New-York tribune., 1909-10-29
TELEPHONE MERGER.
Third Big Company Plans g.
900, 900 Miles of Wire.

The first practical development in the or
ganiZation of a third great national tele-
graph and telephone system was completed
in this city yesterday, when the Continental
Telephone and Telegraph Company took
over for cash the property of the Indepen
cent Union Telephone and Telegraph Com
pany. The Continental is the $50,0O0GOO
company which was recently incorporated
by Philbin, Beekman & Menken, attorneys
of this city, under the laws of New Jersey.
1t learned yesterday that the Cont
mental was the successor of the National
Long Distance Telephone syndicate which
for year or more had been operating
under the management of John A. Howard.
of Wheeling W. Va, and Max Koehler
and Herman c. Stifel of St Louis. All
heavily interested in telephone properties
throughout the Middle West. They repre-
sent European, New York, st. Louis, Pitts
burg and Wheeling capital.
The organization is committed to the
penditure of s200OO.OOo in the next two
years. with the construction of a compre-
hensive system of long distance telephone
and telegraph lines reaching from the At
lantic Coast 20 the Rocky Mountains. The
Continental company mas established head
quarters at No. rs Broadway, this city.
1t is announced that the Continental will
take over by outright purchase some OF the
principal Independent local and long dis
tance telephone lines which now cover the
Middle West, reaching from the western
part Of New York State to Omaha and
from St. Paul to Birmingham, Ala With
the other companies, the Continental has
entered into. long term leases for the hand
ling of the long distance telephone business
and for the transaction of a general com-
mercial telegraph business.
The Independent Union, which was the
first of the properties to be acquired, up-
crates territory reaching from Newburg,
oil the east and south. 10 Erie, Perm, on
the west. 1t takes IN tie cities of Albany.
Troy, Schenectady and practically all the
upstate towns that lie in the middle section
of the state. aud has connecting contracts
with the large independent systems at
Utica, Buffalo and other centres. The H.
dependent Union company connects direct
ly with sixty thousand telephones and indi-
rectly, through interconnecting contracts.
with ninety thousand more. 1t has never
attempted to do q commercial telegraph
business. although 1t has leased lines for
telegraphlng purposes.
The new owners, however, will immedi-
ately put the property in shape to handle
commercial telegraph as well as telephone
business. The continental has also started
the building east and west out Of Buffalo
of heavy copper lines~for through business
The contracts for the work have been let
and the construction gangs are now in the
field. a line Is also being surveyed, and
material for construction has been ordered,
to run from Philadelphia to Ptttsburg
The company has secured entrance at all
the principal cities east of the Rocky
Mountains, including Chicago where it ac-
Quired a franchise and began the construc-
ton of a telegraph line 1t has now on
hand connecting contracts with wire using
companies that. with its own construction,
will give it six million miles of wire 1t
will connect 29S6.515 Independent telephones
with a national long distance service.
1t purposes to build two main lines. carry
ing heavy copper circuits for telephone
and telegraph work. straight through from
Boston by way of Philadelphia and New
York TO Omaha. 1t viii also build
straight line of heavy copper circuits from
Louisville to New Orleans. The company
has arranged for an entrance into New
York City for its telegraph business.
Omaha, Oct. 2S.-For some time Iowa and
Nebraska Independent telephone promoters
have been negotiating with Eastern repre-
sentatives of similar interests with a view
to completing system of long distance
lines to the East. Charles c. Deering
president of the independent interests in
Omaha, said tonight that the announce
ment of the Continental Telegraph and
Telephone Company indicated successful
elimination of these plans.
The plan is to construct a system Of
trunk lines over the entire country, to be
used for both telegraph and telephone pur-
poses.