Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1909-10-29
Why the Farm Telephone is So Popular.

The telephone Is more essential in coun-
try districts than in the city, in the opin-
ion OF the Atlanta (Ga.) Constitution.
This newspaper recently reviewed in its
editorial columns rural telephone article
which appeared in the Manufacturers
Record, also a Southern publication. The
Constitution stated:
Commenting upon the marvellous man.
ner in which the telephone is coming into
vogue in the districts, and outlining its
practical value to the farmer and the
rural resident generally, the Manufactur-
ers' Record says:
1t is not alone that the tanner. can
in this way keep posted as 10 the price
of his products, and many of the farmers
of the West depend entirely upon the
telephone in making sales Of grain and
other produce-vaIuabe as the telephone
is from this financial point of view, it is
even more valuable in bringing the fam
lily N farmers in touch with their neigh
bors. The loneliness which has made farm
lille burden to so many people, especial
! ly TO the women and children; the fear
| that takes possession of them when the
| the men are away, the fear OF the inabil-
! ity to reach doctor in times of sickness,
are all banished by the telephone in the
home. Among the great blessings which
have come civilization in recent years
there Is scarcely anything comparable to
the value OF the telephone, and as val
liable as it is to the people of the city, it
is infinitely more valuable to those in the
country
''ln the South, and, of latter years, es-
pecially in Georgia, the voice in the box
has made wonderful strides in the coun-
try districts.
The farmer has outgrOWn the old inn
preston that the telephone was q luxury
accessible only TO the man in the city.
"lle has discovered that with the use
of the party line system and co-operat-
i've method, now So prevalent throughout
this section, he can have an instrument
in his house the year round at cost well
within the revenue from one bale cotton.
1.-The claim OF the Record that tele-
phone is even more essential to the cpun-
try than to the city is entirely logical.
I'm the city there is none of the isOla-
ton that characterizes the rural districts,
and the means of communication, aide
even from the telephone, are numerous
and rapid.
In the country there is only the high
way connecting farmhouse to farmhouse,
Il highway often nearly impossible in in
clement weather and under the best of
conditions forcing consideration of the
elements of delay and outlay.
Into this difficult situation the rural
telephone comes as great transformer.
II mitigates isolation almost to the van
ishing point. 1t puts the farthest-re-
moved farm in immediate touch with
neighboring farms as well as well as civ
ilization-at- Large. 1t gives the farmer,
with crop ready for sale, instant access
to market quotations, it provides for the
summOning of physicians, for aid in fight
ing fire or for any other of the dozen
emergencies inseparable from country life
1T Is not strange that, offering these
and other revolutioniZing advantages, the
telephone should he rapidly conquering
the rural districts.
$50 wildly was Mr.. Roosevelt's coun-
try life commission impressed with the
salutary results that had followed the
general prevalence of telephones in the
country that it named their patronage
rs one of the factors destined to solve the
rural problem.
with the South facing unprecedented
prosperity, it is likely the coming year
will witness even greater progress on tine
part of this modern adjunct 10 life and
business"
That the telephone is rapidly Con
quering the rural districts" was never
more apparent than this year. In the
past ten months the Western Electric
Company, which makes all the "Bell''
telephones, sold 100, 900 OF its newest type
Of rural telephone. In some sections of
the country more than three-fourths of
the farms have their TELEPHONES.