The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-05-22
The eIephiol5I1,el
And elegraph
INTERESTING FieuREsG GIVEN IN
THE,cENsUs REPORT ABOUT
THE WIRES.

FIGURES GtvEN in in
nHEscENsUs .REPoRT ABOUT
THE WIRES
WASHINGTON. elay - special
report on telephone and telesraphs
for 1902 has been issued By the Cen
sus Office II shows that in 1902 the
telephone systems of the country op-
Grated more than rhree-fourth OF the
wire mileage reported for both tele-
phones and releraphs. gave empio-.
inert to seven-senths OF the wage
earaers. paid more than two-thtrds OF
the wages. received more Khan two
thirds OF the total Terenue and paid
more than two-thirds Of The total ex-
penses.
For the commercial systems the.
mileage was 4.1.9,5I1. and the nun
Der of telephones. . oe5.sS1: for the:
e15 and the number OF telephones So,
SIC. and for the independent lines the
mileage was 1896 and the number
of telephone 55.14.
The number of salaried employees
engaged in the telephone service was
14.1e4.and the average number of wage
earaers G4.S2S. The amount paid in
salaries was So .SS5.SSG and in wages
s2G.369.735- The number of messages
or talks reported during the year was
5.O76.554,55S. of which all but 120.-
10s.Si4 Were local calls. the remain
Ing being long distance or toll calls.
Ohio led IN the number of messages
with 55S..o1.So1. and Illinois was next
with 5i1.161 $50 In long distance and
toll traffic Pennsylvania was first. with
2cs40a621 messages. and New York
wcs second. with 20.SG7 .o24. On the
average there was one telephone toI
every 81 persons. and each person
talked CO times a year. OF the 1.157
Incorporated urban centerS reported
in 1900. LOOP were provided IN 1902
with telephone systems OF some de-
scription. San Francisco. with one
telephone to nine persons. was the
best telephoned city in the United
States in 1902 while Cleveland rank
ed second. with one telephone for ev.
cry 16 persons. and Boston was third
with one telephone for every 10 in
habitants.
The average revenue per telephone
amounted to $3.50. and the average
per message IL cents. while the aver
age operating expense was S24.5e per
telephone and IL cents per message
Incidentally. the report shows that
on January /. 1905. the number Of tel
ephones for the United States was s.
100000 and the number for Europe
1.4S5.1i. The report speaks OF the
effect OF the telephone in reducing or
checking the amount Of telegraph bus
mess. 1t says that the rates OF the
two systems for medium distances do
not differ greatly and for very long
distances they are overwhelmingly in
favor Of the telegraph. If the message
be taken as a unit: but If the number
of words exchanged be taken into &C
count, as well as the time required for
getting into Communication the. tele-
graph is at disadvantage in case of
a large amount of traffic.
The reportesaSS the public employs
the telegraph at the rate OF only lit
tie more than once year per capita.
whereas the number Of telephone mes
saSes is already 65 per capita
The commercial telegraph systems
Of the country owned and operated
1.3lS350 miles OF wire in 1902. In ad-
dition there We're 1851 nautical miles
of submarine cable. The 25 systems
had an investment or capitalization OF
stocks and bonds Of 2,946,525. a
total revenue OF $4,000. o3S. and total
assets OF s1e5,503...5. A sum amount
ing to S15.o3e.673 was paid in salaries
and wages to Se9 salaried employees
and 2e,19S wage Gamers
The railway telegraph systems were
reported by SS4 companies They en-
ployed 1886 operators and dispatch
ers. TO whom s2o.04O.73o were paid in
wages The number OF messages sent
during the year for railroad business
was e01.1433.756. and the number Of
commercial messages was i.474.593.
The practice OF putting fre-alarm
wires under ground has increased rap
idly during late years. and more thar
onefourth of the $685. miles of such
wire was under ground in 1902 Tho:
combination OF the telegraph and tele-
phone as al AUXILIARY to the police
for was first introduced in 1850
In 1902 the police patrol systems
u-ere d5SrrihrreT in 30 StafeS and the