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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1913)
r5P$W0!H : e K & s I 1 R N 3 if. 2 The Commoner. Public Ownership of Telephones House Roll No. 3. A bill for an act to pro vldo for tho establishment, maintenance, exten sion and operation of public tolepbone systems, nnd declaring an emergency. Introduced by Representative Fuller and passed by tbe lower house of tho Nebraska' legislature. Ho it enacted by tlo people of the state of Nebraska: Section 1. Power and authority is hereby granted and bestowed upon the various coun ties' of this stato to establish publje telephone systems within the respective counties accord ing to (ho provisions of this act. Section 2. For tho purpose of establishing ouch county telephone systems, tho county boards having tho general power to lovy taxes for county purposes throughout tho stato are empowered and authorized to cause a tax of not nioro than two (2) mills on the dollar of tho assessed valuation of said county to bo levied and collected for tho purpose of estab lishing or assisting in establishing a public tolephono system for any county within this stato. Provided that tho county board shall submit tho question of such levy to the electors at a general or special election when a petition is filed with tho clerk of said board signed by at least ten per cent of tho electors of tho county and if carried by a majority vote of all electors cast at said election tho board shall niako tho lovy aforesaid. Section 3. When tho amount of revenue which such a tax would produco in any one year shall bo insuUlciont to establish such public tolephono system, tho county board of super visors or county commissioners of any county shall, upon petition of 10 per cent of the elec tors of tho county praying therefor, issue tho bonds of said county to an amount not to ex ceed 2 per cent of tho total assessed valua tion of said county, and bearing not to exceed (I per cont interest and payable in not to exceed 20 years, but with an option on the part of tho county that same may bo paid at any time within ilvo years from date, provided however that before such bonds shall bo issued the question of issuing tho same shall bp submitted to a voto of tho electors of said county at a general or special election, and bo authorized by a majority vote of the electors voting at such election, and such bond issue and all matters concerned therewith shall bo governed in all respects, except where in conflict with this present act, by tho provisions of law for tho issuance of bonds by counties for the pur pose of intornal improvement, and when so issued shall bo deemed regular and valid in all respects. And when such bonds are so issued the sa d boards shall provide for the levy and collection of a tax annually suflicient to pay the interest thereon, and for a tax to provide a sink ing fund for the payment of said bonds as thef w??Uon 4" T,hQ county commissioners or Hon fm-f supervises shall provide by resolu tion foi tho establishment of such telephone system, and all contracts for tho construction of the same, or any part thereof, shall be by brimhlVrtlnn4!11 UPn tWGnty dayS n0tiC by publication in som0 newspaper of general circulat on published in said county. Prodded that said boards may reject any and all bids and cause tho work of construction to be per formed under their supervision. Section 5. Such board shall further provide for tho proper organization, regulation main tenance and extension of such telephone" system and shall be authorized, if necessary? to le a tax of not to exceed 1 mill on tho dollar upon the taxable property of said county for the pu pose of maintaining and extending the same Section G. They shall further provide 'for the employment of a telephone chief, who shall bo hired by contract with the county board fop a term o not to exceed five years, and sha 1 gi?o Wee0 V1? C0,Inty ln th0 1)enal s" of at llast $5,000 ana not more than twice the value of the said system, as may be determined by the sad board which bond shall be approved b? said board and filed before such contract is ?nnfhJnVnate( ' aml 8,ln" b0 conditioned for the faithful performance of all duties, and to proper accounting and payment of ail moneys- and to the said telephone chief shal be com' mitted under the direction of the said countv board, the full control and operation of "a id telephone system. Tho county board may uno recommendation of said telephone chief em Ploy such assistants as may be required tho number and compensation thereof to , 'be d " -J . f)t v termined by the county board. The said tele phone chief and such assistants shall be paid by the county by warrant out of the telephone fund hereinafter referred to, the compensation fixed by the county board for them respectively, provided that they nor any of them shall never bo paid any sum out of any other fund for their services or otherwise, except that the compensa tion of the telephone chief may be wholly or partly paid out of the county general fund, dur ing the construction of said system or for the period of one year thereafter, providing sufli cient funds are not available in said telephone fund for that purpose. Sec. 7. Tho county board shall provide by resolution which shall bo published with their regular proceedings for the rates and tolls to bo charged each subscriber to said system for the use of said -system -within said county, pro vided that in their discretion they may provide rates and tolls for the use of the entire county system, and may also, in case more than one local exchange is established, provide charges and tolls for the use of tho telephones con nected to the various exchanges. In provid ing such charges and tolls the same shall, so far as may be, be based upon the actual cost of service, including operation expenses, salaries, maintenance of property and the like, and after the deduction from tho gross income of a reasonable percentage for deprecitation of property, and for necessary extension work; the intention being that the system shall be operated as nearly as may be for actual cost of service, but shall be self-suBtaining and self-perpetuating. The said charges and tolls shall be col lected by said telephone chief and by him paid over monthly into the county treasurer's office into a fund to bo known as the county telephone fund, in which shall also bo included the funds, if any, derived from the above mentioned maintenance and extension tax. Section 8. The power to establish public telephone systems as provided for by this act shall include the right to purchase from any company, association, corporation, or individual the whole or any part of any system already established, provided that before the avails of any bond issue can be used for that purpose, the question of such purchase must be submitted to and approved by a vote of a majority of the electors voting at a general or special election of the county, called for that purpose, and the notice therefor must state the purchase price at which it is proposed to buy such system or part of system, which notice shall be published for thirty days in some newspaper of general circulation in the county. fecnerai Section 9. