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Show TELEPHONE CO, ! GIVENMORING V Salt Lake. Oct. IS. -The Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph com-t com-t paly wfls scored unmercifully on Its public-service Ju a mass meeting last night of the Commercial club membership, mem-bership, attended by more than 300. After'a spirited discussion in which numerous speakers handled the situation situa-tion without gIoes, a motion was car. jrled authorizing the president of the I club, W. W. Armstrong, to appoint j at his own discretion a Bpcclal com-(mlttee com-(mlttee of twenty-one members, who 1 will hac full power to bring nbout 1 'action toward a betterment of the, 'service, either through the city gov-j gov-j eminent or the courts, ln a manner ' that shall seem to them wise and j I proper. Before any drastic step io I takeu, however, the commlttoo Is to I report Its findings and rocommenda-tlons rocommenda-tlons at 0 regular mcrbcrshlp meeting 1 of the club. I J P. C. Richmond offered the original ' 1 motion In a speech, the terms of I which were unmistakable. He review, ed the objects and work of the Com-Imorclnl Com-Imorclnl club, and said that its work, as individuals or ss a club, could not succeed ujile?B action wero taken in unison. Mr. RIchmond7 In part, said: Wo have a public service corporation cor-poration hero that Is a thief. It Is a thief in this way It Is stealing the valuable time of all business men ln this community. I refer to tho Mountain States Telephone &, Telegraph company. Every man in this town Is being robbed of his own and also of his employer's time. I do not have to co into details. Tho thing Is so crudo it Is a joke. The company com-pany employs for the most part mere children as oporators. These girls receive an average- of $30 a month. If It becomes necessary to bring logsl procedure against this com-r.any com-r.any to forco it either to give Ibe brsinoFa men and people 01 mis communltv--its patrons proper sfrvlco for which they pay or else to flqht t3 franchise, my houso will glvo $500 toward such a step. Somo ono at the roar of the room celled out that he would double tho amount, but no re-ord cf this was obtained ob-tained in the meotlntr. After Mr Richmond had recited at bngth his personal experiences with the telephone service, referring cs-pclallv cs-pclallv to a contract of Importanco thai had been delayed with great loss In Us fulfillment becaufc of the service he offered his motion, which, with amendments bv Colonel M. M. Knlghn and Frank B. Sjtephons, was adopted John Dern arg"ed against giving the committee full powers to act in the matter He said the motion was too broad and that no drastic action jshould bo taken before the matter had been reported upon nnd carefully Weighed In a genoral membership meeting. W. D. NeVoker also snokc along lines similar to this. Both 'said that the though) the service was getting better and that patlonco should be exercised. Fire Chief Is Heard. Chief W. H. Bywater of the fire de. partmoiit was no lean outspoken ln his upbraiding of tho telephone com- 1 pany than was Mr. Richmond. Chief 1 Bywater said In part: With respect to those who havo spoken for the company and Its service, ,1 do not believe it has been bettered. It is, in fact, no better now than it was three months ago. The service is simply sim-ply vile. At the department We have delays of from three to seven sev-en minutes owing to tho tele-phono tele-phono service, and In case of fire this Is a sorlous menace. . The lives of men, women and children aro endangored as well as private and public property of great value. I have had years of acquaintance vwlth this work and It Is an outrage thnt we should have to put up with the present conditions. Wo should not be compelled to put up with chlldron being employed em-ployed for switchboard work. I remember when George Y. Wallace Wal-lace was In charge of the company, com-pany, he employed tho best help that could be had. Under present pres-ent conditions, when an alarm comes in by telephone, the fire apparatus men and myself very , often don't know whother we are going to tho right place or not Insurance men aro always there with their sharp pencils to note any delays in responding to an alarm and business men are paying pay-ing higher rates today limn thoy should, largely bocause of such unbearable conditions, as result from the present telephone service. serv-ice. Colonel M. M. Kalghn, who al60 scored the company vigorously, said that some months ago n committee on which he had acted in connection with the telephone service, had ad- il rf.QCr-1,1 nhrrnf flflv ltterfl to busllle3K mun of the city wheo all agreed that th service was intolerable, although Colonel Kalghn used a stronger adjective. ad-jective. Ho added It also transpired that the public pub-lic service corporations at that time were apparently standing togothcr in a brotherhood. Now the telophone company Is not dealing fairly with us. It can secure se-cure competent operators If it will pay for them. When the recent re-cent change came about, most of tho old help was squeezed out, and only a few expert v.-orkers remain at $75 a month. The rest mere children, will average not more than $u0 u month In wages. |
