The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-08

nished to the very large majority of subscribers, and regard the progress made to that end during the last half of the year as considerable Another gratifying phase of the situation is that in spite of the essened industrial activity and the large number of re- sulting disconnections from our service, we have shown from october 1st to the end of the year not only a substantial net gain in stations, but a net increase of more than S32,000 in our annual rent al account On the whole, therefore, the results of the year are encourag- ing, as further indicated by the follow ing main items in the various branch cs
 We closed the year with 60,735 sta tions in service, thus showing r~'. in- crease during the year of S,259 stations or 157 per cent as against 10647 or 25.5 per cent during 1906. The somewhat smaller increase during 1907 is account cd for by the change in industrial con ditions, by a considerable reduction of the canvassing force. and by the great CT attention given to the needs of cY- isting subscribers rather than to eX tensive canvassing for new subscribers. On the other hand. it is of interest to note that the increase in total revenue during 1907 was s32i,564 20, or IS per cent, as against S266,51S24, or TIA per cent. in 1906, this difference resulting largely from the growing tendency of subscribers toward the installation of the higher grades of service. The com- parison of the increase in stations with the increase in revenue warrants our feeling of encouragement as to the re- suits of the year.
 As would naturally be expected from the smaller increase in stations and from the curtailment of extension, the additions to our outside plant during 1907 aggregated considerably less than during 1906. In summary, the main ad- ditions consisted of 1l,75S poles of var
 ous sizes, g, 295 cross-arms, 30 miles of underground conduit, so miles of ca- ble, and 5,5S9 miles of open wire, with the result that the total wire in tho state at the close of the year aggre- gated l6S5S4 miles The general con dition of our outside plant is excellent and it's reliability Is well proven by the manner in which it withstood the se- we're storms of recent date
 During the year we have made ad- ditions to six common battery offices and twenty-six magneto offices. aggre- gating total central office equipment for 6.950 subscribers lines, so toll lines. and 6l operators positions We have also installed new common battery switchsoards at Stamford, Norwich and West Haven. The common battery service has not been extended to the degree expected at the beginning of the year, not only on account of the reduc- ton of our work. but also as a result of 2 change in the type of switchboard selected for use, and the fact that the large number of orders placed with the manufacturers of these switchboards prevented delivery during the first half of the year Notwithstanding these conditions 66 per cent of the total num- Der of stations were connected on com mon battery service at the close of the year, and at the date ur writing this figure has been increased to practical ly 70 per cent. We regard this as a high figure, especially when it is con- sidered that of the total of so, 735 sta- tions. nearly 1000. or 27.6 per cent are located in the forty-one rural exchange districts. which are not readily adapt able to common battery service on ac- count of tho extreme length of local tions All city exchanges. except An sonia Derby and Middletown, are now