Show NEWS BE er Z by PAUL MALLON fu y released by western newspaper union communication SYSTEMS OPERATION COSTLY washington the degeneration of the superior american efficiency in business into some something thing like europe before the dictators where trains did not run on time telephone service was whimsical and telegraph messages and airmail might be expected to arrive two or three days late was observed painfully by me in my trip down through the southeastern states the railroads are arc not yet a monopoly in this country perhaps the people are getting from them as good service as the deficiency of materials and men will permit or a reasonable approximation in general thereof however telephone service Is a monopoly it if the citizen cannot get service on one line lie he cannot walk across the street and try another th the e company has a monopoly of the business the workers have a monopoly of the work with their unions this imposes upon them a public responsibility beyond other businesses and other workers to perform their public service efficiently I 1 am not now considering the strike threat issue I 1 have not investigated vesti gated merits or demerits of opposing contentions yet your house may burn to the ground causing you great and needless loss if fire calls are not handled promptly because of strike negligence inefficiency or any other reason deaths may be caused by delays of a few moments in ambulances operations or blood transfusions robbers may make good escapes all the property as well as the very life of the citizen rest heavily upon the efficiency of this single means of swift communication between people no company and no group of of workers have the tha right to cause damage and death among the people as a whole for any reason whether just or unjust to do so is a violation of every natural law of man and common decency with the right of monopoly in business andor work closed shop goes a public responsibility which cannot be ignored or avoided tor for any human purpose MONOPOLY OLT DOES NOT IMPROVE PROVE VITAL SERVICE I 1 was forced to muse upon these serious considerations of vital inalienable rights by my minor experiences perien ces of trying to handle my comparatively unimportant business through telephone telegraph and airmail while away from my office for a few weeks I 1 found the I 1 telephone and airmail wholly undependable pen dable the airmail of course is a government monopoly and efficiency is to be expected from past experience but I 1 found that airmail special delivery letters mailed at th the e same time each day at the same point of origin would arrive at their destination on schedule only one time out of three the other two times the mall mail would be from one to two days late I 1 understood then why so many newspapers were complaining pla ining about late arrival of mail copy the post office has plainly failed to recover yet from the war telephoning became an idle but interesting amusement each occasion furn furnished shed something novel out of 10 calls tc washington I 1 eventually got gol three through one was prompt the other resulted from an hour of effort to get a supervisor who put it through for me after my original call and the operators promise to call you back in 20 minutes both had become lost so deeply that no one round around o the exchange had heard of it the third call in the afternoon was completed the following morning the others never got through for reasons which are not reportable portable rc authoritatively by me but I 1 was told a variety of things there will be a delay of 30 to 40 minutes or your line Is busy and then a few seconds later it does not answer 11 I 1 could never find out why it could be busy and then in a few seconds did not answer I 1 soon found out complaining accomplished nothing electrical noises would erupt in the phone and deafen my ear if I 1 even suggested such a thing to myself the only way you could get t a supervisor was to work through a friendly operator on a private switchboard who could coul make just as loud noises as the telephone monopoly the sending of a telegram I 1 found to be less of an adventure ad ventur e and an could be done in less than a day in tact fact I 1 have only one complaint complain against the telegraph monopoly they apparently gave my telegram to the wrong party on the phone I 1 will say telegraph sei service arvice Is at least better than when the postal vacated the field but what of the people who deal in important figures of money men or perishable materials this is a big nation dealing daily in big matters what of the national labor leaders trying to call off strikes kesT |