Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1917-03-23
SUMMARY OF THE ANNUAL
REPORT OF THE BELL sYsTE

toll wire mileage, in subscribers in
telephone connections Is shown by
President Theodore y, Wallis report
for 1916 to have been larger than In
any previous year,
The number of telephone stations
on Dec. slst was s.s47,l92. showing
au unprecedented increase during the
year of 695,97l. Of which 577.3S0
were owned by the Bell companies.
.lIS,59l were Bell connected stations.
The total mileage OF wire for ex-
change and toll service was 1850.
315 miles. an increase OF l.344.770
Fifty-eight per cent. or the wire mile
age is underground, and 2,6S2,9lO
miles were toll wire. The number OF
daily telephone connections increased
to an average Of 29,420, 900, or at
the rate of s,7S9,7OO.O0O a year.
which is approximately 100 calls for
every man, woman and child in the
United States.
ity of the country threw 4 heavy bur
den on the traffic Of the Bell system.
taxing its resources to the utmost and
necessitat,ng a rapid increase in ia
cilities. AS a result over $50. 900. 900
was added to the plant which was
$9,O00,0O0 more than was estimat
ed at the beginning OF the year. Adj
vance construction and surplus facil-
tiles saved the service from break
down and estimates are made for
$90,000,00 TO be used for plant ex-
tensions this year. This is the largest
program ever attempted, but the
funds have already been provided
by the sale OF bonds and the issue of
stock.
The total gross income" using the
term officially provided by the Inter-
state commerce commission was $79,-
$780, 600, and increase of $9,7S7, 900
or l4.1 per cent. over 1915. Out OF
this $22,114,000 was paid for inter-
est, rents. etc, leaving $35, 10000
for dividends and over $22,000,00O
to be carried into surplus,
Approximately $4,000 900 was
paid to the employees as additional
compensation to cover abnormal
working conditions and living expen-
ses of the year.
1t is stated that 1t would cost many
millions more to replace the physical
plants OF the Bell system than the a.
mounts which stand on the books
The appraisal of 1912 showed thai
!, they would exceed the book cost BY
about sci, 900. 900, although at thai
time copper was only II cents &
pound while now it is around 81
cents.
In spite of the scarcity and the
high cost OF material the average in
vestment per station has decreased
from s149 to $146 in consequence o
the absorption into service Of sur
plus plant. The average revenue
per station is about the same as las
year and the average expenses hav,
been kept down in spite OF improved
wages and increased taxes. by i'm
proved methods and greater efficien
cy in every branch OF the service.
@ The per centage of the associate,
o companies net earnings to plant an
, other assets was 6.17 which was
little bit above normal on account @
70 the sudden increase In the demand
IL without a correspondingly sudden in
0. crease in plant.
a The report shows how necessary
= is that the Bell system should hav
control OF the manufacture Of tn
highly specialized machinery an
" equipment necessary to the giving {
first class service.
- The Employees Benefit Funds al
u gregated at the end OF the yea
S9,I51, 600 and in the last four yea
en- the expenditures of these funds hay
amounted to S5.6I1,016. Pension
are paid to 2S4 former employee
IN Benefits were paid last year in s
100 cases. There were l0.646 acc
dent cases, of which comparative
few were serious. and the paymen
on these were $557,97e. Death ben
as fits of s157.077 were paid to the d
pendent relatives of 1s2 employees
- Employees OF the Bell system WI
we're in the military service on {
Mexican border were allowed full p
for the first three months OF th'
absence and thereafter full pay IL
= the amount they received from t
government These allowances q
gregated $2S4,194.
General Conclusions
President Vail describes the int
cate characteristics OF the telepho