New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-01-03

day. The matter might have been attended TO by
besides, in personal interview one thing suggests
another and subject may be gone into Thoroughly
now. that come to consider IT, / remember that
we used as 0 Ba sse he ea US 81 up on the telephone
frequently. and do business that way and he
saving in carfares on this accoun, Is considerable
suppose there are thousands and thousands OF
gregate amount OF money thus withheld from the
railroads must be large
THE TELEPHONE A GOOD THING HERE
A business man having large interests in this
city also showed surprise when asked whether in
his experience the long-dlstance telephone had any
important influence on railroad travel. and then
remarked:
1T is an interesting matter. surely but this Is
the first time have known It to be put In that
way. In my own business, of course we make
limits Without il we would not be able TO do as
Ing our Forces Telephonins gu; or town does
come in there at all. But am connected WITH
has four factories in two different states: one OF
them Is three hours from AND ths last
eight hours distant Il is important that The city
factories and after every meeting Of the Executive
Committee Of the directors the factories are called
managers. Without this means Of communication
a good deal Of travelling would be necessary,
though no doubt part OF the business would be
done by telegraph and mall ,..o.,,.
saw sh at making or sas in fs
road fares every year while the cost OF using the
,s cannot be more than % m Bs
Il were necessary for the prssden; Of this eorP9ra
oa 'q sS Tine sh %oud af w az
matter for when man gets salary OF 5000
From my Observation. though i, would seem that
the longdistanee telephone Is not used nearly AZ
7 am speaking OF It required good deal Of per-
suasion to get them TO put one In for they thought
After trying II, they soon saw the value OF It,
IN BIG DRYGOODs HOUSE.
II might be supposed that the OF the tele-
phone would have a considerable effect in cur
failing travel 20 the city by men engaged In bust
ness In towns near and remote who are In the
habit OF purchasing goods In NewYork, but in
qury shows that this is not the case. question
put TO a representative OF one Of the largest dry
goods houses in the city brought out this re-
sponse:
"Of course we make a good deal OF use OF the
telephone in business, but most OF It is right
here In New-York. We send fifty thousand mes
sages year over the phone. and the proportion OF
them that go outside is very small cannot say
just how much It Is but the outside messages In
cude all those TO Jersey City. Hoboken. Eliza6eth
ana other places that are almost part OF
the city While we have a long distance telephone
IN every one Of thirteen departments. they are
distance away do not suppose there is more than
one such order day. on the average u.a ou,o,.
wanted to give an order to this house. The chances
are that he YOU'D want o sdn 70 ra w each
one separately. and the expense would soon more
than equal his railroad fare b ana h0ie l. o
his purchases he usually wants 10 deal with sew
do in a single day by coming here himself. And
then. when he comes In person. ne mas cham n5
IDEAS. to say nothing Of the good time which he
always counts in New-York.
deal of business is carried on by telephone. as for
example between Denver and Leadville and In
Suf ko6 SqSfs from Q the railroads possibly in sufficiently
large amounts to have some effect on their earn
the Vicinity OF New-York at least in the carrying
on Of the drygoods business
HIGH RATES FOR LONG DISTANCES.
The telephone company Is not at al! modest In It's
charges for ngdistance service and 1t Is exceed
Ing;y scrupulous in counting the minutes and sec
onds It costs as a rule Just twice as much TO |
talk with man a long way of during the day |
time as il does at night. but in the bright lexicon
OF the telephone monopoly. the term night" In |
cludes all the hours between p. m. and S a. m. |
If a New-Yorker is going 10 talk with Chicago |
man. for example. he Will have to pay 50 for FIVE
minutes by day. but IL he waits till after O'Clock |
his bill Will be only 81 80.
For overtime the company makes a charge by the |
minute OF one-ffth OF the hve-minute rate which, |
OF course Is not done In the suburban service and
there is the further concession that II the person
called for is not found at the other end OF the wire
no charge for calling VIII be made In such |
case. however, the lnOlNlduAl wanted must De
named; II simply number is called and that num-
Der got on the wire. the full charge will be
acted.
The concessions, however. of slight impor-
lance. In view OF the large rates. Probably the
furthest point that can be reached by the long dis
tancc telephone from NewYork is Mlnnea polls TO
which the Is $40 There are nearly eighty |
other places In the West and South TO which the
rate is the samn: they mostly in Illinois. Wis
con5n ar1 Iowa: st. Louis is also In this list and
so Nashville and Memphis. For talking 10
Louisville he charge is $ Jo to Milwaukee g IS; to
matt. s. 80, to Bufa.o 81 to Boston. 81: to Bangor.
Me. 50 30; TO Philadelphia, 81
The long-distance telephone is distinctly luxury,
even though business men are more and more
making use OF II II under existing hard cond-
lions. it has had a considerable effect on railway
travel what would be the effect II the company
should pursue a liberal policy and establish reason
able tolls?
SUEPTEE NOJTOT'S Am