Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-16
ABOUT HETELEPHii00iiIfE
First Exchange Established
Here IN 1879.
] Y
IT'S SMALL BEGINNING
EIGHT THOUSAND PHONES NOW
USED I'M THIS CITY.
The First Public Service Corporation
in the World to Use Under
ground Wires.

In 1879. less than three years after the
| invention Of the telephone by Alexander
Graham Bell, an embryonic telephone ex-
change was started in the city Of Washing
| ton. 1t was at best a very small affair
consisting Of a few wires running over
house tops from a private office on G
street to five or six points, among which
were the Capitol and the office of The Even
| ing Star. In many ways the new instru-
mentality at once proved It's usefulness,
| but, measured by the rapid strides Of more
| recent years, the growth for time was
exceedingly slow. In 1893. after the lapse
| Of almost twenty years, there were only q
few more than 1000 telephones In use In
| the entire city, while today there are ap-
proximateiy 5000, growth in the last four
| years practically three times as great as
that for the preceding twenty years. Such
| Is the extent to which the telephone has
| come into requisition in social and domes-
| tic, as well as In commercial and official, al
| fairs that one may easily imagine within
few years a telephone system In this
city serving at least 10000 subscribers.
| The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone
| Company operating in Washington was
the first publicl service corporation in the
| world to use underground wires. AS
early as 1884 it began to remove its
wires from the surface OF the streets
and place them underground. The work
was confined to the very heart of the city.
because the movement In underground con-
struction was, unfortunately, stopped by a
change in the law respecting such matters.
and not until the present year has it been
possible to renew the undertaking. The
multiplicity Of overhead wires. the pres
0f on a nrfncpa1
thoroughfares of the city, and the large
demand for telephone service on the part
Of the public, which could not be supplied
because Of legal restrictions preventing the
construction Of necessary lines, at last led
to the consideration Of the subject by Con-
gress, which resulted in the enactment OF a
law in June Of this year requiring the re-
moval of certain poles and overhead wires
and permitting the general extension of the
underground system. The Commissioners OF
the District and the telephone company, i'm
mediately upon the approval of the act.
took up the question and agreed upon a
general plan. under which over ten miles
Of additional subways have already been
completed. Further large extensions OF the
underground system are contemplated. This
great work must inevitably result in a
| marked improvement in the general serv-
Ice Of the city, and through the removal
of Objectionable poles and overhead wires.
be gratifying to all who are interested In
the Identification Of Washington
The rapid increase in the use Of the tele-
phone during recent years has been con-
tributed to by many causes, among them
growing recognition on the part of the pub
lie Of the many and varied ways in which
a comprehensive and efficient telephone sys-
tenn may be of service to the progressive
man Of affairs and the household which be-
lieves in the use of modern conveniences
and time and labor-saving devices The
chief cause, however, has doubtless been
the rational plan Of charging for telephone
service which came into vogue in various
parts of the world only a few years ago,
known as the message rate plan. For some
years fat or uniform charges were made
to all, regardless Of the varying amounts
of service required by different users. In
other words, the rental of a telephone"
theory prevailed The subscriber who sent
a few hundred messages year paid as
much as one who sent many thousands. 1t
was as though an electric light company,
instead Of charging so much kilo-watt
hour for current, with a minimum charge
VARYING with the amount of current con-
sumed, should run its lines into its sub
scribers premises and charge a fiat rate
for all current consumed In year through
each line. The result would be that per-
an advantage for which those using less
than the average would pay, and the use
of electricity for lighting purposes would
soon be confined to those who could afford
a relatively high fiat rate.
The fiat telephone rate was found to work
out q similar result Experience demon
strated that, If high enough to be remu-
nerative, 1t stifled growth If low enough to
be within the reach Of moderate users, 1t
must become unremunerative and in the
end disastrous. So the message rate was
devised and generally introduced. Under
that plan, the message: instead OF the tele-
phone, is the unit Of charge. In other
words the use of the telephone system,
great end complex piece of machinery
mechanical and human-fs taken into con-
sideration and the subscriber pays only in
&o the number of messages Orfg1-
mating at his telephone. or, In other words,
according to the amount of service rendered
to him, A minimum charge varying with
the facilities and conveniences provided,
naturally forms part of the general plan.
The message rate, OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
get plan, has been introduced generally In
the great cities of the United States, and
has Invariably brought about a great de-
velonment in the use of telephone service
and has proved itself a boon to a large
number of people. Notably has this been
the case in New York city, where in 1884,
after sixteen years of slow growth under
fat rates. the number on telephones was
less than 10000, and In the eight years
following the adoption of message rates the
number has mounted to the enormous fig
ure of 100 900. The plan has not been con-
fned to this country. With differences in
| detail to meet local conditions 1t has been
adopted in Great Britain. in Germany, in
Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries,
where the development has been phenom-
l
ment after thorough investigation, said
| the fiat rate "means this: That persons
| who are rich enough to pay a fixed annual
| sum and who use the telephone sufficiently
often to find such a payment advanta geous
| to themselves, whose correspondents also
nav a similar sum and use the service
with similar frequency, can alone, al
most alone, avail themselves of this mode
| Of communication. 1t Is just the same as
ff the telegraph Office should decide to
| dfspatch kilograms only for persons pay
| ing an annual subscription, and to al
| low such persons, on payment Of their sub
| scriptions, to dispatch without further
| charge any number OF kilograms requiring,
at the same time, that the telegram should
be addressed only to persons connected with
the telegraph office by private wire' A
| German parliamentary commission, after an
exhaustive inquiry, said: 1.-The most advan-
taeeous method Is to arrange the charges
for telephone service so that each subscrib-
er shall pay according to his use;" and a
committee Of the New York legislature said
with a fair minimum rate as an equiva-
lent for the possession and right to use the
telephone, and a reasonable scale of prices
for connections IL used, the message rate
system seems to have for both customer
and the company marked advantages over
the fiat rate" The manager of the tele-
phone system In Amsterdam, where the
municipality conducts the enterprise, after
a careful investigation of conditions
throughout Europe, commenting on the lack
in Am CT do