I jEPfiOili HI; City Council Has a Long Ses- I- sion, but Virtually Aecom- . plishcs Nothing. I I ; DELL COMPANY" IS I f SATISFIED WITH FRANCHISE It I AVIiaL Tax Telephone Cmnnanies I In . AVill Pay Is Still in flic Air. Illli Til place Cily Council I if I Hi J chamber. T jjj l I The lime "Wednesday eve- v llllll 1 "'The purpose Discussion of If I If I' f '- lax on telephones. . V : If Ji 3 The rosnli One motion put .- ; 1 nnd lost and one motion made v flfc ( and not put. for the reason thai y ifllJI tho president, of the Bel com- y t (ill I pnnv said that he would not y i I I! stand for it, it; it prevailed. y I! Nino members of the City ouneil met as a committee of the who'o Wod- . liea.la v evening, and spent more than Iff two tony, onorvatinc hours in a dip- i eussion of the license tax ordinance, (1 . so far as it applies to telephone oom- IL panics. Strictly spending, the ictult ot W the discussion was nil. althoueji n did k brincvont. from II. Vance Lane, p:vi- ll J iont of the Bell company, that tins com- (JM .:, panv was satisfied with- its present LE. franchise, and that it would not permit m I " tho council, under any circumstuitcos IN whatever, to amend it in sucn a wav (1: as to prevent the company from in- Hp.. creasing tho price of telephones when- ffl ? ever it may see fit. V )J . Th'o meeting was tho outgrowth ol tltc M action of the council in turning dmvn the recommendation of f tic municipal I laws and license committees, reooin- V mending that the Boll company be H p permitted to pay the city cno ycr cent ' of its gross earnings and furnish itovty ' i- free telephones in lieu of the license jf. f 1ax. and the reference of the matter to ;! ' tho committee, of the whole to lake up i , with tho companv for the Vteenth tune. J.) -J . President Davis was selected as tho lljj ' ' chairman of the committee and the Ijfc :?ninimiication ,of the Bell company and ',1 . the opinion of the city attorney; snb- h. ! mittcd to the council last Monday eve- ff.j ning. were read again. Tho conimum- (ftRjll': cation of tlie company protested against frail ' the tax upon tho ground that it was jpjl 1 invalid and unjust, and that the city jRwll i was precluded and estopped from on- (SWiSl forcing back taxes for the reason that S jf i ' the contract entered' into in Alnv. JOOi, mvi bv which the company has been fnr- Imfjif lushing fortv free telephones to the citv IttfilC; in lien of license taxes., has never been )dI ! terminated. The opinion of the C'ty ill t attorney was in harmony with the views fffltfl . of tho company upon the matter o col- Rliya Icct.ing back taxes. As to the Jii-ie- jj8riF" pendent company, the attorney advised Uftj H ft the council. that he would begin ioir. at jig ft A once against that company to collect. i ft ifff Doings Begin in Earnest. ' h After' President Lane of the Hell fyLfs company had .slid to the committee I that he did not ask for tho franchise JfcIf' vcccutly introduced into the council, as ' 3Mirk a result of tho recommendation of i.ho fiyH report of the committees which had had HSjl the matter under consideration, and tho rilklU statement, had been verified by Assist- . I ant City. Attorney Daly, the doin's be- r W 1 8 an 'n earnest. H(y' In replv 0 a question by Mr. TJay- IK .'la? bould. President Lane stated tiiat the f im receipts of the company were from , $21,000 to $21,000 a month, and that one per cent of the gross earnings wouid 1 1 l bo ajiproximatolv $2100 a year. ijf -Mr. Hall then took tho iloor and said it J f that he had hoped tho matter would f I '1 bo taken to tho courts and settled there. 