The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1909-02-25
Bell Stations Outnumber lndepend-
ents' Nearly Two To One.

and . 9S6, 5l5 Independent stations
or telephones. The independents
have all along claimed over ! 900,
600 stations, or fully 23% more
then they actually have.
The government figures do not
make any attempt to classify the
independents as between 'inde.
pent and "opposition" companies
AS a matter of fact, of the So
called "independents' fully 900,
600 or 300, of the entire number
form through sub.licensee or serv-
ice arrangements part of the COM
prehensive Bell system, but in all
other respects are independent,
selfcontrolling organizations. AT
present over 100000 independ-
ents or about 1919 of the total are
thus affiliated with Bell lines.
With this very important ad-
justment which the overment
statisticians obviously could not
make, it will be found that instead
of the Bell companies having but
$4,000 more stations than the
independents, the real figures are
something like 4,000,0 600 for the
Bell, against 2,15O,OOO for the
independents, a ratio of nearly 3
to L. The preponderance of
Bell over independent stations may
be better illustrated by the follow
ing comparison:
1907 1902
Bell system. "A 900, 600 1850, 900
Increase ... ,.................. p, $50, 900
m lnc.-...... 1916
independents 3, $50, 600 1000, 600
Increase .....-.-l, $50, 600
Bell excess II $50, 600 $4,000
Increase ........................... . 500, 900
In considering these figures, it
should be borne in mind that the
station statistics of the Bell and
connecting systems are all mat
ter of record at q central point,
due to the fac. that the lnstru-
ments used by - Rell system are
furnished by the American Tele-
phone Co. Statistics kept by the
Bell companies are as precise as
figures of railroad earnings. In
struments used by the Bell COM
panies are given out from one
source aid are Identical in type of
construction. Therefore, the sta
tistics of Bell telephone are as
reliable as balance sheets or any
other financial records.
The relative public utility of
the Bell and independent tele-
phone interests is not measured by
number of stations so much as by
the fact that the Bell lines are one
comprehensive and inter -communi-
eating system operated under one
general policy and connected with
toll and long distance lines aggre-
gazing nearly 1000, 900 miles in
length. The independents on the
other hand are scattered com
panles and for the most part small
associations or cooperative groups,
having with few conspicuous ex-
ceptions no relation with each
other and only limited connection
by local toll-lines. The instru-
ments and apparatus come from
30 or 40 different manufacturers
There IS no uniform accounting
system and there is no temptation
to make the figures any smaller
than they actually are. Further
more, some Independents report
telephones Ga single instrumenD
while others conform to the Bell
custom and report stations 1.-TWO
instruments). To this extent the
independent figures are unduly |
swelled, but there is no way of |
knowing how material this factor
is.
The significant feauture of the
rapid telephone development of
the United States during the last
five years has been this quiet,
afllliation with the American Tele.
phnna systam of 900 00O india