Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-05-24
ESPECIAL CoRREsFoNDENcE.1
Washington Bureau of the Courier.
Washinuton. D. c.. Nav o.


For years the census bureau has
oeen employed in the gathering OF
slaIlstics aclative to telephones and
lelegraphs In the United States. This
mass OF information will soon lne issued
IN the form OF compre ehsngtve report
on the subject 7a. llTs
The statistics Of the telegraph and
telepnone We're first shown In the
census OF 1880. At that time the tele-
sraph mao been in successful opera
tlon Ior forty years. The telephone
was IN It's formative stage. Since
then telephony has outstripped tele.
graphy. NOW the various telephone
systems operate more than three
fourths OF the wire mileage and employ
apout three-fourths of the wage earn.
ers in the service of both.
Growth In Rural Districts.
IN 1904 there were approximately
$500 commercial systems, 1000 mutual
systems and $500 independent rural
lines. For the commercial system the
mileage was about 100000, number
Of telephones, 100000. Mutual sys-
tens, mileage 10000, number of tele-
phones 100000. Independent lines.
mileage $4,000, number Of telephones
$4,000.
In 1902 the number of messages ana
talks reported was 5,070,544,533 Of
which 4,949,S49,709 were local ex-,
change calls and 12O,704,S44 were long
distance and toll calls. The report,
will show that on the average there.
was one telephone to every thirty-fourl
persons; that each person talked sixty
five times year and that each telea
phone was used 1900 times. During,
the past ten years there has been a.
tremendous growth of the telephone
service in rural communities, although
the greatest increase in the number OF
telephones has been in the cities. Sam
Francisco was the best telephoned city
In the United States, having a tele-
phone for every nine inhabitants.
Operating Expenses.
The average revenue per telephones
amounted to $3.50 and the average
per meskage, IL cents. The average
operating expense was s24.56 per tele-,
phone and IL cents per message. On
January 1, 1905, the total number Of
telephones in the United States was
3,400,000 against a total of 1,485, ,784 in
all Europe.
uG GueCL OIL IIl6 L6lepHOnG IN r0QuC>f
ing or checking the amount Of tele-
graph business is produced In two
ways-by substituting the long dis
tance phone call for the telegraph
message between two widely separated
points and by obviating to a very large
extent the necessity for using the tele.
graph within city limits.
Iowa Independent Companies.
The commercial telegraph systems
owned and operated 1,318,350 miles of
wire in 1902. In addition there were
16,677 nautical miles of submarine ca
BILE. The twenty-five systems have an
investment or capitalization Of stocks
and bonds OF $162,946,525; total rev.
enue Of $40,930, 900, and total assets Of
s195 5,503,775. About 10000 wage-earn-.
ers are employed.
The railway telegraph systems were
represented by 684 companies. They.
employ $4,000 operators. The number
of messages sent during the year for
railroad business only was 201 ,743,756
and the number of commercial mes
sages was 4,474,593.
Iowa ranks near the top among all
| the states in the number of independ-.
ent companies and in the complete.
ness with which counties are network,
ed with wires connecting farmers resi-
dences with central exchanges in coun-
lty seats and thence via trunk lines to,
various parts OF the state.