Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-10-25


that city the subscriber for an Erics-
son telephone does not pay a cent
over the annual fee, but for telephon-
ing over longer distance an extra fee
is demanded. This fee is very moder-
ate. For instance, three minutes
conversation between the cities of
Malmo and Solieftea--a distance about
twice the distance between Chicago
and Minneapolis-cos only &c, and
&c extra for every succeeding minute.
Connections from the Stockholm Gen
eral Telephone company's net to the
government telephone dnd vice versa
are made all over Sweuen. for which
small charge of only 10 re q 3-4c) is
demanded.
The history of the developments Of
the telephone in Oscars Kingdom is a
very interesting one. AS early as In
1877 the first telephone co. aections
were mentioned as existing in Sweden.
and their increase, both in number and
extent, rapidly developed In many
of the large towns companies were
formed so as to carry on telephone
activity. At some places the telephone
network was erected by the royal
board of telegraphs, more especially in
Skone, the southernmost province of
the kingdom. In most towns. boroughs
and more or less important places,
the interchange of telephone COM
munication was arranged in another
manner, so-called telephone clubs be-
ing formed, founded on the simplest
principles, being intended to place
their members in telephone commune
cation with as many as possible, with
out any idea of deriving pecuniary
profit. The payment was therefore
often decided yearly, and was raised
or lowered according to requirements.
That it was not high may be gathered
from the fact that in more than ninety
clubs, with a total of more than 5000
apparatus, the yearly fee. on an av-
erage, was S6.16. 1t must. however,
be noted that the subscribers had
themselves to defray the expenses Of
their own connection and apparatus.
BY degrees the telephone communica-
tons We're still further extended, the
central stations of the telephone clubs
being connected with each other by in
dependent wires to networks, which,
in many instances, extended overtsev-
eral provinces.
Communication by telephone in
Sweden was thus chiefly left to private
Hnmavap from 1900 n
may be said that things changed,
The government then, by means of the
board of telegraphs, commenced to
compete vigorously with the private
lines, and by laying the inter-urban
double-wired lines between the more
important towns and places, and by
the purchase of private networks, the
state telephone has developed to an
enormous degree and replaced many
of the aforementioned telephone clubs
or telephone companies. There not
withstanding their merits concerning
telegraphing in King Oscars domain.
capped by very considerable faults
and disadvantages chiefly caused by
the want of unanimity when building
and handling the lines. In spite of
the higher fee charged for state tele-
phone REORGANIZATION 1t has
therefore generally been found more
profitable to allow the state telephone
to assume the whole The diet, under
standing the great importance of this
new means of communication. has gen.
etously granted large appropriations to
the state telephone The central and
southern parts of the kingdom are al
ready connected by double-wired lines.
In the north many such connections
are made. and are being still further
extended and completed.
At the close of the year 1898 the net
work of the state telephone intercom
munication included go central and
distinct stations, the combined length
OF the wires being more than 1900
miles, The number of apparatus in
use is about 1900, of which 800 We're
at the stations and the balance used
by the subscribers.
Among the private companies there
General Telephone company occupies
the foremost position. Its central sta
ton is the largest and best arranged
in the world. Originally intended for
1000 lines, it can now. in consequence
of certain alterations, open as many
as 1000 lines. July 1, 1894, the com
pany had 1921 subscribers. The total
length of private telephone wires at
the same time was about 2S,600 miles
with 430 centrals and 1900 apparatus
Thus, in the entire realm, there were
more than 44.Go0 miles of telephone
connections. GS5 central and district
stations, and $1,000 telephone appara.
tus in use.
As to the latest statistics Of Sept l.
the city OF Stockholm has one tele-
phone to every eighteen Inhabitants
The number Of apparatus is $4,000
All business Is transacted per tele-