Blue-grass blade., 1886-02-13
GIANT MONOPOLY.
Tho Bell Telephone Company
Shown Up In All Its
COl0rs.
The Greatest Money.Making
Scheme Of the Age.


Scheme Of the Age.
srsoo F0R An OUTLAY OF $50.
The recent articles in the World con-
cerning the Pan Electric Telephone
Company, which seems to have OBJ
tanned sush wide ramifications among
the statesmen at Washington, has
directed public attention to telephone
matters in general and especially to
that giant monopoly, the American
Bell Telephone Company. Never in the
history Of America, nor in the history
Of any other country, has a corpors-
ton grown to such dimensions in 30
short time as the American Bell
Telephone Company. Never before
has an inventor 30 Immediately grown
enormously rich from the proceeds Of
an invention az Prof. Alexander Ora
bam Bell. Morse took ont his first pa
tent on his electric telegraph in 1910,
but it was four years before the first
message was passed over the first line
ever laid, which was between Bslti-
more and Washington, and it has
taken they estern Union Telegraph
Company aud the Baltimore and Ohio
Telegraph Company all these inter-
vening years to grow into their pres
ent great proportions. Morse himself
was but indifferently rewarded, and
probably died without having a con-
ception Of the extent to which his in
vention would be employed and the
importance Of it as a commercial and
financial factor of the age. Robert
Fulton never dreamed of how steam
ships would cover the sea, and Ste
ph enson could not have foreseen the
number and extent OF railway tracks
that now cover the earth with steel
network. We are amazed, it is true,
at the sudden gigantic growth of the
railroads, the steamships, the cables
and the telegraph lines, but none of
them came to much under quarter
Of q centuty.
The general public never heard Of
such Q thing ss the transmission of
speech over wire till ten years ago.
True, some experiment has been
made. Bourseulle in France aud
Rets iu Germany had worked on the
idea some years before, but nothing of
practial character csme from this ef-
fort, and the world went on iu ignor.
ance of their labors. Bells appl ca
ton for a patent was received at the
Patent Office in Washington Feb. IA.
1875, and it is q rem arkable fact,
which adds to the romantic interest,
to say nothing Of the legal phases
of the story that an applicant for a
patent on q speaking telephone was
received from Prot. Elisha Gray, of
Chicago, the same dslk but little
latter. The patent granted to
Bell on the grounds Of the ditferncs
in time and not because of any die
ference in the merits of their claims.
Thus, by what would ordinarily be
considered q trifling incident was the
Bel company given at least
q temporary footing, of which it has
not failed to take advantage, making
Bell a very rich man, aud leaving
Gray to nurse all his life, perhaps,
the regret that he had not picked up
to one days greater haste in sending
away his application.
Bell te Ok his telephone to the Gen.
tennisl Exposition, where it was seen
and experimental with by thousands
of visitors, who never suspected that
it would come to more than an in-
genious plaything. 1t was two years
after the Centennial that the first
telephone exchange under the Bell
patent were established though COM
psny had been organized in 1877.
It was not till 1870 that the new
method of communication was firmly
established ss q commercial and SO
cisl necessity, and from that year
dates the marvellous growth and sue
cess Of the Bell Company. Its capi-
tai stock on the 3lst. OF December,
1884, was $24, 900, 900, and an sppll-
cation was made last year to the Mas
sachusetts Legislature for an increase
to $3O,0OO,OOO, which is half the
amount Of the entire capital stock
of the Western Union Telegraph
Company. The receipts for rentals
for the fiscal year ending March /,
1885 were $1,080,OOO, and the net
earnings for the company for the same
time were $l,7l0,OO0. The first
dividend was not declared till Jau.
/, 1881, when 1920, 500 was paid to
stockholders on 1880 shares, or 3
per cent. One more dividend of the
same amount was declared that year,
three dividends of that amount were
declared in 1882, two dividends of
the same amount were paid in 1883,
and two Of $288, ,O83 the same year,
five dividends Of $685. ,O63 each were
paid in 1884, and one Of the same
amount was paid Jan. Is, 1885. and
several have been paid since. Up to
the 18th Of January, 1885, the total
dividends paid to stockholders
amounted to about $4,00O.000. The
original investors in Bell Telephone
stock paid from 800 to $40 per share.
Since then the stock has bsen in
creased or "watered" seven tunes and