Graham guardian., 1910-04-01
The Forerunner of Civiliza-
ton and Greatest of Mod
ern Conveniences
HELPED TO BUILD UP WEST
Its Usefulness to all the Western
States Has Often Been
Demonstrated

Gently made a ,400-mile trip over
his State in a wagon. He was
away from the railroads all of the
time, and a great deal of the time
was miles from the nearest tele-
graph. But there was never an
evening on the whole journey that
he did not call up his home at
Evanston by telephone.
Speaking of this personal expert
ence with the progress of the tele-
phone in new country, due in a
large measure to the pioneer work
of the telephone companies, the
senator said:
1t shows that this western coun-
try is growing at an astonishing
rate. 1t used to be that the rail-
road was the forerunner of civiliza-
ton, but now it is the telephone.
Everywhere in my State telephone
lines run, and in most of the branch
houses one can step in and call any
part of the State, as also Utah.
The best there is can always be
found in this western empire of
ours, and there is no convenience
that we do not have the moment
that it comes upon the market.
The East of course, is up-to-date,
and its people brag of what they
have, but this wild west where
we live is always at the front"
There are many other interesting
examples of the Importance of the
telephone in the west. In the pio-
neer days the greatest drawbacks
settlers in the new country had to
face were the tremendous distances.
First came the railroads to reduce
this handicap, then telegraph lines,
which made possible quick communi-
cation among the more important
centers, and lastly the network of
telephone lines the senator found so
convenient in his trip around Wy
oming.
Because it is actually a means of
instant communication, because
everybody can use it and because it
reaches into places inaccessible to
railroad or telegraph lines, the tele.
phone will readily be classed as the
most important of the three. 1t
has played part in building up the
new sections of the country second
to that of no other agency. 1t is
difficult to imagine what the ranch
sections of the West would be with
out their telephone systems to-day.
The helplessness of any farm or
town whose service is seriously Grip
pied by storm or fire gives one an
idea of the dependence of the entire
country upon its connections by
wire.
And this is most especially true
in the west. A group of western
cities which includes Denver, Dallas,
Spokane, Los Angeles, Portland and
Omaha stands supreme in telephone
development. That is, more tele-
phone in proportion to the popula-
ton are found in these centers than
in any of the big capitals of the
East. In the matter of farm and
ranch telephones the West Is max
ing great strides. The statement is
made by the Western Electric Com.
pany, manufacturer of the Bell
telephones, that more than 100000
of its rural telephones were sold last
year. A great proportion of these
went into the west.
Along the Pacific coast and in the
northwest the telephone has beer
used with great success to fight the
spreading of forest fires. Tho gov
ernment's telephoas tines in the ma
Nnpsi FORESTS have opened up tracts
OF land that had never before seer
a settler, In Utah and Colorado
the fruit growers use their telephone
service to ward off the ravages OF
frost, Its usefulness to all the
western States has often been dem,
lonstrated.