| OCR Text |
Show H i ;' THE TELEPHONE SITUATION. B S "Truth" discusses the telephone situation in a Bfj m dogmatic style and tells of the short-comings of HI w the present system and the advantages which Bj m ' would accrue were an opposition company started. Bjj ft The only trouble is its article does not reach down HJIf $ i to the ultimate effect upon patrons. Sit declares that "with three or four exceptions there are independent telephones in every important im-portant city in the United States, and they have been found most advantageous to the people." I Does "Truth" know that to be true or does it make the assertion at random? We do not believe our neighbor can substantiate its statement. We Bgf Bj cited what we thought was good authority for our i m position. St. Louis is one of the great cities of the B m j country. Hjj m I There is a gentleman here who lived there a Hi B I long time and who but recently came from there. 1 m j Reading the article which we published two weeks HgjhB ago, he said: "That is the exact truth. No man HE S knows what a nuisance two telephone systems in Hi K a city is until he has had an experience with Hi them. In St. Louis the old company charges HI $100.00 per year, the opposition $60.00 per year for II the use of a 'phone. You go to call up a man and find he is on the other system. Not many men or firms can afford to patronize both lines, and when they" can there is infinite trouble and confusion. Tho feeling in St. Louis generally is that the double dou-ble system is a nuisance which amounts to a kind of torture of the people." Our own idea is that the city should own and operate the telephone as it does the water. No doubt it could greatly reduce rates in the city proper, for the telephone is a monopoly and the souls of monopolies are as a rule ironclad. But there is something worse than a monopoly; that is two monopolies. Our suggestion would be for the Mayor and Council to get the opinions of citizens of other cities as large or larger than Salt Lake, before establishing a nuisance here which, once established, estab-lished, the city will have no power to abate. |
