Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1931-05-29
United states Leads In Telephones

The United States leads in telephones,
country there are 1874 telephones for
each 100 people as compared with Can
ada's 14.2 telephones per 100 popula-
ton. But the Cadadians make 257.7 con-
versations per capita as compared with
231 in the United States.
Telephone density in the United States
is nine times that Of Europe. where there
are only l.9 telephones for each $50 people.
1t is developed that there were 34.526,-
629 telephones in the entire world
on January /, 1880. the latest date for
which world telephone data is available,
according to telephone and telegraph sta
tistics of the world just released by the
American Telephone and Telegraph Com
pany OF these telephones. 2O,068,023
or So per cent of the total were in the
United States.
Europe's 10, 035 $50 telephones were 30
Der cent of the worlds total, which was
ne-half as many as in this country. The
remaining IS per cent of the telephones
were widely distributed throughout the rest
of the world. During 1929 the total num-
Der of telephones was increased by 1882
400, of which increase AS per cent resulted
from telephone expansion in this coun-
try alone.
OF the total world telephones 100000
or 9l.5 per cent may be interconnected.
These telephones are distributed throughout
thirty-one countries which comprise the
greater part of North America. the south
ern part of South America. most of Europe,
a district in northwest Africa, an eastern
section of Australia, and Java.
More than twO-thirds of the worlds tele-
phones are operated by privately owned
systems, due to the relatively heavy Ameri-
can development. In the United States all
telephones are operated by private compa-
MES and this country not only has more
telephones than all the rest of the world,
but also excelS in the number of telephones
relative to population. The respective
governments of Germany, Great Britain
and France operate the telephone systems
in those countries. Germany, which ranks
second to the United States in absolute
number of telephones. has only so tele-
phones per 100 population. Great Britain
has Al and France, rs. With the same
telephone density as France, Argentina
ranks considerably higher than any other
South American country. Japan and the
Union of South Africa lead their respective
continents in telephone facilities, but each
Of these countries has only Ia telephones
per 100 population.
Small towns and rural areas in America
are strikingly we'll equipped with tele-
phones. Communities of less than So
900 population in this country average
1871 telephones for each 100 people. This
exceeds the total telephone density of any
other country, except Canada, and even the
majority of large European cities are less
well supplied with telephones. The wide
diffusion of telephones throughout the
United States does not impair the marked
superiority of Americas larger population
centers over foreign cities in the extent of
telephone service. There are so American
cities with population of 200. 900 or over.
These cities had an average of about one
telephone for each four people, high de-
velopment equaled by only two Of the large
foreign cities.