The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-07-05
TELEPHONES ON FARMS.
They Are Not Merely a Convenience,
But a Good business Invest
ment as Well.

In the locality where I live there
are several lines of telephones which
run through the farming districts to
the several villages. Many of the
farmers along these lines have placed
phones in their houses, which puts
them in direct communication with,
the villages. 1 recently visited
farmer who lives three or four miles
from one of our large villages. In
this village he markets the produce
of his farm and of large truck gar
den. 1t has been his custom to drive
to the village three times week with
load of produce. Not knowing how
much he would be able to sell, he
would often take more than he could
dispose of, and this surplus, kept over
until the next trip, did not always
keep in marketable condition, and
in this way considerable was wasted
during the year. This farmer has put
telephone in his house which places
him in communication with his Gus
toners in the village. He now receives
their orders by telephone, and know
ing what they want, he delivers it to
them on his regular days of market
ing. This makes marketing much
easier and pleasanter, and he thinks
the telephone profitable investment
for him. Sometimes he WHOLESALERS
produce to dealers when he can get
satisfactory prices. When a dealer
in his village wishes anything in his
line, he can easily order it, if prices
can be arranged, or when the farmer
has anything ready for market, he
can "call up" the dealer and ask for
prices.
The telephone not only places him
in immediate communication with his
own village, but with neighboring vii
lagos, and, by telegraph or the long
distance telephone, with the city mar
kets. The farmer l have mentioned
grows several acres of Strawberries.
By the aid of the telephone he is able
to learn without delay, which is i'm
portant to marketing berries, where
there is demand for them and at
what price.
There are many other uses of the
telephone for the farmer in his iso-
lated circumstances, so that very often
he can make it convenient and profit
able. l have been in the railway sta
ton when some farmer called up"
the agent and asked him if the goods
he was expecting had arrived, and the
information would sometimes save
trip to the station before the goods
were there; or he was asked to send
a message by telephone to some place.
with an immediate reply.
The telephone, besides placing the
farmer in immediate communication
with his merchant, physician, veteri-
marian and others whose services he
may need, affords communication be-
tween farmers and their families. 1t
business matters, but adds very much
to the social life of the farmer. He
converses easily at any time with his
neighbor on any subject of interest
to them.
Many farmers think that the cost
of the telephone is so great that they
cannot afford it. In my locality the
farmers own private lines on the CO.
operative plan. There are main lines
operated by individuals, or corpora
tions. The farmers have built private
lines which connect them with these
L. 81 L.. L.
lead, the farmers are visited in the
community where the wires are to be
put up, and asked to subscribe to-
wards building the line. Some who
do not wish to pay money are allowed
to furnish work, posts, etc. The wire
is put up at small cost to each
farmer, but in addition to it, he must
buy his telephone to put in his house.
This costs HIM from SIS to $50. Then
he must pay his share of the taxwhich
is charged for connecting the farm
er's private line with the main lines,
this section is two or three dollars
annually for each farmer. In one
neighborhood near me l do not think
the cost of putting up the wires and
buying the telephones was more than
$50 for each farmer. Perhaps ehis
was only the cash outlay, and the
work contributed by the farmers was
not taken into account; l was not
definitely informed on this point.
Where there are such opportunities
for building farmers lines that can
be connected with main lines, surely
money or work expended in this way
will be well invested.-W. H. Jenkins,
in Country Gentleman.