The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-15

tected. Very likely tbe man who tele- phones hundred years from now. no matter in what part of the country ne may be, will talk entirely over under ground lines. unless by that time 1t be- comes possible to converse over long distances without the use of metallic connection at all: but at present tele- phone lines must continue to be carried on poles except in cities and large towns. Nobody would hail the day when the wires should be buried in the small places. as well as in the cities. more gladly than telephone managers. but they know that the day will be long time coming. and fer several good reasons. chief of which. so far as focal telephone plants are concerned, Is the plain, American one of dollars and cents.
 Years ago the telephone companies began placing their wires below the surface of city streets and this work has progressed steadily until of the 4,- o00,000 miles of wire in the Bell sys- tenn more than i.soo, 900 miles have been placed in underground cables. Where there are great numbers of telephone users in a limited area it is practicable to do this; but in localities where the number of people to be provided with service Is comparatively small the ex- pense of burying the lines is prohibi- tive. While several hundred lines may be placed in a conduit without matc- rially increasing the cost of the serv- ice. the placing of 20. 40 or 50 lines un derground would necessitate raising the prices to figures which few people would care to pay. Telephone engin- eers find that 1t costs about a dtslar a foot to build a conduit system of mod crate size while the best kind of pole line can be constructed for about 20 cents for each foot of ground covered. When the additional cost of service due to a conduit system is divided among many patrons it is not felt. Appor- tioned among few customers 1t would be a heavy burden.
 The use of the telephone in this coun- try is increasing at a marvellously rap i'd rate. In 1900 there were less than one million telephone subscribers in the United States; now there are three millions or more, there being about two million patrons of the Bell com requires the expenditure of many mill lions of dollars each year. Tn the past twelve months the Bell companies have spent over th'rty-tive million dollars in extending their service, a large share Of this enormous total going to carry the telephone lines to small towns and through rural districts wkere the service is necessarily fur nished at a much lower rate than in the big cities. If the wires in all the small places were buried, even were it possible to raise the money required for such a stupendous undertaking, it would plainly be necessary to greatly increase rates in order to get even a low return upon this investment. And after all, Interruptions of service sell dom happen for destructive storms are of rare occurrence.
 Leaving out the question of the cost there is another good reason why all the telephone lines cannot be hidden out of sight under the surface of the earth. Over the wires on suitably con- structed pole lines the sound of the voice has been successfully transmit ted for a distance of nearly 2,000 miles but about 40 miles Is the limit of trans mission through cables, because, not
 withstanding theperfection to which the art of cable making has been brought, miniature telephone wave flow ing through the cable with it's hun dreds of wires meets host of obstacles which 1t does not encounter on ariel lines Because of this fact. the lines which join town to town and city to city must still be carried on polesre- gardless of the question of expense and the companies during the season of storms which make trouble for the wires must be prepared to carry on the battle with the clements in the old way.
 Few people know just what is done when a telephone company buries its lines. To begin with. the wires them selves must be combined in cables. the making of which involves many intri- cate and expensive processes The finished cable looks like lead pipe,