Telephone Subscribers

At the meeting of telephone snbscribers held in the oouncil chamber Wednesday evening H. O. Prettymau preseuted the report of the cornrnittee appointed to oonfer with the repiesentatives of the Bell and new State companies. It snowed that the conference with F. A. Porbes, general manager of the Bell company, had been produc;ive of but little good so far as a reduc;ion in the rate at present charged was concerued, that gentleman inveighing against "piratical competition" as he termed it and predicting that no other exchange would be built in Ann Arbor except at the expense of Ann Arbor capital. He also repeated the statement already made that the rate was as low as is consistent with goud service. On the other hand, T. A. Rookwell, of tbe New State Telephone Co., said that bis company want a franchise in Ann Arbor for on)y one purpose and that to build an excbange. The report also showed that owing to :he fact that rnauy of the present tele]hone subsoribers have eutered into provisional coatracts, it is impossible to accomplisb any such unity of action as might be for their intereses. 3. D. Ryan's motion that the common oouncil of the city of Ann Arbor be requested to grant a franchise to the new State Telephone Co. was then put and carried unanirnously.