The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-04
TaE TELEPHONE ON The Farm
HALF A MILLION INSTALLED IN
THE LAST FIVE YEARS.

1nE LAM FIVE EAHOs
napid Development or independent Tel.
ephony Since the Basic Patent Expired
Ways In which the 'Phone Saves the
Farmer Money and Amuses His Wife.
Tho spread Of what ID known as independ-
emit telephony, which followed the running
out Of the fundamental telephone patents
in this country. has had many striking
developments, but none more remarkable
than those which have given every farmer
In the land the chance to rig up telephone,
and thus put himself In direct touch with
the outer world The ubiquitous trolley,
running out into the rural regions from
the nearest urban centres. has done much
to change the conditions Of rural and agri-
cultural life: but over and above all, the
telephone il proving the fundamentally
OF what IL, a. matter Of fact, a new civiliza-
ton.
Only those who have travelled OF late
through the rural parts Of the great Middle
States and Of those in the Northwest can
have the remotest idea Of the manner in
which. finding the telephone available
and cheap, the farmer has seized upon
It with avidity. and connected himself up
with some cooperative system in his own
neighborhood or again. with holder effort.
has pushed out and joined his own line with
the network Of some adjoining village.
The cooperative principle has in this way
received a new and striking e1emplifcation
while the economic outcomes, even at this
early stage, are 80 wide reaching that it
10 hard TO determine just where the effects
Of this change will stop.
1t is estimated that during the last five
years telephones have been put into nearly
half q million rural homes The farmer
finds that with the telephone he can keep
in touch with the market. selling his prod
uce or life stock when quotations are the
most favorable.
BY sparing himself and his help useless
trips back and forth for the purpose Of de-
bvering his products. or OF ascertaining
the status Of the market, he now saves
vast amount Of time in the course OF the
year. When he is assured by information
over the telephone that he can sell 10
advantage he loads up his wagon, and not
till then.
As illustrating the advantage of keep
ing in telephone touch with the market,
an incident in last years transactions
In broom corn In Illinois ia related. A pros
pective rise in the market was preceded
by great activity on the part of the
brokers.
Buyers from the outside gan to clean
up tho broom corn at 500 a ton, when a
telephone manager called up the farmers
on his system and told them the market
was rapidly rising. The result was that
before the season ended they got $40
ton for their crop. One farmer reports that
in addition to getting nearly double the usual
work out Of his teams, through their being
saved futile trips to Market he has been
enabled to do away with the hire OF two
men, as he could spend more time on his
farm and save the diminished output OF
the hands at work In his absence.
Another farmer sawed all his buildings
by being able to summon help quickly from
q nearby town and also from his neighbors
when fire broke out. Still another, by
getting a physician promptly, saved the
life Of his only son, when the delay OF half
an hour would have been fatal.
It Is now common practice for the coun-
try doctor to give directions by telephone
for caring for the patient, both diagnosing
and prescribing. In Illinois the speeches
OF recent political convention were listened
to by tho farmers on a rural system as they
sat in their homes from fifteen to thirty
six miles away. Being in speaking distance
Of his neighbor, not only does the farmer
feel new sense Of personal security, but
he knows that his belongings are safer from
molestation than they ever were before.
The telephone has been instrumental In
causing the arrest OF many horse thieves
and outlaws and in some districts the
farmers have almost broken up chicken
stealing and petty larceny by telephoning
the police and commission merchants of
their losses. and thus enabling prompt
arrests to DO made.
Tho women and children come in for their
share Of the benefits OF the telephone. Dur
ing the dreary winter nights, they can
gossip with their nsighbors, and they no
longer live In dread when the men are away.
The tramp Is chary Of performing his pro-
fessional stunts where he finds telephone
wire running into the house. for he realizes
that II necessary the whole neighborhood
can be called In q few minutes.
That some women have ingenious ideas of
their own as to the purpose Of the telephone
IL evident from the stories that crop up
from time to time Of the experiences of the
inspectors. One Of these officers relates that
ono OF his linemen went into house to in
spect the telephone on rural line in Adams
county, III. Seated In a rocking chair,
contentedly occupied with her knitting. was
the wife Of tho subscriber to the system.
At first sight tho lineman thought she
was wearing novel kind Of headdress.
but . second glance discovered the fact
that she had tied the telephone receiver to
her ear and was listening to every con-
versation that passed over the wire.
Another woman wanted to 60 on an
errand some distance down the village
street. so she took the receiver of the hook
and loft 1t on tho table near the cradle.
telling the central operator that If her baby
began to cry she was to call her up at tho
Grooer's.
An innovation in the use Of the telephone
which promises to be the vogue is already
very popular. Tho local grocer or butcher.
realizing that time is money, pays for the
monthly rent Of the telephone Of any of his
customers who spend S25 at his store during
tho month. or makes a corresponding dis
count for q smaller expenditure. He finds
chat In the incres aed amount of busnesa