Evening star., 1924-03-10
FOR EVERY
EIGHT AMERICANS
U. S. Has So Per Cent of En-.
tire World SuppIy-0ther
Striking Contrasts.

Information regarding the growth
of the telephone Is being sent to the
various citizens associations in
Washington by the Chesapeake and
Potomac Telephone Company. Some
of the most interesting facts, which
cover the world, follow:
striking evidence of the degree of
American leadership in the telephone
field is afforded by a recent compila-
tion of telephone statistics for all
countries of the world. According to
this survey, there were on January /,
1922. a total of 21.94S,960 telephones
in the world. OF these 13,S75.219
were in the United States. That is,
the American people, who number but
6 per cent Of the total population of
the globe. had for their use 63 per
cent of all the telephones in the
world. Europe, with population of
more than tour times that of the
United States, had only 25 per cent
of the worlds telephones, and all
other countries combined possessed
but II per cent of the total telephones
in existence.
Only 20 per cent of the worlds to-
tai telephones are under government
ownership; the remaining IL per cent
are owned by private enterprises. The
compilation shows nothing has been
achieved under public ownership even
approaching the extent of telephone
service attained by the private un-
dertakings in the United States.
Phone for Every Eight Americans.
There were, on January l, 1922, I2.7
telephones for every 100 people in this
country, or one telephone for every
eignt Americans. 1t is significant.
also, that outside of the United States
the telephone has reached its highest
development in relation to population
In Canada and in Denmark, where a
large majority of the telephones are
owned and operated by private COM
panles. On January /, 1922, there
were 10.2 telephones for every 100
people in Canada, and SO telephones
per 100 population in Denmark. Al
though considerably behind the Unit
ed States in telephone development,
these two countries ar we'll ahead of
the great powers of Europe, where
government ownership obtains.
Germany. for example. has only
3.3 telephones for every 100 inhabitants.
Great Britain and Ireland have only
2.l and France has only 1.3. Europe
as a whole had. on January /, 1922,
only 1.2 telephones per 100 people-a
stage of telephone development at
talned by the United States in 1900.
In this respect Europe is twenty-five
years behind America.
Few Rural Phones in Europe.
Another striking contrast between
telephone conditions in this country
and abroad is brought out by a con-
sideration of the relative extent of
telephone service in large and small
communities in the various countries.
Telephone service ha sheen developed
in practically all foreign countries,
mainly in the larger communities,
and the less populous places, particu
larly the rural areas, have dis
proportionately small number of tel
ephones. For instance, one-third of
all the telephones in Great Britain
and Ireland are Concentrated in Lon
don; one-third of all the telephones
in France are in Paris. Farmers
telephone lines, as we know them
here. are almost non-existent in
Europe.
Other Startling Contrasts.
ice abroad. even in the cities, is still
relatively restricted in extent as COM
pared with the urban telephone sys-
TENS in this country. There are few
cities outside the United States and
Canada with as many as ten tele-
phones per 100 population. Yet the
thirtythree United States cities of
over 25o,000 population, on January
/, 1922, showed the high average of
17.2 telephones per 100 inhabitants
In absolute numbers the single city
of New York had on that date al
most as many telephones as the whole
kingdom of Great Britain and Ire
land, and now has more"