Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-09-30

kota, may completely wipe out of
existence the outside construction of
| a poorly equipped plant. OF course,
good material is not all, for even with
good material, the outside construc-
ton may be so carelessly and negli-
gently thrown together, that the bene-
) fit of the good material is lost. To
avoid such a condition requires the
employment of a thorough going
honest and practical foreman in
charge of construction, with full
power in him to select his working
force. have seen many corner
turned with light and insufficently
I braced pole, with the result that after
short time of service the corner
pole bows its head meekly toward
the ground, waiting for the first sharp
wind to break it and lay the wires
tangled and crossed, creating heavy
expense to the company and causing
great dissatisfaction among the users
of the telephone, for as everyone
knows, there is nothing quite so an
! noying as to find the line or instru-
ment out of order when you want
to talk.
ton that is often seen is the low
crossing of highways, and l doubt not
but that great many Of the tele-
phone companies of this state have
on their books, repair accounts
brought about by reason of low con-
struction that exceed in dollars and
cents the amount that it would have
cost to have made a |roper crossing
in the beginning. Had l the time, I
might 60 into greater detail in the
matter of points in which cheap ma
terial and cheap work bring about
increased expenses and short life of
apparatus and explain in detail how
good equipment spells, lost cost of
repairs and long life of apparatus.
One could enlarge upon the many
reasons why the maintenance &C
count, that is, the repair account in
a cheaply constructed plant, would
be higher than that of a we'll con-
structed plant. For, as we all know,
the public demand good service, If
not at all times, the best, at least
reasonably good. With light shift
less construction and cheap material
we have inevitably crossed and
grounded wires, great damage from
storms, decay and retrogression and
constant interruption to service.
which necessarily brings high ex-
pense account for maintenance, a dis
satisfied public, a short lived plant
and correspondingly high rate Of
depreciation.
Speaking of the shortening of the
life of the plant, increasing the per-
centage of depreciation calls to mind
one item of business management in
the operation of a telephone plant,
that Is ofttimes overlooked to ulti.
mate bankruptcy of the owner. That
is, the question of an adequate sink
ing fund to care for the deprecia-
ton, to say nothing of the almost
equally neglected fund to care for
current expenses. The percentage
that should be set aside in each fund,
depends to large extent, within GER
original construction.
The engineers Of the public utility
commission of Wisconsin have gath
cred together and tabulated great
mass of data regarding the life of
the various parts of telephone equip
ment, from which they estimate the
composite life of plant at eleven
and thirteen hundredths years. That
means that tle lie of some of the
material entering into the plant is
shorter and some longer than the
average life. For instance, lead COW
cred cable. copper wire, storage bat
terry and generators have an average
life, according to the engineers Of the
commission, varying from fifteen to
twenty years, which must necessarily
put a great deal of the other ma
terials into the plant at life far
below the average, in order to bring
the composite average to eleven and
thirteen hundreths years.
Then again, the estimates made by
the engineers of the Wisconsin CON-
mission must necessarily be a little
high, when applied to conditions in
North Dakota Wisconsin is an older,
richer state, it is nearer the base of
supplies and if / have been correctly
informed, the general character OF
telephone construction among the
rural and semi-rural lines Is Of a
CHAR dCJOT SOuC AdI ouPC1AO1 " IAo1
found in this state. So that allow.
Ing for better construction and al
lowing for the greater repair depre-
citation, because Of climatic conditions
in this state, we can say with abso-
Lutte assurance that ten years would
be the extreme limit of old age for
the composite equipment Of tele-
phOr,e plant in North Dakota.
But in deciding this question OF
depreciation, I will be content to use
the figures of the Wisconsin commits
sion. It is claimed by some that the
fund set aside to care for deprecia-
ton should be re-invested and the in
crement added from time to time to
the fund, thus reducing the percen-
tage of plant value that must be set
aside each year. This plan. however,
has serious drawbacks, one of which
is the ever present danger of loss
of investments, and while the public,
-