Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-08-05
RURAL TELEPHONES.
a County in Which Every Resident
Can Talk With Every Other Resident.

Geauga county, o., affords an eX
celient illustration of how easy and in
! eX1t nsive it is for farmers to have
their own telephone system, if they
only go the right way to work in in
stailing it. Telephone wires are strung
throughout every one of the IS town
ships in the county; AM. although
there are no cities in the district, and
the system is essentially a rural one,
il is possible for every citizen of the
county to communicate by telephone.
either directly or by messenger service,
with every other inhabitant of the
county. and by connection service with
other lines. with an infinite number Of
points in surrounding counties. one
of the ~ ding orsa iZations consists Of
eight farmers, who reside in one town.
ship. They formed 4 regular stock
company, and went about the erection
of poles and the stringing of wires as
If they were catering entirely for
themselves. They soon found them
selves asked for service by many of
the people along the line. and their sys
! TEN quickly grew and became self
sustaining.
! In one particular respect the organ
izers of this line showed great wisdom.
Instead Of making the mistake Of
many companies. and putting up a
cheap line. they bought the best cedar
poles in the market. painted cross
| arms, procured the finest quality Of
| transmitters. and used the metallic
circuit. This gave such good service
| from the start that their patrons were
Ii sfrI,+ h.. ph..Y11
received an impetus which soon carried
| it to a success. The cost of erecting
| one mile Of this system, all told, is
| $51.50. 1t must be said. however, that
nearly all the labor of this particular
| line was done by the stockholders
themselves. The president took charge
of the digging of the holes. the man.
ager did the strinsing and stretching Of
the wires. and all hands turned in and
put up the pAes. and did the general
work. The manager of the company is
a young farmer, who IS becoming quite
clever in putting in instruments, max
ing connections, and replenishing bat
teries when they run down. The
switchboard is in the house of one of
the stockholders. and an attendant is
paid for operating it. The patrons are
CHdTStu SI1 per year, pdydDie III siu-
vance, or s1.25 per month. The com
pany makes all repairs, and in addi-
ton to the local service gives a line to
a neighboring town, to which the
I farmers for miles around go to trims
Lct business.
The social influence of this service is
aim st inestimable, relieving as it does
| the great bugbear of farm life, lone
somcness and monotony. The farmer
can hear all the latest bulletins, and
can obtain the weather forecasts every
| hour. The amount of time he saves in
being able to talk to the nearest town
| instead of going there himself means
not a little economy in many ways.
| The women. too, get lots of comfort
and enjoyment out of the telephone,
arranging visits, comparing family
news, and INDUCING in social gossip.
| In fact. it is said that the telephone
| has frightened the whole community,
and brought them up to distinctly
| higher plane of civilization.