New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1915-05-12
iT1.l.phon. g. Change. Plans.

(
At the annual meeting of the New
Ulm Rural Telephone Co. held at
Schell's Hall last Thursday morning
at ten o'clock it was definitely decided
to abandon the site for a telephone
exchange recently purchased by a
committee. Most of those present ia
vored a site where fresh air and light
are obtainable and it is likely that the
exchange within the next few years
will be built either on German Street
or some other street not too far dis
tant from the business section OF the
city. A modern, fire-proof up-to-date
exchange is what the stockholders
have in mind and that is what will be
built soon unless the telephone business
is SO revolutionized that central will
hardly be necessary. 1t was made to
appear that great many automatic
systems are being introduced and
prove very satisfactory. 8 Y
VIM. Palmer of West Newton called
attention to the fact that about 20 far
mers in his town are very anxious to
have telephone connections and it
was his opinion that some arrangements
should be made whereby the telephone
service could be secured for them.
Mr.. Palmer was informed that these
people could get the telephone service
if they complied with the rules and regu-
lations of the company which require
that new patrons must pay for the labor
and material for constructing new lines,
and that the company furnishes the
phone at the usual rental.
While the matter of the financial
condition of the company was under
consideration, manager Otto Kohn was
called upon to state his views. He
stated that very few other companies
had lower rates considering the service
and the number of subscribers as the
New Ulm Rural Telephone Co. He
was of the opinion that the present
service of low rates could be maintained
in the future unless storms should in
fict great deal Of damage upon the
coutry and city lines. He stated fur
ther that in his opinion the time is
rapidly approaching when great many
of the country lines will have to be re-
constructed, and that this will mean
quite an expense rto the corporation.
From the reports of the officers sub
mitted and read at this meeting it
appears that the Telephone Co. is in first
lass condition financially and that the
Increase in business during the past year
has been marked one. At the present
time the company has 1,747 subscribers,
1102 Of which are city subscribers and GAS
are in the rural districts, gain of II
city phones during the year and II on
the rural lines. There are in all 321
miles of toll line, 1853 IL in Brown
County and 1872 IL in Nicollet County.
Besides that there are 258 IL miles of
circuit in Brown County and 281 miles
in Nicollet, making grand total of $40
miles of circuit lines.
The total receipts during the year
aggregated the sum of $25,775.78,
exclusive of the cash balance of 50, 524.84
on hand April Is, 1914. $21,330 was
received for telephone rent and $2,043.S5
for commission on long distance service
tolls and other minor items. At the end
of the fiscal year there was $5,352.56
in the hands of the treasurer, consisting
of 100000 on certificates of deposit
and $352.56 in cash. There was paid
out during the past year for construction
work the sum of $3,102.09 and for
salaries the sum of $7,O38.95. The
taxes amounted to $8O2.05. The other
big disbursement items were the 81, 305
paid out in dividends and $4,000 paid
for the Toberer property on Minnesota
Street. During the past IL months
there was received from the city phones
the sum of SIG, 8S4.7O and from the rural
phones $8,131.20. During the same
space of time the maintenance for the
city phones totaled the sum of 81, 597. 88,
while the maintenance on the rural lines
aggregated the sum of $4,817.29.
John Henle, August Thiede, Jos. N.
Schaefer, Theodore Mohr, P. H. Furth,
Peter w. Seifert, Herman Nagel and
Robert Remnant acted as election judges
for the election of directors. The polls
were kept open from one to two o'clock
and the following were elected: Fred.
Pfaender, j. P. Graf, H. P. Bastian, F.