Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1902-02-11
WAUsAU, Wis, Feb. 4th, 1902
To The Stockholders of the Hausau Telephone
(01DD0nu

hAOcAI, w IS, Il Gu. I'LL. tSU~.
| To The Stockholders of the Ha,tsau Telephone
Company.
| GENTLEMEN We take pleasure in
submitting TO you herewith our seventh
annual report During the year just
closed we have rebuilt in substantial
manner a large portion of our lines,
putting in new and larger poles. We
have added new lead from our central
office, and our exchange has grown
| from 454 telephones reported IN use
then to SIS telephones in use now. We
| have sold three shares of treasury stock
for $50. We have paid ont for labor,
over and above that paid to regular en-
ployees, So. 1886, and have paid for new
material, s., ,066 0S, in which nothing is
included for freight, express charges,
drayage, etc A conservative estimate
of the Increased value of our plant now
over one year ago is $500. We have
now cash on hand and good accounts
due the company, in excess OF all in
deptedness owed by ii, e., 3Sl.15, aad We
have paid q per cent. cash dividends TO
our stockholders during the year, which
makes the net earnings of our company
on IA conservative basis, for the past
year, as follows:'
Cash dividends paid 49,. ~...-. 465 OC
Cost of construction in new installa-
tons and extensions made, at least. $500 o.
Net amoun on band in excess of that
on hand one year ago o-....- l,3l6 81
Total S4,2si 81
From which should be deducted the
cash received from sales of stock...... l5O %
Leaving a net gain Of s4,l3l &c
While our growth has been constant
and gratifying, we find that it has
reached a point where the average cost
per phone for operating needed 10 give
prompt and satisfactory service is APP
preciably increased for every new
phone added. and tie greater our
growth the greater the expense per
pone will be. la our judgment it is
only question of time when it Will be
deemed eXpedient toincrease somewhat
the monthly rental charged for tele-
phone service. Our people will not be
satisfied with anything short OF good
service. When our exchange was con-
structed it was -to-date and first class
in evely respect Now it is recOg-
nized that better service can be
given where we have complete
metallic circuit. The more lines we add
to our system the more difficult it be-
comes 10 avoid cross talk and other
annoyances. At this time, with 5l5
telephones in use our entire switch
board capacity is exhausted, and to
keep pace with our growth we must In
crease it. Our pole lines are carrying
practically all the wires they can safely
carry, and we must build new leads
from the central office and increase cur
pole line capacity, especially as we find
that the use of cables, except when
used in connection with complete
l,.1n llffs 0ipnnit tho
talk and other difficulties we encounter,
and does not give as good results as sep
arate wires. There are many prob
lens which arise in connection with
| this work as 10 what the best methods
for procedure are. Wausau always
| likes to have the best of everything, and
as stated it is well recognized now that
a complete metallic circuit telephone
system is the best system. Whether
we can work into this gradually is a
question which is just now interesting
us very much. 1t has seemed to us
possible and probable that Il change
can be made in the natur"' growth of
the plant whereby those VINO desire to
have metallic circuit line can obtain
it and our company charge somewhat
higher rental for the better service this
would give them. We are not yet
satisfied that this is feasible, but deem
it advisable to present the matter to
| your attention that You may have the
same under consideration.
Another suggestion we wish to make
in the same connection is in regard to
what is called measured SerCiCe. Some
of our patrons, especallyin residences,
use the telephone many times as much
as others. 1t would be just that these
should pay somewhat higher rental
charge. and it would not seem un-
reasonable to modify our present rental
charges SO as to make minimum
monthly rental charge VIII ch should be
increased regularly up IL certain
maximum rate propOrtloned on the
actual number of connections required
by the patron. Some such arrange
ment would result beneticially to the
service in many ways and would have
a tendency to limit large number OF
unnecessary calls now made that
increase the burden of operating expen-
ses and are in other ways detrimen-
tai to the best service.
EXTENSIONS.
! During the past year we have not
| built any important extensions of lines
except to the Marathon County Poor
\ Farm, and rebuilding and strengthen.
| ing lines previously constructed. We
shall extend our Sunset line early IN
the spring to Radant's mill, and
| Hogarty, having made satisfactory
arrangement with the residents of the
| localities for so doing. 1t is expected
that large part of The growth of out
| side lines will be made by the Mara
Il fHaIanhAna
with which we have connection, and
with which we are closely identified.
| 1t has seemed to us wise the past
season not to crowd the outside exten-
sions, but To devote our means to the
betterment of Gus service in this city
Something has been said in the
newspapers regarding a proposed con.
| tract with the " iscOnsin Telephone
| Company That company is espec-
| tally strong in its toll line connections
| 1t maintains an Office in this city, but
does not attempt to compete with our
company locally. They recently made
a proposal To our company, and a
similar proposition To all independent
companies in. the Wisconsin Valley
| the substance of which is that il will
abandon its local office, and introduce
| its longl distance lines into our Office
and transact all its business here
through us. u proposed TO make 8
suitable and reasonable arrangement
with US fnr its cid unused lines here,
with us fnr its old unused lines here,
and required from .us that we substi
tute the Bell Long Distance receiver
aud tTansmitter for the receiver and
I ftransmitter now used in onr telephones
This substitution they agreed Ia make
doing all the work of installing the