The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1895-02-13
TELEPHONES AT Low PRICE.
Stamford IN. = Has Service That
Is an Anomaly.


STANFORD, n. Y, Jan. 4.-This
thriving town has telephone SER
vice that is an anomaly. There is
not "kicker" among its subscribers.
Such an extraordinary condition Of
affairs cannot be ascribed to any
thing in the atmosphere OF the Cat
skills, but is due to the fact that the
service costs each patron only IS per
year. Stamford, though village OF
about 1000 inhabitants in winter aud
high.tide population Of 5000 in
summer, is, as its denizens style it,
"hustling" town. 1t has first. class
water supply, complete system OF
sewers, electric lights, and, above
all, Village Improvement society,
the members OF which are as exact
ing and energetic as housewives.
Under their surveillance not man
in town dares leave his lawn uncut,
and feels utterly miserable il his
fence shows the need Of whitewash.
The moving spirit in this society
is DR.. s. E. Churchill. He is indie
fatigable. It occurred to the doctor
last fall, in the midst OF his manifold
affairs, which include an interest in
the local newspaper, the athletic
club, the bank, the seminary, and
the Presbyterian church, that the
town needed q telephone service.
Twenty residents were called to-
gether, who agreed to subscribe $50
each toward forming q company. 1t
proved to be all that was needed
and the system is now in successful
operation. With the $1,000 capital
the managers found they could put
q metallic circuit instrument in the
house Of every subscriber, buy
their switchboard, put up poles,
string wires, and start the converse
ton. .... ......f.
The central OF the Stamford Tele-
phone company is in one Of the vii
lage stores, the proprietor OF which
is a salaried officer OF the company.
For 500 a year he guarantees, as
general manager, to break away
from the charmed circle around the
stove in the midst OF the most enter
tanning gossip, or cut short q politi-
cal discussion even when he has his
opponent all but convinced, and at
tend to the switch at every tinkle OF
the bell. To collect this 500 each
subscriber is assessed SIS a year. Add
to this the interest on the original
$50, at six per cent, and you have IS
as the maximum cost for telephone
service in the Catskills. The tele-
phone itself is to all appearances
similar to the ordinary affair, save
that the usual signs denoting pa
tent rights are lacking. In one re-
spect only is it inferior to the reg
ular telephone, which costs several
times as much per month as this one
does for year. In the ordinary
telephone the receiver hangs on Q
two pronged lever, so that when it
is taken down it connects the phone,
and putting it back switches on the
bell. That is still covered by pa
tent.
In the Stamford telephone, be-
sides taking down the receiver, one
must move a switch, and after hang
ing up the receiver the switch must
be moved back again, or the central
Office cannot ring the bell to call
that telephone up again. Each in
strument has its own wire from the
central Office, and each has the COM
plete metallic circuit. At the switch
board there is a delay OF about a
second longer in making q connec-
ton than in the regular switchboard,
but Stamford merchants run things
mostly by minutes, and few seconds