The Ordway new era., 1909-05-21
TIE COLORADO TELEPHONE
COMPANY.

TIE COLORADO TELEPHONE
COMPANY.
Executive office.
Denver, Colorado, May ~, 1909.
TO OUR PATRONS:
From time to time, IL becomes nee
cssary TO make certain important
changes In the methods Of conducting
the Long Distance business Of tins
Company. The many rapidly develop
ing communities, which heretofore
have been without telephone COM
municatiOn with the surrounding
country, and the numerous steadily
growing villages and towns. frequently
require extensions to our system, and
often additional facilities ON already
existing routes.
1t has been the comprehensive policy
OF this Company To extend its long dis
tancc lines To all parts OF the State
where the people needed telephone
service and 10 add new lines where
the amount Of business done made
such lines necessary In order to furnish
efficient and prompt service.
You know the wonderful and steady
advance made In our State In agti iCul-
ture, horticulture, mining, stock rails
ing and the many other enterprises in
which our people are engaged. We
have had to meet this growth by pro-
viding adequate telephone facilities
everywhere. Our system has grown
piece by piece following the settling
up and development OF the State OF
Colorado and the Territory OF New
Mexico.
What we have accomplished is part
ly shown by the following data:
1899. 1909.
No. OF telephones in Col
oradn and New Mexico, 6,59i 7O,51l
No. of miles of Long Dis.
tance lines in Colorado
and New Mexico. .... 2,25S IL, ,2GS
or recent date we have connected
our Colorado and New Mexico system
with all OF the important points in
the East and South. We are thus able
to reach through our comprehensive
Bell System. over thirty-ilve States,
4, 100000 telephones and $4,000, 900
people.
To cover mountainous State like
ours, which Is very sparsely settled,
with long distance telephone system
has been IL very serious financial prob
lem, and still continues To be SO We
provide for all such extensions by the
sale of our treasury stock to our pco-
pie, and in order that such Investment
may be encouraged our problem has
been, first, to reach every part of the
territory and furnish iirst-clasS SER
vice, and second, to so manage that
the Long Distance System rs Il whole
will yield fair profit.
We are now facing the situation of
having covered our territory with Il
long distance system constructed
piece by piece, connecting together
not only all parts of the State and
Territory, but with the population OF
the East; which conditions have
Obliged us to make new exhaustive
study of our Long Distance rates as a
whole.
This study was undertaken:
First to enable us to conform to
and maintain uniform method
throughout the system, and
Second, because the business
in our home company has so de-
velopcd, and methods Of hand
ling and routing it have so
changed, particularly with the
projection of new lines, that a
thorough study of the toll rates
peratiye.
For year or more, experts from the
East, assisted by our Engineers, have
made complete study Of the rate
problem. The purpose of this letter
is to make known to you their con-
clusions upon this subject.
These are, in part, that an entire
re- adjustment OF toll tariffs is abso-
lutely necessary in this territory in
order to eliminate all discrimination
in rates to the public.
1t is obvious that one town IS miles
distant In one direction, and another
town the same distance away in an
opposite direction. each taking an en-
tirely different rate to the same point
in question, is discriminatory and
unreasonable.
shall give some little detail Of the
present scheme of quoting rates, ana
this will perhaps, better explain why
a re-adjustment of the existing tariffs
is necessary.
All Long Distance rates have here
tofore been based on pole line mile
age; that ia, the distance was figured
between any two points via the route
of the line. Thus, the route distance.
at a given rate per mile. determined
the amount to be charged.
In following this rule, we have been
led to rates that In frequent instances
have made conversations almost pro-
hibitlve between certain points; and
vet. based on the haul, these rates, To
the company, we're only producing
the same average revenue per mile as