The Saint Paul globe., 1904-01-31
THE FRRMER HIS HIS TELEPHONE.
In Some Sections of the Country Rural Exchanges
Dissipate the Lonesome Feature of Farm Life

of their own as to the purpose of the tel
ephone IS evident from the stories that
crop up from time to time of the exDeri-
ences or the inspectors. One of these Of
ncers relates that one of his linemen went
INTO mouse to inspect the telephone on
rural line IN Adams county Illinois.
seated In rocking chair, contentedly oc-
cupied with her knitting, was the wife OF
the subscriber to the system.
AT first sight the 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 go on an er-
rand some distance down the village street
so she took the receiver off the hook and
left 1t on the table near the cradle, telling
the central operator that II her baby be-
gan to cry she was to call her up at tho
grocer's.
An innovation in the use of the tele-
phone which promises to be the vogue is
already very popular. The local grocer
or butcher. realizing that time is money.
pays for the monthly rent of the tele-
phone of any of his customers who spend
$25 at his store during the month. or
makes a corresponding discount for q
smaller expenditure. He finds that In the
increased amount of business coming
orders and the reduction in his staff of
order men he can Well afford to throw in
the telephone service, which furthermore
becomes a splendid advertisement for his
store.
Fence Wires as Conductors.
In the early days of the rural telephone
the farmers We're content to utilize their
fence wireS-for intercommunication, and
in many districts. particularly in the
Western states this method so reduced
the cost of installation as to enable many
communities to have a tolerabiy effective
service which otherwise would have had
to go without any. But the farmers are
becoming more fastidious They now want
nd
The systems employed range from n
single line, with from three or four to a
dozen instruments connected to compre
hensive systems covering entire counties
and having hundreds of patrons. For In
stance, in Geauga county, Ohio near
Cleveland. where there is a population OF
about $4,000. there are over 1000 patrons.
the number in each township ranging from
80 to nearly 400. Great attention is paid
to toll service, and the best construction
and apparatus are insisted on as being In
the long run the most economical.
An example of the village and rural ex-
change Is New Augusta Ind, with sew
enty-five subscribers. fifty of whom are
| farmers, the most distant living seven
miles.
! When a single neighborhood line with
a few Instruments attached Is desired
switchboard Is not necessary. The sub
! scribers signal each other direct by giving
a different combination of rings.
System Is Popular.
| telephone systems become that Ii Is safe
to predict that within very few years
| the majority of the 1000, 900 farmers said
| to be yet unproVided with telephone serv
! ice will have followed the example of their
more enterprising brethren and brought
| themselves within touch of civilization.
| II any community wishes to install sys
| tenn. no matter how limited. 1t has only
| to communicate with n reputable installa
| tion firm to receive the fullest and the
| clearest Instructions as to how to so about
| it.
A favorite method OF organizing is for
| the farmers TO form partnerships or CO.
| operative (mutuaD companies for the fur
nishing of service only TO the locality in
which the subscribers live. Sometimes
| the service is furnished by nearby tele-
| phone exchanges running lines into the
rural districts.
In some places service cannot be given
| by city companies. In such case the farm
| ers can form themselves into company
subscribe for the stock on pro rata or 9TH
| er basis and install the system, running n
1 direct line from their switchboard to that
| of the nearest town or city exchange. This
| is called the community system, the heart
| of which Is the small switchboard. from
| which radiate I'm different directions the
line to which the various subscribers tele-
| phones are attached.