The Florida agriculturist., 1906-04-04
The Rural Telephone.

in the country is very much greater
even than to the resident in the city,
and yet in our cities all the people that
can afford it have telephones Usually
the citizen pays several times as much
as the farmer for his telephone. espe-
large city like Chicago. There the
householder pays $125 a year for a
telephone. while the popular rate in the
country and the small villages is only
S1S per year. Even if the farmer is
connected with one of the standard
telephone companies he pays only this
price; while if he belongs to a local eX-
change of which he is a stockhOIder
the annual charge, will decrease to
about so. OF course. in this case the
farmer has made an initial investment
in putting in poles, stringing the wire
and putting in the instrument Sepa-
rated as the farmer from other farm
ers by considerable distances. the tele-
phone is of immense value We be-
lieve that the time is not far distant
when every farmer will have tele-
phone. The saving of time alone, dur
ing the year will pay the cost several
times over The items that make up
this saving are innumerable One
farmer wishes to see another farmer
on some important business. If he
has no telephone he drives for miles
perhaps. only to find the other man
away from home. If he has a tele-
phone it is only the work of a moment
to call up the other farmer and find
out whether he is at home or not, and
if he is make an appointment with
him. Many farmer in times past
has hauled load of produce many
miles to market over bad roads and
has found the prices so very unsatis-
factory that he had to haul his load
home again. that he might hold his
produce for better conditions Such
trips are saved by the use of the tele-
phone. Many of the farmers live equi-
distant from three or four good mar
ketS. In times past they have some
times hauled load to one market.
and. not finding the prices satisfactory.
have hauled their loads to other mar
kets. The man that has a telephone
finds out in a few moments what the
prevailing prices are in different mar
kets and knows which market will pay
most for his produce BY the use of
the telephone the farmer can very fire.
quently sell his produce to a local
merchant before he has left his own
house. thus eXpediting business and
saving himself much time and labor
One of the greatest values of the tele-
phone is to be always in cOmmunica-
ton with the villages where doctors
are located. Sickness prevails on
farms as well as i'm villages, and some
times it is necessary that the physician
come quickly. The telephone cuts this
in two, as the trip of the farmer to the
village is saved, and by the time the
farmer would have reached the physi-
clans house, the physician, called by
the telephone. is at the farmers house.
Fortunately in the country a monopoly
of telephone service is not possible
Many good patents on telephone in
struments have expired and many
companies are manufacturing them.
In the cities the people find themselves
more or less dependent upon the COM
pany having most of the business.
But in the country. where the farmer
can build his own telephone line, this
does not count for very much. In
these modern days time must be saved
and intercOmmunicatiOn must be i'm
proved. The telephone is one of the
nrfrrI Of int Or