Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1899 — That Long Distance Telephone Line. [ARTICLE]

That Long Distance Telephone Line.

The Central Union Telephone Company, which has asked for a franchise to run a long distance line into Rensselaer, is really the Bell company under another name. A line here would connect us with all the principal cities of the country, east of Omaha, and also with every city in Indiana as large as Rensselaer, and also with nearly every county seat. Such a line would, obviously, be often a great convenience to our people, especially to business and professional men. And while we would not in any way advocate the interests of an outside company like this as opposed to our local telephone company, it does not seem to us that the long distance company would be in any degree worth naming a competitor of our home company. They have no thought of establishing an exchange here, and the franchise they ask for would not permit it. A main line which they expect to run from Peoria, 111., to Ohio, will pass through Remington, and if a franchise is granted them they will build a branch to Rensselaer. Of course the line might take some Remingington and Goodland business from our local company, but not very much, for with the local company, people can go to their own phones and talk to almost anyone in Remington or Goodland, and without the expense of a messenger, and they would not be likely to go to the office of the long distance company for a service to be had so much easier of the home company. It would be in reaching towns which the home company does not and can not reach, that the long distance lines would be used by our people. The lines these long distance people put up are of the best material, and are assessed at $250 per mile, thus a line from Remington to Rensselaer would add several thousand dollars to the tax duplicate of the county, a matter in itself worth thinking about. Therefore we judge that Rensselaer ought to follow the example of every other city In the state, which has a chance to get this long distance line, and that is to accept it very gladly.