The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-12


The telephone figures for the United
States arrayed in Census Bureau Bull.
letin 123 epitomize an extraordinary
tale OF progress. They bring the con-
ditions of 1902 and 1912 into close
comparison and the forward leap made
In the decade staggers the Imagination.
In 1902 there were only 2371 .044 tele-
phones In the United States. in 1912
there were S.729,592. almost four
fold growth. In 1902 the lines in
cluded but 4,9OO,451 miles Of wire, In
1912 these had heightened out to 90
24s,326 miles. The estimated number
Of talks In 1902 was 500, 554 ,553 in
1912 the stupendous total of 1875, $751;
245 was reached-the figures look like
the expression Of IN astronomical dis
lance. 1t Is almost equally difficult to
grasp their significance.
BY far the greatest extension of the
wire mileage be taken as the standard;
the figures are 2l6,985 for 1902 and g
120,104 for 1912, an increase OF S77
per cent. But the Increase In the num-
Der Of phones was only from 159,2S7
to 1871, or 1922 per cent, whereas
the West South Central States made
a gain In instruments Of 3735 and the
Mountain States Of 371.5, but fell short
In growth of wires. The smallest prog
ress in any part Of the country was in
the East South Central range (Ken-
lucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mis-
sissippu, a percentage of 1883 in num-
Der Of phones and 22O.5 In wire miles.
The region does not seem TO be a loQua-
cious one. The increase in the number
Of talks in teA years was only rs per
cent, while New England held hit,
the middle Atlantic States 1868 and
the Pacific coast 327,4 per cent. more
conversations over the lines in 1912
than in 1902.
The Bell telephone system has by no
means n monopoly Of the service of
the country, although 1t holds n con-
siderable preponderance. 1t has 5.0S7,-
OPT Instruments installed, about four
times the number 1t had in 1902. All
other systems reporting an income of
5000 a year or upward owned 3G42,-
$50 telephones In 1912, about three and
one-half times the number In 1902. The
Bell company has increased its wire
mileage from 3,3S7024 to 15,153,1S6, or
by nearly FIVE times; the other systems
have grown from 1,5l2.527 to 5,ll5140,
or less than four times. Talks in the
two comparative years were for the
Bell system 8, 133, 226, 1896 and 3,074 ,53O.-
OG0; for the others 4,GO2, 43l 400 and
/ DOG, O24 ,493. Thus It appears that in
1912 the independent companies did
rather more than third OF the bust
ness, with about a fourth OF the wire
mileage and seven-siXteenths Of the in
stalled apparatus. Altogether there
are 1,91G larger systems, Of which 1T6
are united In the Bell group. Besides,
there are 30317 systems reporting in
comes below 5000 year--farmer.
mutual and small companies lines.
They had 1,22s,935 miles of wire In
1912 and 1,4O2,SiI telephones, but there
are no figures for the talks held over
their wires.
All sorts Of curious details figure in
the bulletin. There was one telephone
10 every ~ men. women IT children in
the country In 1912. There were 3i0,-
772,SO3 long distance talks. On an
average there were 1876 talks per
phone, The total income OF the com
pnnes was S255, .234 total expenses,
S203.754,0OD; wages and salaries. $780,
040,54l; taxes, Sl2,411, $40: interest.
$40, l63,3G0; dividends, S34. 100 ,SO9;
surplus S17,2O5,5i8, There were on