The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1903-03-12
Citizens Telephone and Telegraph
Company to Make a Thorough
Canvass OF the City.
SUBSCRIBERS TO PURCHASE STOCK
Line to Be Built With Home Capital, If at
All. aud Patrons of Line VIII Own All
Stock In Company Shares S25 Each,

The managers of the Citizens Tele-
phone and Telegraph company which
recently secured franchise from the
City Council for the construction of an
independent telephone line in Kenosha
in opposition to the monopoly so long
enjoyed by the Wisconsin company,
are going to work ia earnest in the
near future to push the project, and to
ascertain, if possible, just how many
people of the city can be relied on to
help the good work along. It is the in
tention of the managers of the new
company to send OUT number of So
licitors and make a house to house
canvass of the entire city. Every
householder in the city will be given
an opportunity not only to have tele-
phone installed ia his house, but to
subscribe for one or more shares of the
stock Of the company and to become a
partner in the enterprise.
It is the wish of the promoters of
this independent line to make it wholly
a local concern and to have every SUBJ
scriber directly interested in its sue
cess. In order to make it possible for
every user of one of the new phones to
become stakeholder in the company
the par value of share of stock has
been placed at SIS, and it is believed
that this move on the part of the COM
pany will result in most of the stock
being placed in the hands of the actual
patrons of the line.
The franchise granted the indepen-
dent company provides that an ex-
change with $50 subscribers must be in
operation within year, and it is be-
lieved that with the strong sentiment
existing in favor of a local line that it
will be comparatively easy to get the
required number of subscribers within
the time specified in the ordinance.
Another thing that makes the mana
gers of the new company hopeful that
an independent line can be made a
success in Kenosha is the fact that the
city is way behind other cities of the
same size in the number of telephones
in use here under the present condi-
tions. Carefully compiled statistics OF
all the cities where telephone lines are
in operation show that the average
number ofstelephones in use is about S
per cent of the population. Accord
ing to these figures, Kenosha with its
population of close to $4,000 people
should support, under normal condi-
tons, an exchange with 600 subscrib-
ers. The service given the people in
Kenosha has been SO poor, however,
that the present exchange has only a
little more than half the average num-
Der of subscribers in other cities. If
the canvassers for the new company
succeed in bringing the number of
subscribers in this city up to the aver
age of other cities they will have
nearly enough to start with without
taking single patron away from the
ole company. Judging from the con-
slant complaints of the service given
by the Wisconsin company to its
patrons, many of them will be only too
glad to change, and if the public is
only half as anxious for an indepen-
dent line now as they appeared to be
when the project for local line was
first brought forward, the success of
the independent line is assured from
the start.