The Nation: The Meter Is Running

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A favorite American pastime will be in jeopardy if New York Telephone has its way: no more curling up with a nice phone to enjoy a chat that goes on ...

and on ... and on. At present, many people in the New York City area are billed 8.2¢ for a call within certain nearby zones; for that flat fee, they can talk their hearts out. Now the phone company has asked the state Public Service Commission to let it charge 5.5¢ for each call plus 10 for every minute of conversation.

Thus a three-minute call would cost more than an unlimited one does now.

If approval is granted, other phone companies round the U.S. can be expected to petition for a similar raise.

The New York phone company claims that it does not want to make a bigger profit, but it does wish to save the cost of building new exchanges and to space out calls that tend to bunch up during the daytime. It will offer a 25% discount on calls made after 10 p.m. or on weekends.

Some parents will welcome the rate shift as an excuse to get their long-winded kids off the phone (the alternative would be to go broke). For others, how ever, the change would be a hardship.

Because of the fuel shortage, many people are using their phones instead of their cars to make business calls. Older people, already cruelly pressed by infla tion and often shut in by illness or fear of crime, would be further crimped in their access to the outside. For nearly everyone, it is distressing to contemplate yet another meter clicking away on an ordinary motion of daily life.