Daily Republican., 1881-06-11
FROM MOUTH TO EAR.
NOW THE TELEPHONE is MO.
NOPOLIZED IN WILMINGTON.
High Prices Of the Exchsnge
Which Have Been Kept Up.
Some Slight Competition.

The Bell Telephone Company, which
now has a very complete exchange il
this city, operates a territory OF whicl
delaware is onlya a small part In ad.
Idition to Delaware it embraces Penusyl.
vania and the southern portion of New
Jersey. A little better than % year age
the Delaware branch passed under the
control of the Company, whose head
quarters are in Philadelphia. The
growth of the telephone sys EN- in this
city has been very rapid. 1t started
with only two or three firms being con-
nected, but the advantages were So
great that the number rapidly increased.
At present the number of places con-
nected with telephones upon the signal
card IS about l2j, and the actual mum
Der OF Bell telephones III use and man
aged by the exchange but not in gen
eral connection, viii swell this number
considerably.
But the telephone in Wilmington is n
monopoly, and complaints are being
made against it OF the excessive charge.
Many OF the business firms are finding
fault, and there appears to be just oc-
casion for grumbl!ng. When the first
steps were taken to form an exchange
here, in the Western Union Telegraph
Office at Third and Market as a central
station, the price was fixed at $50 year
for the instrument aud SO much per
mile for the wire. Many objections
were raised at that time to the price but
those who made these objections were
informed that this high charge was
necessary until the enterprise got on IL
paying basis. and that in u year or so
tie price would be greatly reduced.
by this time the telephone business
was rapidly acquiring one Of the chief
features OF a successful monopoly-that
of necessity. Competition on part of
business firms demanded that one firm
should not have an advantage over an
other, and many houses, who did not
really wish to get II telephone We're com
PEELED to do So because others had led
the way and done the same thing. This
has gone on until the number Of tcle-
phones in the exchange is over l2J, as
stated. a little figuring will readily
show the immense revenue of the sys-
TEN here. Each year it amounts to be-
tween seven and eight thousand dollars,
and the expenses of operation and re-
pairs are believed to be very slight,
which leaves Il large profit in compari-
son with the total amount received. AS
yet no indication of a reduction in price
has been given and conversation with
leading houses in the exchange shows
the dissatisfaction which exists, and re-
reals strong sentiment in favor of a
reduction.
The telephone in this city has already
won one victory over the City Council,
which when the system was first organ
lied gave it gracious permission without
any charge, to ObStruct the streets with
their poles. Last winter at the Legisla-
ture, Council proposed bill to tax tele-
graph and telephone poles, but the pro-
vision to tax telephone poles was strick-
en- out on the objection Of the telephone
men, who made the entirely inconsisl-
ent argument Gu view Of their former
promises Of reduction in price, that
they We're giving their telephone ser
vices as low as possible now in view Of
the expenses, and if the tax was i'm
posed they would raise the price. All
Of which shows that the Bell Telephone
Company having gotten Il "aoft thing"
knows how to hold on to it.
THE WATTS TELEPHONE.
Recently a new telephone has been
introduced here which is something Of
a competition to the Bell Telephone and
its success shows how well it is being
appreciated. The instrument in ques-
ton is the Watts Telephone, which is
controlled in Delaware and Maryland
by Mr.. IsSac Dillon. 1t cannot be used
in connection with an exchange but is
very good for communication between
two points and the price is very low.
The sale Of this instrument here has
been large. They are now in use by
MesSrs Geo. w. Bush q Son, Charles
Warner n Co., the Harlan " Hlollings-
worth Co., the Wilmington Coal Gas
Co., Drs. Tantum and Franz and many
other parties. They give great satisfac-
ton. Many other lines will be run in
the near future.