| Show ONE TELEPHONE COMPANY tEPflESENTATjVE BUSINESS MENT OPPOSE CHARTER TO RIVAL 1 LflE Additional Company Would Bo a Detriment Detri-ment Itathier Than n Benefit to tho General Gen-eral Public A Petition Is Sent to Cong Con-g css S A petition of prominent residents of Washington including business men mwyers and others has been presented to the Senate District committee pray ing that no legislation be enacted to charter another telephone company In Washington The petition was presented pre-sented In the Senate by Chairman Mc ailllan and following the usual custom as the committee had acted on thiS thi-S pending bill was ordered to lie on the table Tim peUtlon and the signets areas are-as follows S To the Committee of the Untied Slates S Senate on the District of Columbia Thounderslgncd citizens of the Dis tdct of Columbia respectfully represent repre-sent thud suggest to your commit ice that the granting of authority to additional telephone companies to operate within the District is unadvlsablc for the fol lowing reasons First It must be apparent to you that from Ihc very nature of the Instni irt < 5nl and its use that a single telephone tele-phone connected witli a single company or exchange thus putting the subscriber sub-scriber into communication with all users of telephones in the District both local anti long distance Is far preferable prefer-able to being obliged to use ncveral phones belonging to several companies to accomplish the same end and aside from the annoyance of various signals the cost of these several instruments would in the cud be far greater than a single phono at a higher rate Second An additional telephone plant 1C established wll necessitate the tearing up of miles of asphalted streets to build the nccessaivy conduits and house connections and yicojivenl once tho public on Ihe very streets Where the present conduits of the pros ont company nOw exist amply sufllolont to supply any demand for telephone service and this useless tearing up of costly pavements all over the city would be a nuisance and serious detriment 16 Ihc public health S Third It appears that Iho Chesapeake Chesa-peake and Potomac company have made such changes and modifications oC their rates and charNctur of service i vylthin the past few months that anyone any-one wishing telephone service can have the same at various rates from high to low anti especially low rates for good service where ordinary use Is made of tIm Instruments based on a cost pro Portioned to the extent of the use and number of persons on a line and to hose paying1 for its use Fourth It appears that mileage charges ate practically abolished by establishing es-tablishing new exchanges which with the new scale of rates now In force docs away with most and in fact nil of the objections which have been raised against the company heretofore and under these conditions wo suggest that any additional company would boa bo-a detriment rather than a benefit to the public Yours respectfully u a Signed by large list of leading husi ness houses railways etc Washinglon Post Fob 2 1901 5 |
