Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1906-02-06
T,NsLE If BEL is
HEARD IN THE LAND.
Big Increase in Subscribers
List Here.
GREATEST OF AL INVENTIONS
In Georgia and Entire South the Use
of the Telephone Rapidly Increases.
PeopIs Cannot Afford to Be Without
Convenience.

A succession of hlgh-prlced cotton
years has done q great many things
for the farmers OF the Sou'h Tney
have brought them lnxGrIes they have
never possessed )fore in addition to
improving the possessions already in
their grasp. One of the innovations
for which they have been indirectly
responsible is the rapid spread of the
telephone in the rural districts with
strides that send it along with rural
free delivery progress.
Ten years ago the tinkle Of the ''voice
in the box, as it has been called, was q
lonesome visitors outside of the cities
says the Atlanta Constitution.
Ia the fret place; it had not yet been
well developed aud cheaped, and even
IN the cities people were not quite SO
enthusiastic over its manifold advan-
aages IS they are today; and, again.
the farmer looked on the new ''con-
traptlon" with a wary eye. He had
little faith in it aud the companies
were not overly ANXIOUS to ask the pat
ronsge of man not in a posi- ion to
discuss luxury of this nature.
Bot latterly there has been a revolu-
ton. Ia the city the telephone has
made great and tven strides. Large
and small busIBees b. uses find it al
most indis. ensabie In the daily routine
and it IS appealing to the housekeeper
and the home keeping man with sboui
equal force,
Tnus IN the cities an enormous busI-
ness has sprung into existence, and the
telephone has to be rcckoned with as
one of the greatest industries of the
United States-prsc.icali the world
And low the country is beginning
to experience the mag transformation
wrought by the local and long distance
phone. Improvement has followed
Improvement, and with each one has
come pe'ceptible reduction in the
price of service.
Go out into the country now, through
out George, South Carolina; Alabama,
KrntUcky entire south, in TACT
and you will be literally astuunded at
the vogue Of this comparatively new IN
vensIon. Farm houses are no longer
isolated, They are brought within
speaking distance of each other by the
telephone. The business Of the plant
er hss been vastly facilitated and his
wife finds that her friends and her IA
vorite &c ciety have been brought sew
eral miles nearer the door.
The improvement has reacted favor
ably on all sides. It has stimulated
the tia1e of the small country mer-
cbaat by making the aending and re-
ceivlng of orders hundred fold easier.
Ii has led to the direct betterment of
country roads, since there ls greater
demand for their use. Rural free de-
livery has shared in the general uplift,
for wherever roads appreciate In pass.
abIeness the service of Cncle Sans
mall carriers Is speedier and more fce
Quent.
The large city merchants find their
business materially Increased. more
over, by the extentIon of the "hello"
They find that with easier access to
the cities, the man IN the country lie
prone to more buying and the buying
or more expensive articles.
Another important phase of the rural
invasion of the telephone has been its
pe'ceptible effect on the value of lands.
It j. of record that two or three'year
after the establishment of lines through
the country districts the prices of
lands begin to rise rapidly immigrants
come in with greater freedom; ham
let's develop into towns; crossroads
develop into hamlets-and in the
meantime quotations for wild and I'M
prove d lands are steadily advancing.
The thing is, of course, too new as yet
to permit of any broadcast prophecy in
this direction, but the healthful trend
is already apparent.
And, as intimated, the prosperity of
the farmers of the South is mainly re-
sponsible for the onward march of the
telephone.
It seems, also, that we Will in future
come to regard the handiwork of Bell
and of Edison as one of the most reli-
able baromsters { the substantial con-
ditlon Of the men outside of the cities.