gate should be allowed on groups nf
more than twenty lines from the
mileage base rate of $ih per mile
n
of opinio,s relative to the above
items between representatives OF EoHl
company anh this committee, anu. a.
the time specified Tor hnng an. any
! win the Public Utilities Commission
| eypires February }. it is obvious that
any further confecrnce must be at Al
| early date, and if Nteemed adtlsap pie
| it lis suggested thar sucn c9hlersnS
| be held not later than Friday, FEB
ruary g."
/ Letter Of Phone Company.
| In letter to the general supply
committee of the government, dated
/ February . the telephone company
F.; said in part:
The company has very ,sNe1u'It
! considered your original ieAtr %
January II and on two separaSe DC
| casions it's representatives have xn,"f
| certain proposals to the committe'
| with respect to the points raIs1N
! The company has tried to meet MS
/ objections raised by the committee l"
| our charges for service and has Of
4 fered certain reductions. which We
| consider to be more than llberai-
| In your letter of February you
p, ask still greater reduction IN mis
! age rates for groups of conductor
than that offered you by the repre-
sentatives Of the company in confer
ence. on the grounds that the carry
; ing charges on this type OF telephoh'
plant are less than the rates pre-
scribed. This question was yer!
thoroughly discussed with the mem
bers Of the committee. and II seem
unnecessary to do so further. othe'
than to emphasize again our postl"'
with respect to rate-making in gen
eral and to mileage charges in par
ticular. We do not know nor have w
based rates for specific classes OF
service on the costs involved. 10 %
SO would mean the abandonment OF
our obligations to the telephone pun
;lic as a whole. This proposition has
been repeatedly recognized as benz
sound in principle by utility commlS-
sious throughout the United states
The company. therefore. has n
| alternative other than to express IL
regret at the refusal of the committee
to consider the liberal concessions ""
offered. We have at all times eS-
erted a special effort to cooperate
with the various uepdtl-
mentS and in our recent discussion
! have leaned backward to meet {
APPOINT of view of the committee.
$3S8, ,SO8.s2 Phone Bill.
hhe correspondence from the Tire.
ury gives the annual cost OF Goyeri'
men: telephone service in Washing
ton, aS of last September. at 1886
Il SO632 OF this total Sl03, sc is for
central office messages. The next
largest item is s9s.101.4 "A for station
and tie-l ltne mileage and footage. The.
governments annual charge for serv
ice connections and removals il
s2S.61S56
Explaining why the government
pays $4,000 = year for mileae-
charges to the company, another
part of the correspondence from the
Treasury states:
THE widely scattered units Of the
| same adminstrati We organization
necessitates the extensive use by the
government of tie-lines and branch
extension lines carrying annual
charges of sl2 per quarter of mile
or fraction thereof. amounting IN ag-
gregate to over SOS, 900 per annum, so
that the question of a beher con
! structed telephone system involving
the consolidation Of smaller boards
would result in considerable econ
omies but for the mileage and foot
age now charged.