The Topeka State Journal

PUBLIC TELEPHONE OWNERSHIP.

[From the Newark, N. J., Advertiser.]

Public ownership of telephones and telegraphs is favored by the federal industrial commission, of which Congressman Gardner, of this state, is the most active member. A recommendation as radical as that was not expected of a commission so conservative in character.

It has been consistently urged before, that, as the federal government owns the postoffice system and operates it with eminent success, it should also control the telegraph system as an adjunct of the postal system, inasmuch as the functions are similar. And if the telegraph, then, logically, also the telephone.

The last number of "Municipal Affairs," a quarterly publication by the New York Reform club, gives the results of the operation of the public telephone in Amsterdam, Holland, where the Netherlands Bell Telephone company secured a fifteen years' monopoly in Amsterdam in 1880 on condition of paying to the public treasury 21½ per cent of its gross receipts. On the expiration of the franchise, in 1896, the city took over the system and has since operated it. The system has been since then thoroughly re-equipped, the wires generally put under ground and prices reduced.

The number of subscribers has been greatly increased, there is an all-night service, the hours of work for employes have been reduced and their wages have been advanced. A free pension system for superannuated employes has also been introduced. Last year there was a gross surplus revenue of $66,390, of which $11,825 went for interest on the purchase price of the plant. There were also extensions and improvements during the year.

What has been accomplished in a Holland city is perfectly practicable in an American municipality and for the whole United States. We need, however, look no further than our great postal service for proof of ability to successfully organize and conduct a publicly owned telegraph and telephone system. It would only be necessary for the postmaster general to incorporate the two great systems in the postal system, the organization of which is broad enough and complete enough to cover all.