The Detroit times., 1910-07-11

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LIZ Detroit ever stop to consider
how sudden call by rush
OF Visitors upon the business re-
sources or the town visitor is handled
by the telephone company?
And if}theN do. stop to think about
Il, does Il; esers occur to them that
telephone conditions in Detroit are
quite differenH from those in almost
every other city in the United States,
thus making conditions doubly IN
usual? ~. ~
Perhaps neither phase OF the. quee-
ton has been matter for thought for
the average citizen. yet both phases
are interesting particularly interest
ing just now, when into Detroit lIavo
come or are coming the Efks and tho
memberat Of their families, host. OF
persons not. much less, perhaps, than
a quarter ofha million people. Think
of 1t! ADDED suddenly TO our city
Of Detrdt,. the population OF which
has sprung tremendously during the
past year, ~ practically another popu-
lation equal TO the city of Rochester,
N. Y, St. Pam orsSeattle. IL Is verita-
bly, condition and not theory
which confronts the telephone com
pany.
These visitors have TO be taken
care OF In many different ways. The
railroads take care that they get here
swiftly and safely. The hotels and
boarding houses must take care hat
they sleep comfortably and eat and
drink what they want when they
want IL. The theaters have to take
care that the visitors are entertained
The transportation facilities OF the
city, cabs, taxicabs, automobiles, will
take care that the visitors do not tack
the means of getting about. And as
for the storekeepers, they know as
wei as the rest OF the community
how to behave when there Is an add.
tional crowd lin our midst"
All these classes of business make
money by the extra number or PEE.
sons in the ,city--every one Of them
The greater the call ON the resources
Of any business, the greater the profit.
Yet although the greatest burden
OF all comes upon the telephone COM
paRy, IL is q burden which practically
brings in no pecnniary profits. The
reverse, indeed, is the case, for the
burden means additional expense.
The Michigan State Telephone Co.
Is awarded the exclusive contract for
furnishing telephone service TO the
Elks curing the. grand lodge reunion
In Detroit for the coming 10 days
But this Is an altogether different
thing from the actual telephone tratfic
around and about the city from the
telephones OF regular subscribers.
II should be noted here that tele-
phone conditions in Detroit are
unique-or nearly unique. Detroit is
almost the only city OF any size In
the world where telephone service Is
uameasured Here, when a subscriber
contracts for a telephone he sis--ex-
cept In the case OF a four-party line
az liberty 10 talk through IL all day
il he wants to. He may ask for
5000 calls every day II he cares to
make that many, and at no extra cost
other than the ordinary rate for the
use OF his instrument On the other
hand. the telephone company must
make a variety of provisions 10 han
die anything more than a normal num-
Der of calls fro!g any one station.
IL must provide an operator tt
make the connections; an electrician
10 keep extra watch lest the main
nance OF the board fall of; more gen
Grating current for agitating the ring
ers at each called station; and few
otherl items of less Importance. Ali
these things are expensive. This Is
one Of thesseveral reasons why, by the
way. an addition OF subscribers makes
the cost OF maintenance higher Der
station--a state of things which Is I'M
like any other business and which
many laymen find II difficult to under
stand.
Four years ago, the number OF
telephone calls per day was, on the
ayerageA 227,759 Today it averages
53O.O67 Per day. or gain Of nearly
1873 per cent.
That is for four years. The most
remarkable jump, however, was made
during the last year During the year
1909. the average number Of calls per
day was 4OG,92f, and the gain OF 1910
means gain Of 80 per cent. That
this is a remarkable increase may be
seen by a comparative study of two
other interesting gains. During the
last year the gain In Detroits popu-
lation has been suddep-namely, IL
per cent. The gain in Bell telephones
over the same area is much greater,