Tax The Telephone

The city council has made one mistake in granting the franchise to the New State Telephone company. It has faiied to provide for the taxation of the company's plant and apparatus. 'Chis may be remedied liowever by an ordinance providing for the taxation of both the new and old telephone com panies. The Bell telephone eompany has operated its plant in this c ty for years. It has decorated streets vvith unsightly poles; it h;is invtsled a considerable sumin wires and tus; it lias had things pretty much its owd way in its manner of doing business; it has taken thousands of dollars out of the pockets of our business men f'or tolls; yet it lias never paid a cent into the city treasury in the way of taxes and the city has been charged regul irly for the six telephones necessary for the use of the city offlcers and for fire alarms. ïhe merchant's stock of goods, the manufacturer's plant, the personal property of the citizen of every kind and description is subject to taxation and there would seem to be no good reason why the capital of a Corporation nvested in a telephone plant should escape its just proportion of the public burden. Of course the telephone people will assert that they are conclucting a pubüc enterprise; that they are conerring a benefit upon the community, sy maintaining an exchmge, that they cannot stand taxation and competition at the same time. liut the mërchant ind the manufacturer also perform useful functions in our social life, yet they take their own chinees on business success, compete with each other for trade, and pay taxes on their capital invested. ïhe telephone companies should also be taxed and in estimating their investment the value their franchises to use the streets of this city for the erection of poles and the stringing of wires should not be overlooked.