The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-12-19
TELEPHONE
Special Meeting of tho
Chdmbe of Com
MERGE
LONG DISTANCE
The CoIumbux Telephone Company
Lays n Propagation Before the bus
mess Men of Wilmington
ing Connection with aus
all Points Reached by Their Wires
ferred stock.

commerce was held yesterday afternoon
tn hear a propos ton frcm the Column
bus Telephone Company concerning it's
connection with his city. The follow
ing member were in attendance: Pres
ident James H. Chadbourn. Secretary :
James Kyle. and Messrs. H C. Nc
Queen W. b. Cooper, Walker Taylor. T.
S. McManus. J.. A. Taylor. ]. N. jacob,
George r. French, w. p. Oldham, H.
K. Nash. L. NJ. Bear. S. F. Craig. G.
j. Boney. D. McEacnern, and B. F
Keith. There we're also present, Mr.. J.
W. HarreIlson. of Clarendon. president
of tn the Columbus Telephone Company.
Mr.. E. A. Peary. of C~hadbourn, cere-
tary and treasurer and general mana
ger, and Mr.. G.. S. Reid. OF ChadbOurn,
one of the stockholders.
President Chadbourn stated that the
meeting had been called at the request
of Mr.. J. A. Taylor for the purpose of
hearing 4 prop )sition from the Column
bus Telephone Company and that while
the chamber Will be glad to hear their
proposition, it is understood that the
chamber will be in no way connected
financially by any action it may take.
He then called on Mr.. Taylor to more
fully state the purpose Of the meeting.
Mr.. Taylor said the meeting had been
called to hear the managers of
the Telephone Company had
to say concerning the connection of
Wilmington With it's system. He said
the representatives of the
were present and called upon Mr.. J. 4.
Peary, secretary and treasurer of the
to state his proposition to the
meeting.
Mr.. Peary stated that the Columbus
Telephone Company had been inCOrpor-
ated June fst. with q capital of So. 600
with the privilege of increasing it to
10000. and that recently the charter
had been amended to increase 1t to $25,-
900. He stated that the company had
recently completed its line from Will
mingtSn to Southport and il was now
in operation. He said the mpan al
ready has lines from Chadbourn to
Clarendon. from C~hadbOurn to CeTro
GOrdO, from C~nHdbOurn to BOardman,
from Chadbourn to ClarktOn, from
Clarkton to AbbOttsburg and Baden
boro. and that 4 line has just been COM
pleted from ClarktOn to BEETHOVEN.
The whole system at present embraces
200 telephones, including Bogue. Lake
.Waccamaw, knith'S. and Councils
station. He said it was proposed TO
connect the system by Councils with
Wilmington, and that the poles are now
up as far this way as MalmO. but that
the work was interferred with by the
lack of capital, as the lines already built
required more capital than had been
authorized. He said the line to South
port had cost ST 400 mJIe than was eX-
pected. He then went on to say that
the company ha5 recently decided to in
crease the capital to $4,000. OF that
amount ii is proposed 10 issue 5000 OF
preferred stock tC be guaranteed at an
interest of 6 per cent per annum payable
Sem~i-annually. This preferred stock be
offered to Wilmington in order to en-
able the company to liquldate its in
debtedness and complete the line from
Councils to Wilmington. He said the
poles and cross arms are up from
to MalmO and that it would
require $500 to complete it to Whining
ton. He said mis- company proposed To
offer part Of the preferred stock to Will
mington's business men,, md this was
why he was here. Mr.. Peary went on
to say that his mpan also proposes
to build a line frCm VAUDEVILLE to Shall
lOtte and Little River where the people
propose to take Ctock sufficient TO build
these lines. 1t is also proposed to build
from Chadbourn to Conway s. c., and
he was assured that the Conway peo-
pie Will subscribe to the capital stock
of the company. Mr.. Peary went on to
Sal that the company now has a wire
mileage of 267 miles, and that the
Southport connection embraces 6S miles
of METALS Servi ce.
In reply to 4 question by Mr.. j. A.
Taylor, Mr.. Pealy stated that the COM
pany had already expended $S,125 in
funds, and the entire expenses up 10
this time were $40 I12. leaving the COM
pany Il liability Of s.. 100.
In reply to i question by President
C~hadbourn. Mr.. Peary stated that an
interest of 6, per cent would be guar
anteed on the preferred stock which
il is proposed to issue and that no div
idend would be declared on the COM
mon stock until il IS earned. This
would give the business men OF Will
mingtOn 4 ec;de advantage, While
people elsewhere We're gladly subscrib-
ing 10 common stock in order TO get
connexions.
President Chadbourn said it mlglA
not be understood why the people II
and Conway would be will
ing to subscribe to the common stock.
but he had lived among them many
years, and built a railroad from Chad
bourn to Conway, and he could say that
they were the most generous and en-
terprising people he had ever lived
among.
Mr.. s. F. Craig spoke of the outh-
port line and said as manager of the
Cape Fear Towing and Transportation
Company he had used the line daily.
He said the service was fine and that
uS Adu ISbVdlSu " SOubAPOAN "N ~
letter and not once YVES he asked to
repeat. and that after a conversation
with the Southport party he had sent
a telegram to Baltimore on the strength
of the conversation. He said he was
satisfied that stock in The company was
O good investment and that whenever
the company wanted to sell the South
ot TT line at what il cost. about 5000.
they would not q to &c beyond his
compa to get a taker-
Messrs. B. F. Keith. ]. A. Taylor, G..
J. Boney, l.. M. Bear. Mr.. I. s.
McManns and others discussed the
proposition. Mr.. McManus. who is
manager of the Southern Bell Telephone
Company here, said he was satisfied
that the Columbus Telephone Company.