The Press., 1908-12-30
TELEPHONE SERVICE.


 The true breadth and scope of tele- phone service provided in Conneoticut is seldom thoroughly understood and appreciated by the average telephone user. To him 1t represents only the possibility of interoommunicatio within the community of which he Is a part of, at the most, with the en- tire state and cities in adjoining states Further than that his con- sideration of the possibilities of the service may not go for the simple reason that he has never taken oc. casion to utilize the power and value of the telephone in the transaction of business with more distant points. The more that one can get out of a thing. the more valuable it necessarily must be. Therefore, before placing any definite value on 8 utility and weighing the benefits which may accrue from 1t, it is we'll to first find the bounds to which its effectiveness is confined. In the case of telephone service in the United States this may be said to be almost limitless
 Anyone who has studied the ques- tion at all knows how completely the state of Connecticut has been equipped with telephone facilities. The service to day is within the reach of anyone who cares to use it. Twenty years ago the community in which there was telpehone service was the ex- oeption. To-day it is the direct op- posite that is the rule, proven beyond the preadventure of a doubt by the fact that there is not town in the state into which telephone service | has not been extended.
 This is true not only of Connecticut but to nearly the same extent of every state in the union. If this condition is to be of the greatest value to each individual telephone user, all these units must be joined by connecting links which will, to all practical pur- poses, make one great national system covering the entire country and pro viding an almost insta ntaneous means of personal commun ication Already this ideal condition has largely te come an accomplish ed fact through the medium of the long distan' g wires, which connect the telpehone system of this state with similar systems of other states, and thus multiply the value of the service by making each individual user available to every other.
 It is this opportunity-the chance to call up not only friend CT busi ness associate in this state; not only person in New York with whom immediate communication Is desired but even those at the more distant points-any one of more than LOGO, :. 900 Bell telephone uhseribers-t hat lies within the power of the man in Connecticut who uses the telpehone service of the Southern New England Telpehone cor pany. The extent of the service in the state, great as it is. Is merely drop in the bucket when compared to the millions of other tele- phones made available by the hun dreds of thousands of miles of long distance wires Chicago is as near to business man, from a telephonic standpoint, as his home in the other part of the towni it is as easy to get Portland, Me, as it is to call up his nearest customer, and So op.
 It is not alone the number of sele. | phones iu our own state, but also Tthe countless others, far outside of Con- neotiout, available through the agency of the long distance wires, that con- stitute the true value and the real scope of the service to every one who has a telephone on his wall or desk.