The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-07-29
TELEPHONES FOR NORTH CAROLINA
FARMERS.

reached this conclusion several years
ago, and lost 40 time in acting on it.
The telephone system has been rapidly
extended, and now in many sections
practically all the farmers have
phones, the man without one being re-
garded as sadly behind the times. And
this innovation has added much to the
pleasure and profit of country life, as
a number of articles heretofore pub
lished in The Progressive Farmer, and
commended to our North Carolina
readers, go to show.
The telephone puts the farmer in
touch with his neighbors and with the
markets: herein lies it's value. With
out loss of time in changing your
clothes, hitching the horses, or driv-
ing over the roads, the telephone, with
all the speed of electricity, puts you
into communication with the person
you seek. You can call up Merchant
Brown and get his prices on butter or
beef, or learn the price of cotton or
tobacco at your nearest market; you
can call up Farmer Jones and ask him
to send you a field hand for the next
day, or tell you the condition of your
sick neighbor; your wife and children
can arrange with neighbors for social
visits; in case of illness, the physician
can be quickly summoned; -neighbors
can be called to the rescue in case of
fire or accident; important news will
reach you before getting stale-and
there are a thousand and one other adj
vantages that do not occur to US just
now.
Of course, there are some sections
of North Carolina where the rural tel
ephone is not yet practicable, but there
is no good and sufficient reason why
this convenience should not be at once
put within the reach of thousands of
our farmers now without it. And our
sole purpose in writing this article is
to bring to the attention of our read
ers what has been accomplished in one
North Carolina county under condi-
tions no more favorable than are those
in dozens of other counties. Union Is
the county to which we refer and to
the Marshville Home we are indebted
for our information. While en- route
to the Press Convention a month ago
it was our good fortune to get with
Editor Green, of the Home, and in the
course of our conversation he told us
of the extension of the telephone sys-
tenn in his section. The matter inter
ested us so much that we asked him
to publish the facts in his paper that
We might copy them for the purpose
of showing what Union has done and
what any other county may do. The
last number of Editor Green's paper
contains the article we have since been
looking for, and we are glad to copy
it herewith:
"Union County's telephone system
probably surpasses that of any other
county in the State, especially in the
rural districts. There are in the
county ten telephone exchanges and
six of these are in the country. The
total number of phones in the county
is 542, and 295 of these are in towns
and 247 in the country; and the system
is yet in it's infancy in the rural dis
tricts. At the present rate of increase
the number of phones in the county
will probably be increased 100 per
cent within the next twelve months
and it is only a question of short time
before this county will be a network
of wires and almost every farmer will
have a phone in his house. The tele-
phone system, together with rural free
delivery of mails, will revolutionize
things in favor of country life, render
ing it less isolated and more attract
i've. Even now all important news is
transmitted to every part of the coun-
~ as soon as it occurs. Two hours
after President Mckinley was shot at
Buffalo, the affair was being talked
about by our farmers through their
neighborhood exchanges. During the
recent Congressional Convention at
Monroe farmers sat in their homes
and received the ballots as they were
cast for the various candidates and
many of them knew who the nominee
was before the first applause from the
friends of the successful candidate
had subsidized"
We hear that in several North Caro-
lima counties Recently farmers have or