, 1907-10-30
USE OF TELEPHONE INCREASING
AT TREMENDOUS RATE IN
THE LAST FEW YEARS.
Business for Present Year Estimated
at Fifteen Billion Telephone Calls,
or One Hundred n Eighty for
Each Man, Woman and Child in
Country-America in the Lead.

cOrding to figures collected by the cell.
sus bureau and the reports of the lead
ing companies. Although the telephone
is now thirty years old, its real growth
in popular use began about ten or
twelve years ago. In 1880 there were
in use in the whole country only a
little over $4,000 telephones. BY 1880
this number had increased to $4,000,
and by 1902 it had multiplied to 2,315,-
297, or almost exactly ten times the
number of 1890.
Three Million Subscribers.
The report of the American Tele'
phone and Telegraph company shows
that on January /, 1907, there were
on the lists of its various companies
nearly 300, 900 subscribers, or n for
every tw~enty-eight persons in the
whole country.
Half Million Increase.
This was an increase of nearly 800,
600 during the year 1906 for the Beu
interests alone. or an increase OF near
" three-fold since 1902. Taking the
decade beginning with 1898 for pur'
poses of comparison, this would indi'
cate that more thar seven times rs
many PERSONS are using telephones at
the present time AS ten vars ago.
Messages BY the Billion.
Assuming the rate of gain by the
other companies to De equal to that Of
the overshadowing Bell interests, and
adopting the ratio messages to sub
scribers, reported by the census bureau,
1t would appear that more than fifteen
billion telephone messages will DC
transmitted in this country during the
present year, or about $50 messages 10
every man, woman and child in the
whole country.
Great Saving Of Time.
If each telephone subscribes is able
TO save two hours a day by its use, n
conservative estimate according to sta
listicians who have studied this sub
iect. the invention and development OF
the telephone would represent a saw
ing equal to half a billion working
DAYS of eight hours each. Estimating
the time of each telephone user as
worth two dollars a day-which, OIL
course, is far below its real value
the telephone represents a saving in
time, or an increase in business efic
liency, to be valued at more than a bill
lion dollars a year.
America in the Lead.
Such figures are chiefly useful as
showing to what an extent h United
States has become a nation Of tele'
phone users. No other country ap
proaches America in this respect. The
leading countries of Europe with i
combined population of about five
times that of America use less tina
half as many telephones. In othei
words, taking an equal number of per
sons from Europe and America, one
would find ten times as many tels'
phone users among the latter as among
the former.
Many Persons Employed.
Another phase OF the subject of con
siderable interest is the number OF
persons to whom the growth of the
telephone habit has given employment,
There are no complete returns cover
ing this point for the current year, but
ii the number of persons engaged in
the telephone business has increased
only half as rapidly as the number Of
telephones, the industry at the pres
ent time in all it's various branches
must give employment to upward OF
200 900 workers, with the livelihood OF
practically a million persons depend,
ent upon it.
Well UP Into Thousands.
Going lack to the statistics of manu-
facture, the Western Electric company
reported $4,000 employees for last year.
AS this concern makes considerably
more than half the telephones used
by the country as a whole. the number
of persons engaged in the manufacture
ing branch of the business may be
roughly estimated at As, 5000. The re-
port of the American Telephone nj
Telegraph company shows over 10000
operators and others workers employ.
ed. This would leave 5000 employed
to be accounted for by the various in.
dependent concerns, which is a con.
sentative estimate. In addition several
thousand men are occupied in subsid'
airy industries, including the turning
out of raw and manufactured materi-
ais used in telephone making.
Consuming Copper.
These raw materials themselves COO
stitute an impressive showing. The
statistics of the Western Electric show
that it USED in manufactures during
1906 thirty-one million pounds of cop
per wire, twelve million pounds OIL
brass and German silver, sixty million
pounds of lead, eighty thousand pounds
of silk, n other materials n proper,
ton. AS the total value Of this one
company's business during the year
was. 500, 000, 900, it may be e that
the total yearly revenue Of the tele.
phone industry in the United States
amounts to an enormous figure.
Will Sell For Private Use.
So strongly fixed has the telephone
habit become among Americans, In.
GLIDING the construction Of private
lines by which a man connects his
home and stable or various points
about his farm or factory, that the Bell
interests have recently announced
their decision to sell their instruments
for Driyafa Or individual uSo which