Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-03-11
TELEPHONE co.
OFFICE VISITED
BY NEARLY 800

|
| Gayly amid baskets of spring flow
ers, and pots of ferns in the local
office, and in private homes and busi-
ness offices, the telephone Wednes-
day celebrated it's 5Oth birthday.
The golden anniversary was fit
! tingly observed by the employees OF
the Mountain States Telephone COM
pany in this city, and by more than
| $4,000 telephone employees in the
| United States
! All day long, from s o'clock in the
morning, until in the evening, a
steady stream, of interested Douglass
ties visited the local office and were
shown througth the building by a
corps of workers headed by their
genial manager, A. A. Sundin.
1t will be of interest to many in
the city to know that Sundin is
rounding out his goth year of serv.
ice in the cause of the telephone and
in May is to be awarded his 2O-year
service button. He came to Douglas
to take charge of the local office in
1915, three years after the Douglas
exchange was erected and it is
through his loyal work and cooper
alton that the service in Douglas has
been raised to its present gh STAN
dard.
There are at present 1872 tele-
phones in Douglas connecting with
THE local exchange and they average
5000 calls per day. A force of Ill
operators is employed on the switch
boards, six local and two toll, and
with four other employees, makes a i
branch All were adorned yesterday
with a pretty blue button, an emblem
provided by the president of the Bell
System of the American Telephone
and Telegraph company, w. S. Gift
ford, and presented to all employees
of the companies throughout THE
United States, in conlmemoration of
THE 50th anniversary.
1t is estimated that throughout the |
day, between zoe and 500 visitors |
were taken through the building with !
the intricacies of the switchboard !
and operating system being explained |
in a comprehe nsdve manner by the |
corps of operators and Sundin. Among |
the visitors was a class in physics
from the high school, who made an |
inspection trip through the building t
in the morning.
President Clifford explains briefly /
the history of the telephone in the
following letter sent to the local |
manager:
ITO the Men and Women of the
Bell System:
ION March 10, 1875, the first mes
sage was transmitted over the tele- /
phone. From his laboratory on the
top of an old house at 5 Exeter
place, Boston, Alexander Graham
Bell telephoned to Thomas A. WAT
son, his assistant, in another room on
the same floor, Mr.. Watson, come
here; L want you
For so years now the telephone
has brought into speaking comnuni-
cation countless numbers of people.
Each year has seen an ever-increas-
ing record of telephone conversa-
tions, increasing business and social
cooperation. In binne of sorrow and
in joy, in time of sickness and in !
death, the telephone has rendered it's !
priceless service In truth, it has
made neighbors of the people of tho
nation.
MANY of the hundreds of thou~
sands of employees of the Bell System
have expressed a desire to participate
personally in some observance of the /
50th anniversary of the telephone.
In order that all may do so, an en-
blem in the form of pin has been
provided to be worn by telephone
people everywhere upon the tenth OF
March. In this way and on this par
ticular day, all can join in COM
memoration of the 50th birthday or
the telephone.
(signed) "w. s. CLIFFORD,
president, American Telephone &
Telegraph CO..
Statement is made to the effect
that more than $4,000 telephones
were added to the Bell system dur
ing the year 1925. At the end of the |
year 16,72O,OOO telephones were inter-
connected so that practically any one |
of them can be connected with any
other one throughout the United
States at any time, day or night.
There are more than 5O,o0O,OOO toll
and exchange connections, each an
individual transaction, handled daily, |
Fully $365,O00,000 was expended by
the Bell system on new plant con-
Structlon, lncludlng new plant TO re-
place $1O7,O00,0OO of plant retired.
Net additions to plant were $685.
100000. This brought the assets de.
voted to furnishing telephone service
up to $2,938,0OO,00O. The number of i
persons employed, including those in
the Western Electric company, was
over $4,000.
1t is shown that there were over
$4,000 stockholders of the American
Telephone and Telegraph company at
the end of the year, making the Bell
system in sense, publicly owned.
The amount of capital stock of the
American company outstanding was
1921 597 500, an increase of $3S,119,4OO
for the year. a9H