Spokane Workers Spark Telephone Revolution
A labor strike by telephone operators prompts a move toward an independent, city-wide network to break the grip of a monopoly.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Spokane is likely to have an independent telephone system within the next few months as an outcome of the recent strike among the telephone operators in this city. In a short time, the city council will be asked to grant a franchise to a company to be organized to put in a complete independent system. The plan of the proposed new company is for a system that will do away with party lines and put in independent lines to each business place and two-party lines for residences and rural phones. The strike among the telephone operators is still on. The girls have been industrially circulating petitions among the users of telephones asking them to order their phones out unless the strike is settled soon, and they claim to have secured the names of over a thousand who will comply with their wishes.
“The girls have been industrially circulating petitions among the users of telephones asking them to order their phones out unless the strike is settled soon.”
This 1903 conflict over utility franchises and worker strikes mirrors contemporary battles over internet service providers and digital equity. Even then, the 'last mile' of connectivity was a contested civic right rather than a simple service.
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