Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1902-01-02
TELEPHONE
COMBINATIONS
Rapid Progress of Independent Companies
Recently Formed,


ments of recent years is the rapid growth
of the Independent telephone com
panies all over the country, and parti-
cularly in Pennsylvania. The natural
sequence is their consolidation into
large systems. The latest and most i'm
portant of these aggregations is the
Cumberland Valley Telephone Com
pany, formed by the union, under one
corporation, of the independent com
panies doing business in Cumberland,
Dauphin, Franklin and Adams Coun-
ties, Pennsylvania, and in Washington
and Carroll Counties, Maryland
The companies included are all active
and prosperous with large and in
creasing list Of subscribers, except the
Dauphin County Company which is just
about to give service to its patrons.
The Cumberland Valley Telephone
Company has been leased to and will be
operated by the United Telephone and
Telegraph Company, whose lines now
stretch from Philadelphia TO Johnstown
and from Williamsport to the District
of Columbia. This Company includes
the independent companies of such i'm
portant manufacturing centers as Ian
caster, Lebanon, Chester, Danyille,
Bloomsbury, Williamsport, Bellefonte,
Altoona Sunbury, Coatesville, Norris
town, and the leading commercial cen
ters along the lines of the great rail
roads all of which have been, or are
now being connected together into one
vast system under one management.
The facilities afforded for communi-
cation, either locally or between the
cities and towns of the State, are except
ionally good. With apparatus mostly
of the latest approved type, the service
is the very best The rates for service
made by these independent companies,
and especially the rates between towns,
are so low that many people now use
the phone who could not before afford
it. The great increase in the number
of phones in private houses is revolu-
tionizing methods of doing business
Professional men were the first to ap-
preciate the facility with which engage
ments can be made by phone; manufac-
turers soon found it an indispensable
aid in making sales; but the public ap-
probation has only come since the in
dependent companies have put the price
within the ability of every well-to-do
family. 1t is surprising to see the uses
to which the phone is being put. Even
the farmers have it in their houses. 1t
saves them trips to town over rough
roads and brings to them the advanta-
ges of the town on call.
With the completion of the Harris
burg Exchange, now about to go into
operation, the Cumberland Valley sys-
tenn will be connected with the rest Of
the United Telephone and Telegraph
Company, making the largest independ-
ent telephone system under one manage
ment in the country. Over this entire
system there is uniform tariff of rates
of toll, based upon air line distances, un-
der which the cost of telephoning be-
tween towns and cities of the State is
reduced from prices formerly prevailing
from forty to fifty per cent and in some
cases much more than that. The vari-
Gus system comprising the United Tele
phone and Telegraph Company have
been welded together by new trunk lines
built upon the most direct routes, and
connecting the principal business centers
Of the State Lines have also been con
structed connecting the United Com
pany's system with other independent
systems the toll rates being so arranged
that the same basis prevails all over the
State.
The Company claims to have the
cheapest rates, the newest and best lines
the most satisfactory service, and the
ability to reach the largest number of
towns and people, all of which have
been brought about by this consolida
tion of interests.