1 j Je thought, bv -giving tho city free Im telephones in Jiou of a tax, that tho I fit Bell company admitted the right of the, city to enforce the tax. and could nor, til S enmo in now and say that thn city did fiiu not have such right. Ho also declared jtjp i ilia I. tho contract, should never have ?' j t bcn entered info by the council. iKjp Mr. Perns trom said that flavor i W -J Bransford was in favor of the one per fl ; cent on tho gross earnings, but that he. wj il wanted tho Bell companj' to furnish v fifty free telephones, ins.tcad of forty , J as first conlcmpltcd. n Jj j Then followed a discussion as to s kii- whether or not the ono per cent; paid ft nil! I'' "by the Independent-company, with tho 5 B jj ' fifty free telephones furnished to the i IM 1 city, was in lieu of license taxes. Mr , If ll J i'ernstrom look the ground that It was, hjJ and other members differed with him 1t u ' J and contended that this concession on i Ml the part of tho company was a. payment i hw f to the city for the franchise, and" nolli R'l f jug more. It also was pointed out. that j ( if j thcro was nothing in tho franchise to Jsw,! show that the concession was in lieu , j of license taxes, although Manager ' 1 1 JIarvev of ihc Independent company 4, t said tliafc had always been his unuer- 'j standing. d ' j Hall Makes a Motion. il Mr. Hall made a motion at 1 his time ) that the committee recommend to the ' council that the city attorney be in- structed to collect tho licensn tax from . if both companies from the 1st of .January h of tho present 3'ear. ' i Mr. Hall's attention was called to tho i j opinion of tho cit3' attorney as to estop- pal, but lie took the ground that the jf ;ict.ion of tho council last January, in ! il ' regard to the collection of the license I tax, was sufficient notice to tho com pany that the old contract was tormin-i tormin-i atcd, "Let the company pay what it owes to tho city and let thn city pay v ' what it owes to 'the compan-," was Mr. ; Hall's motto. . Mr. Martin made the statement that r tho Bell comnauv had never paid a divi- j: dend, but Mr. Lane corrected this bv s'i. saying that the company has paid divi dends, but that, the plant in this city has never mado any money. It also came out that the Independent, company has .never paid maintenance charges -: since it began operation. ! Mr. Martin then moved that tho ex- i istiug license ordinance bo repealed s ! to telephones, and that tho cit.y enter into a contract with the Bell company, ) ' permitting the company to pay 1 per '- cent of its gross earnings and furnish ' the city with fifty frco telephones for ' 't -Tt 'a period of threo years. i - Mr. Lane announced that ho would A- : not agree to the thrce-yenr clause, and lvV Martin added "twenty-five years." ipit Later, upon the suggestion of members r & I of the committee that the company F.t I should be given a franchise, in which ' the city , might prevent tho company I : " x. from increasing tho price of telephones, Mr. Martin so amended his own motion. . was then that Mr. Lane declared that the Bell compnny would not consider con-sider the proposition for a minute. "We are satisfied with our present franchise," fran-chise," he said, "and will not permit, of any change in it if we can prevent it. We have nothing to give up, but I per cent of our gross receipts and fifty frco telephones, and wo look upon that as a gift to the city," Much Conversation Wasted. Between the. mnking of Mr. Martin's original motion and its amendment, Mr. Hall's motion had been put and lost, Hall and Murdock voting in tho affirmative; affirm-ative; Cowburn, Fernstrom, Hodgson, Martin and llaybould voting in tho negative, neg-ative, and Rccdall and Davis being excused. ex-cused. There was also u largo amount of conversation wasted. Manager Harvey of the Independent company was heard briefly, his statement state-ment being that his company was not paying expenses, and that tho exaction of the proposed license tax would work a very great hardship. It was also stated during tho discussion discus-sion that the Bell company only averages aver-ages $30 per year upon its S1US telephones tele-phones in this citj'. After Mr. Lane had declared that his companj' would not consider the proposition propo-sition embodied in Mr. Martin's amend-,el amend-,el motion, tho committee adjourned without day. f