Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-04-07
TELEPHONE RICHES.
How tho Telephone was Invented
The Rapid Growth Of the SYSTEM
Facts and Figures.

How tho Telephone was Invented
The Rapid Growth Of the SYSTEM
Facts and Figures.
FroE; Washington Letter to the Cleveland Leader.
/ met to-day, at the Riggs house, a man who
Is largely Interested in the manufacture of the
Bell telephone and in telegraphic instruments,
and was much surprised at some of the state
ments he made in regard to the business. This
man is so well known to the electricians of the
United States and to the parties interested that
he does not wish to have his name given. ''The
telephone industry" said he sis growing like
JOnah's gourd. Within tho past month have
been over nearly the whole of the Union. and
find the use of telephones increasing so largely
that the manufacturers are unable to supply
the demand. Within the last six weeks
l have taken orders for our factory alone for
5000 telephone BELLS and will sell ten thou
sand more within the next month. The demand
for the coming spring promises to be the largest
ever known in the history of the telephone We
have orders enough now on hand to keep US
busy for two years, and we are increasing our
capacity every year. There are five other fac
tories in the United States making the Bell tel
ephone and they are all doing we'll"
''Is there much money In the telephones /
asked
"Well, should say so,' was the reply al
don't know of any business that pays better.
Telephone companies usually make a dividend
OF 10 per cent the first year, and this notwith-
standing the cost OF laying wires and putting in
the instruments After this the expense is com
paratively little and the receipts proportIonately
greater.
NEARLY every man who has been largely in
terested in telephones" continued this gentle
man, has become wealthy. All Of the original
company of the Bell invention with. perhaps,a
single exception, are now milliOnaires Bell
himself was seven years ago a poor English
man, living in New Haven. Conn, and expert
menting In telegraphy He had come from
England few years before. One day when he
was experimenting on duplex messages he
found he could talk over the wires, and he con-
ceived the idea of his telephone. l was with
him at the time he made his instrument and we
gave the first exhibition of it in the hall of Yale
College before the students. Our first attempt
vas not a success. 1t wouldn't work, and we
dismissed the audience with the impression that
the experiment was failure. and we
were couple of visionary fools. We
tried 1t again, however, few days later,
ceeded so well that the Bell company was or
ganiZed at once. / think established the first
telephone company using the instrument Geo
w. Coy. the greatest electrician in the United
States to-day, and myself were in partnership
Our first exchange had eight wires and they
ran to the houses of friends over the city. No
one thought of using it for business then. We
had no bells. but used electric buttons like
those 10r calling servants at the hotels. The
success created great excitement in New Haven,
and we soon had twenty-five subscribers and
had to put In thirteen more wires We next
made board of 100 wires. Up to this time it
had been used entirely for social chatting and
for the curiosity Of the thing. Then the
business men saw the advantages Of
the invention and subscribers came in
faster than we could put up the wires. It.
soon spread to other cities: first to Boston then
Lowell, Albany, Troy, and next to Chicago
Alter this exchanges sprang up so rapidly all
over the country that it was impossible to keep
track Of them. And from that time on the new
business was success At present there are
more telephones in New York than in any other
city in the world, and the number has been in
creasng at the rate of twenty day for the last
year. Boston, Chicago, Baltimore. Cleveland
and Cincinnati are now putting in over fifty
new telephones every month, and Nashville is
increasing Its subscribers at the rate Of two per
day. The villages are establishing exchanges
and the time will come when the major part of
the houses will be connected by telephone. The
business Is being pushed in Europe as we'll as
In America, but foreigners are so slow to take
up new things that there is not now one tele-
phone In England to one hundred in America
In France the telephone Is used by some Of the
larger business houses, but as convenience for
the people it is almost unknown. In the other
countries OF Europe 1t is much the same The
people didn't seem to understand the value of
the invention, and they don't take hold of it as
the Americans do"
"What does it cost a man to have tele-
phone?'
1.-The rates are different In different places,
ranging from 50 to $40 month"; When Gov
and myself started the first exchange we charged
Slo year. Now in New York each subscriber
within half mile Of the exchange paws S15 a
month. and in Boston and Baltimore from 800
to $3.50 year"
What is Mr.. Bell worth now?" I asked.
"At least $4,000, Goo" was the reply. "His
income is very large, and increases every year
with the extent of the business. He is dark
complexloned man between thirty-ive and forty
years of age. He talks with an English accent
and has keen eye for business. Attempts are
being now made to break down his patents, but
1t Is questionable whether they succeed"
"Tell me something about other men who
have made money in telephones"
ut would take all night was the reply.
"Nearly every man who has handled them has
made money. One Of the most notable instan-
haired mechanic who used to help Bell in his
experiments He had little shop in New
Haven, and made electrical instruments. Bell
would give him his ideas of what he wanted, and
the two would experiment together until the pro-
per result was reached. When the company was
organized Bell made him general inspector for
the United States. He Is now millionaire and
his family are travelling in Europe.
marshall Jewell was largely interested in
telephones. and made great deal of money BY
them: Il: p. Frost, president of the Connecti-
cut Telephone company, has laid up million
within the last few years, and George w. Coy is
also millionaire. Coy lives at New Haven,
and owns magnificent residence at Milford,
near there. he has more electrical patents reg
istered at Washington than any other man in
the United States. He has now sold all his pat
ents to the United States Telephone company.
and has nothing to do with Bells. The Bell
men fear him. and awake every morning expect
ing to hear that he has perfected some new in
vention which will throw them entirely out of
the market Coy gets 5000 a year for doing
nothing. He takes a trip to New York every
now and then, and the United States company
ask his advice as to electrical matters. and they
pay him this money for what he tells them. He
is by all odds the brightest electrician in the
United States"
Wait Till You See Flynn.
Fro Toya