The Washington times., 1917-01-18
CALLS WASHINGTON
IDEAL PHONE CITY
C. & P. Head Tells Lawmakers
Half of White Homes Here
Use Service.
Continued from First Page.D

Continued from First Page.)
South Carolina l was known as the
anti-corporation member" He men
toned a number of measures regu-
lating corporations which he had
sponsored.
Number of Tables.
President Bethel had n number of
tables of statistics to which he re
ferred and several officials OF the
local company were present to an
swer questions asked. by members Of
the committee.
'The police census shows there
are 357,749 residents of the District,
25S,940 of whom are white and 9S,809
colored," said President Bethel. The
census further shows that there are
56,292. white families and 21.46O COL
ored families here.
Among the 1900 white families
paying monthly rent or SS5 or more,
there are $4,000 telephones. or SO per
cent. Among the $4,000 paying from
$50 to $35 rent there are 1880 tele-
phones. or so per cent.
Among the $4,000 families paying
less than $50 rent we have sufficient
telephones to make about 25 per cent.
Whole Number $4,000.
The total number of telephones for
white families in the District is, there
fore, $4,000 plus, or 43 per cent.
For every 100 people in the District
we have sixteen telephones. This is
ceptionalIy good, considering the fact
that Washington ranks next to New
York in the use of private branch ex-
changes. The use of so many private
branch exchanges here is due to the
Government, and the great number OF
hotels and apartments.
There are approximately $4,000
colored families in the District. and
500 of them have telephones, making
2.3 per cent. In passing / might say
that 2.3 per cent is the average uti-
lization of the telephone by families
in practically all the capitals of Eu-
rope.
Every Other Family.
"Concretely put, there are $4,000
white families with more than $4,000
telephones, and 81 800 colored families
with 500 telephones. eliminating the
colored families and including the
great number of business telephones
which are used for domestic purposes,
there is atelephone for every other
family in the District"
At this juncture President Bethel
introduced several mops to show the
utilization of telephones in several
sections of the District.
Southeast Area.
The first map showed the area be-
tween Eleventh and Fifteenth streets
north and southeast and B street
northeast and B street southeast. 1t
contained a number of blue pins,
representing families which had tele-
phones, yellow pins denoting vacant
lots or unoccupied houses, and red
pins for business telephones. The
map was rather thickly stuck with
red and blue pins. 1t was conceded
to have made agood exhibit for the
telephone company.
This is an average Washington sec
tion," said President Bethel. "It is
not a millionaire section, but a section
representing salaried people and the
backbone OF the nation"
Northwest section.
He next produced a man showing
the area between Seventeenth and
Eighteenth streets n street and Mas
sachusetts avenue northwest. Each
house was represented by dark blue
or a ligh tblue mark. The light blue
amrks INDICATED no telephone. There
were ten OF them on the map. Presi-
dent PetheIl said investigation show
ed that FIVE of the families living in
the area were out of town, hence, the
telephone was not in use. This left
only five occupied houses in the area
without telephones.
The next map showed the area be-
tween Eighteenth and Nineteenth,
Lamont street and Park road. It