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, the right of eminent domain is granted to the various counties to condemn any and all private property neces sary, but only on just compensation to the owner thereof, to be determined in the 8aZ manner as now provided by law for the con- undeTt rightPriVate by COunties Section 10. Any county maintaining and Snr?iln,g CiUnty teleP"one system as herein provided shall also have power, through its county board, to enter into yearly contracts with other counties and municipalities owning and operating telephone systems, and also with persons, firms and corporations operating Tele- Snobby80?8, fr phy8ical connection with such other telephone systems for the inter change of telephone service and the t?ansmta sion of telephone messages to points beS the county line of such county and from nTf without to points within such' ?oun yanor the transmission of messages from points ith out such county over its phone wires to othVr" lntBf beyon(1 the boundaries of such countv with full power to fix and agree upon toll rate for such inter-county service atqs Section 11. All acts and parts of acts ill ZJTln' hl CnmCt hereWith' aVhlVeby Section 12 Whereas an emergency exlin ?? ?' Sla11 tako effect ad be in foroe from and after its passage and approval. om rStSn?18lnr- and time January 16, 1913. Referred So SeCond on telegraph, telephone and 5?ctrte comn January 16, 1913. Sent to printer Jammrv f 1913. Introduced by Fuller for in no G vide for transfer facilities and physical o"0' nection between telephone xctleterm-" VOLUME 13, NUMBER U ining how the expenses thereof shall bo nnM fixing the penalty for the violation of the S visions of this act, and empowering the sUt railway commission to enforce the same Be it enacted by the people of the state nr Nebraska: Ul Section 1. All telephone companies in thh state, in every city, town or village, who there are two or more exchanges, shall, within six (6) months after this act takes effect nnko physical connections between all such ex changes, providing thereby a reasonable amnio and equal transfer facilities for telephonic con nection between such exchanges, and between" all patrons of the telephone line or lines 0f such telephone company or companies No tele phone company shall discriminate in tho rates or charges for telephone service between con necting lines, nor shall any telephone company decline or refuse to receive or transmit any message received or offered from any connect ing line. Each connecting line shall pay its proportionate share of the costs of making and maintaining such physical connection between exchanges, that may be necessary to furnish the transfer facilities required by this act, and in case the telephone companies are unable to agree on the amount each shall pay for the ex pense of making such physical telephone con nection, the amount shall; upon application of either party, be determined by the stato railway commission, provided the right to appeal from the decision of such commission is granted to the district court of the county in which the state capitol is located. Such appeal shall in all respects be regulated by the provisions of law for appeal in civil actions, so far as tho same are applicable, and. said appeals shall bo tried de novo. Section 2. The state railway commission is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to investigate all cases arising under this act, whether upon complaint or otherwise, and niako such order in the premises as shall seem just and reasonable. Section 3. Any telephone company or man ager thereof, failing or neglecting to comply with the provisions of this act, or who shall violate any of the provisions of this act, shall, for each offense, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than S100, nor more than $500. Section 4. Whereas an emergency exists, this act shall be in force from 'and after its passage and approval, according to law. THE NEBRASKA PUBLIC AND THE TELEPHONE An argument for House Roll No. 3 and House Roll No. 21. By Representative George W. Fuller of Seward. The question of public ownership of natural monopolies has passed from fancy to fact, from the theory of the socialist to the realization of the practical public man. There is no question in the mind of any sane man that a private business even in a natural monopoly is more economically conducted and- more efficient by a large percentage than a public enterprise, be cause the public's business is never so well cared for as the individual's. That, however, is neither here nor there. If the private business is oppressive to the public and the rates and tolls charged extortionate, then the public must assume management of it. Some say let us have regulation. Well, my friends, we have had regulation and are now having it. Many people feel that regulation has so far been a failure and will continue so to be. iho intracicies of the ousiness sought to be r1eeulated tft opportunities that exist for pad cimg the value of equipment and fixtures and oiei Vk,and difficulty of getting at tho exact anu legitimate expenses, the large salaries paid to the executive heads, the duplications of lines, aii tneso make the work of a- regulatory body a herculean task. Practically the regulatory n X mu know as much about the business as the officers who run it, if it is to be effec tive. io cast on three mortal men the burden ot regulating the public service corporations of even an undeveloped state like Nebraska is to overwhelm them. r1illeBe,JactB were Drought home to the people Srnie ,ym0f Sewrd, when the Lincoln T.-le-J'Jf" ,ami Telephone company recently acquired 'ol ,of both the Bell and the Independent companies in that city. The Independent had operated for ten years and still it had been able twi8 n,at a moderate cost a county right, mat .is a free toll rate over the county to all f,, J b lbf cribers' Tis tho Lincoln company re i ' 't0 d0; It maintained the Independent switchboard but persuaded as many as it could 10 cut ovei' to the old Bell switchboard thus ,it. . I fTw.,r,.,lt lMI (l(l WHMHIiiM T- fV"" y Mfa. WtllVy