The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1899-10-04
TIE SUMTER TELEPHONE
MANUFACTURING co.

0eQSl0n cOocerHluR tue Ie'opnooe A"S
tory Suu.er has emerged with colors
ayiug and we'll grounded confidence 10
the permanency of the industry Of man
ufaoturiog telephones 10 this city. The
outsome is highly satisfactory, and there
| is cot man in Sumter. who was not
erati6ed VIXEN it became certainty
that the Telephone Manufacturing
Company would not be removed to
some other place. And when to this
was added the still better news that
another company, With much larger
| capital than the old, had been organized
through the efforts of Mr.. c. Z. Mason
and Mr.. F. c. Msaniog, to whom the
success of the old company was due.
everybody was delighted. Sumter has
been fortunate in many ways, and good
things have come her way many times
in the past, but the organization of the
.sSumter Telephone Manufacturing
Company" is by far the most import
ant event 10 the Industrial history OF
the city. The erection Of a new fac
tory, with every Improvement and con-
veuienee in the way Of machinery that
experience has taught Mr.. Mason to be
necessary for the successful manufac-
ture of telephones aud electrical
appliances, will place Sumter In the
fret place 10 this business in the coun-
try, and the possibilities Of growth and
development are unlimited. The old
factory under Mr.. Mason's management
has had phenomenal success. and the
profits have been SO great that no one
will name the per ceas., Bot it is gen.
orally known in this community that
the Telephone Manufacturing Company
has paid in dividends several times the
total capital stock within the three
years it has been in existence. As this
company built up so great 8 business
upon the foundation laid By Mr.. Mason
in the several years experiment 10 the
manufacture OF telephones prior to the
organization Of the original company SO
viii che new company build up still
greater business upon the foundations
that have been laid deeper and broader
By the success of the thousands o:
telephones and hundreds OF switch
boards that have been made here aud
sent to all parts of the United States.
Today the Sumter telephones and
switchboards are in successful use in
nearly every State 10 the union aud in
several foreign counties ; and wherever
used they are regarded BY experts as
the staudard OF excellence. In New
Esgland there are several thousand
Sumter telephones in daily use and
recently that section has beeo one Of
the largest patroDs of the Telephone
Manufacturing Company. 10 fact the
orders have come 10 go fast from those
who have used the phones .hatihe factory
could cot keep up with them, and
Instead of seeking new business tbe
salesmeu have been called in aud the
effort has been to take care of the orders
that come 10 unsolicited from the regu-
lar patrons Of the company.
But apar. from the profits .ealized
by the stockholders the telephone bus
nees has been magnificent saccess aud
has been of incalculabie benefit to this
city. The factory has brought uum-
Der Of skilled workmsn to the city. aod
has given employment to nearly huo'
dred young men, boys aud girls who
could no, obtain other employment, and
maoy of these raw hands have become
withiu three years skilled workuon who
receive high wages here aud could do
as we'll 10 aoy other factory where
telephones are made. What the small
factory has done aud is doing the new
factory will do ou a much larger scale,
sor Is will employ from three to four
bupdred hands and the weekly pay roll
be propor,iopasely greater.
Another thing that the new factory
will do, and thing that the old fac
tory has not done, will De the rtilIza
tion of the hard woods that have been