New-York tribune., 1909-03-24
HEAVY PHONE EARNINGS.
Large Gains Made by the Bell System in 1908.

The report of the American Telephone and TeIe-
eraph Company for the year ended December 81,
1905 shows total revenue of S27,S9S,91O, against
s25 6O9671 in 1907. and a surplus, arter all eA-
nenses dividends and interest. of S5.662551 com
pared with S5.S75.743 IN the year before The bal
ance available for dividends was equal to ia per
cent on the SI5S 476,600 capital stock outstand-
ing In the year before the company earned 10-6
per cent for dividends and in 1905 $50 per cent
The associated companies controlled by the Amer
lean Telephone and Telegraph Company report
gross earnings Of s12T1lT2Oo gain OF SorS64'OVg
Ser 1907: net earnings, sS5.655, SEQ. gain Of
S2S1O.4OO: balance after charges, S28.6S1,9Oo and
surplus after dividends. S70I6,600, a gain OF
sGss 600 Dividends in 1908 were s21. .sO53OO. COM
pared with s19.206.100 in 1901 The entire Bell
system including the parent company. shows:
1908. Changes
GESensa GE2ss saFnns' 53o4S5oo IN: @ 5lSSS
Ne. earnings sf5s5tsSSS 1858 Inc sass 2S sSS iSS
Balance g 3 IoS IoS Inc Inc S5sSsSSS sSsSSo
surDlp. ................ $13.eO1.4oO Inc. sao4oOo
In these figures all Implications. including in
+erest dividends and payments 10 the American
TeIephone and Telegraph Company, are excluded
The number Of stations at the end OF the year
operated directly by the associated companies was
2-216 24b an increase Of 1I9,112- In addition
there were 1,1O3.144 exchange and toll stations
connected to the system but operated oy Iooal.
cooperative and rural independent companies OF
associations having sub-license or connection con
tracts Adding also the telephones employed Tor
prfvate line purposes, there was total or 4'oo4-
500 stations connected to the Bell system, as
against Ss39,0O0 stations at the close OF the pre-
ceding year. an increase Of 525,629 stations Total
mileage of wire was 9,S30.71S. Of which 1.220,
I26 was added in the year. These figures do
not include mileage of wire operated by sub
licensees Including the traffic over the Ions
distance lines but including sublicensees. the
daily average Of toll connections was about 463,-
900 and of exchange connections about 1S5OO.OOO,
as against corresponding figures in 1907 Of 4s40Oo
and 1S1S10 900; the total daily average for 1908
reached 1S9 96S 600. at the rate of about 6.l06-
600 900 q year.
The amount added to plant and real estate by
all the companies excluding sub-ltcensees during
1908
For exchanges SIS 600
toll lines
For and buildings .........--..'..-.' 'IUoVoOo
Total Szo.o"''-oo
sNot including large amount purchased
frcm the American Telephone and Telegraph Company
during the
The amount added in 1900 sS1.61910O; IN
1901 SS1 OO5 400 in 1902 $3.SS6,50O: in 1903 s35,
8ss 100; In 1904 SSS,4S6 70O IN 1905. S50.7s090o: IN
1906 s9 S6s 600 and in 1897 $50 921 400 making the
grand total OF expenditure upon these properties
during the nine years $379,S743o0- In the year
s39 1876 100 was applied out OF revenue to main
tenance and reconstruction purposes The total
amount OF maintenance and reconstruction charged
against revenue for the last six years was over
s1S6.7OOo09.