The Mankato free press., 1916-03-17

seen Sucn all array VI uiNio'o oii S0N'
an occasion. He was delighted, now
eyer, to see the excellent turnout,
and it helped to stimulate interest,"
in the company, and also helped the
manager to improve his personal
acquaintance with the stockholders
Mr. Ferguson said: :.
AS | look over this large attend
= ance of stockholders my first thought
is will we be in position TO take
care of YOU another year. Each year
since nv connection with the COM
pany has seen a gradual increase IN
attendance at the annul stockholders
meetings and | assure you IL Is srdli-
fying TO your officers TO nave you
lake such an active interest III the
company's affairs. If anyone were III
doubt as TO what agencies have con-
trihuted 10 the success of the Manka-
10 Citizens Telephone company
think that an evening spent at one
of these annual gatherings would
eliminate any reason for such
doubt. | am personally pleased 10
be with you for the reason that IT al
tords me an opportunity to get bet
ter acquainted with you. There are
so many of you and so few of me
that you have all the advantage. l
hope that you will deal charitably
with ME if | am not able to call you
all by name.
Very Successful Year.
'"The past year has been very
successful one for the company as is
shown by the statement of the years
business which appears on your menu
card. The construction of plant ac-
count has been increased S10,SSO.5 80
during the year This is accounted
for by the following reasons of the
fact that we have reached the capa-
city limit of our cables and pole
lines which increases the cost OF
each installation and change of 10
cation in subscribers equipment due
10 the fact that more material is nee
rssary and the labor cost is consid-
cradle higher This increase cost al
so applied on the substantial increase
in new telephones which we had the
past year. There being a net gain
for the year of 500 telephones.
About 1000 feet of additional un-
derground conduit was installed dur
ing the year in Mankato to take care
of a certain district which has been
developing very fast and where no
provisions had been made to take
care of this development.
Engineering Problems.
This factor in the telephone busi-
ness is one of the greatest engineer
ing problems we have to combat 1t
is almost impossible TO prophesy
which part of the town is going to be
developed first and of course it often
times happens that a great deal of
equipment which necessarily costs
great deal to install mayN lay idle for
Tor long time anticipating the de-
velopment of certain district which
it was intended to serve.
However, our company has been
particularly fortunate in this re-
spect, for with very few exceptions
The growth of the town has been
general. 1t is the policy of the pres
ent management to place all new
plant underground and to replace the
old with underground construction
just as soon as depreciation makes
such a change necessary.
Costs Less to Maintain.
while the first cost of under
ground construction is considerable
higher than aerial construction ~"
maintenance and depreciation charges
more than off set the increased cost.
We had hoped to show a more de-
cided decrease in the maintenance
charges for the year and would un-
doubtedly have accomplished our aim
if there had not been so much road
building this last year which has been
direct cause of our having to move
so many of our poles. In Ncollet
county we were compelled to move
practically every pole on our pole line
from Mankato to Nicollet a distance
of twenty miles, at considerable eX-
pense and much annoyance to the
subscribers due to the interference
with the service. The same condi-
tion prevailed in Blue Earth county.
1t seems that in the original con-
struction of the pole lines very little
consideration was given to section
lines and the most of the original pole
lines have been constructed within
the road limits.
Considerable PatrolIng.
We have also done considerable
patrolling of our toll and rural lines,
trimming trees and fixing up the
weak spots wherever necessary. This
OF course is necessary expense
which should take place each year as
the greater part of our plant lies out
OF doors and is subjected to the Sc
verest kind of strains caused by the
elements.
The planting of trees along the
road side adjacent to our pole lines
is one of the greatest menaces we
have to deal with. 1t is lementable
fact that cedar poles will not grow.
but trees do and it doesn't take very
long before willows and other fast
growing trees seriously interfere with
the giving of service on toll and ru-
raj lines.
We adopted a plan last summer
with reference to our rural service
which we hope will increase the eff
hclency of that particular service.
And at the same time make mate
rial reduction in our maintenance
cost.
Use of the Auto.