INVESTMENT-TELEPHONE AND
TELEGRAPH.

It is interesting to compare the telephone investment of the world with that of the telegraph (including submarine cables). In the absence of any definite information covering the entire world on that subject, only an estimate can be made. Using the total telegraph wire mileage, January 1, 1911, as a basis, the telegraph investment may be estimated at about $700,000,000. There are also 314,000 miles of submarine cables representing an estimated investment of $350,000,000, so that the total telegraph investment of the world January 1, 1911, may be placed at $1,050,000,000, as compared with a telephone investment of $1,561,777,000 at the same date.

This makes a total investment of $2,619,497,000 for telephone and telegraph (including submarine cables) for the world, January 1, 1911. Of this total 60 per cent. is invested in telephones, 27 per cent. in telegraphs and 13 per cent. in cables.

EARNINGS FOR 1909-TELEPHONE

AND TELEGRAPH.

The figures for gross telephone earnings in European countries are official, but those quoted for "all other countries' are mostly estimated. The total gross telephone earnings of the world for the year 1909 may be placed at $329,000,000, of which the United States earned $221,471,000 (67.4%), Canada $6,752,000 (2%), Europe $91,331,000 (27.8%), and all other countries $9,163,500 (2.8%).

The adjoined table shows the gross telephone earnings of the various European countries, ranging from $241,000 (Portugal) to $32,331,000 (German Empire). The average earnings per telephone for total Europe was $35.40.

On account of the almost universal custom af European governments of conducting the telephone as a branch of the postal and telegraph services, practically no European government keeps its accounts in such a manner as to reveal the true net financial result of its telephone service.

TRAFFIC-MAIL, TELEGRAPH AND

TELEPHONE.

Instructive as it would be to compare the traffic of the other two branches of transmission of intelligence-the mail and the telegraph-with the telephone traffic of the world, such a comparison would only be speculative on account of the lack of statistical material. There is, however, sufficient statistical information to permit a comparison of the traffic of these three services, both in the United States and in Europe, during the year 1909. The result is as follows:

Out of a total of 20,669,000,000 messages transmitted by the three services in Europe, 15,387,000,000 (74.4 per cent.) were by first class mail matter, 345,000,000 (1.7 per cent.) by telegrams and 4,937,000,000 (23.9 per cent.) by telephone. In the United States, out of a total of 21,508,000,000 messages, 8,793,000,000 (40.9 per cent.) were by first class mail matter, 98,000,000 (0.4 per cent.) by telegrams and 12,617,000,000 (58.7 per cent.) by telephone.

The figures show that although Europe has about three and a half times the telegraph traffic and nearly twice the first-class mail traffic, it has only one-third the telephone traffic of the United States.

The first class mail, telegraph and telephone traffic per 1,000 population for Europe and the United States during 1908 and 1909 was as follows:

For Europe; 35,533 pieces of first class mail matter in 1909, as against 34,766 in 1908, an increase of 2.2 per cent.; 798 telegrams in 1909, as against 769 in 1908, an increase of 3.7 per cent.; 11,400 telephone conversations in 1909, as against 10,585 in 1908, an increase of 7.7 per cent. For the United States: 96,090 pieces of first class mail matter in 1909, as against 90,062 in 1908, an increase of 6.7 per cent.; 1,076 telegrams in 1909, as against 1,039 in 1908, an increase of 3.5 per cent; 137,882 telephone conversations in 1909, as against 134,335 in 1908, an increase of 2.6 per cent.

The magnitude of the United States telephone investment per capita may be emphasized by comparing the telephone with some of the other leading United States industries. Such a comparison is based on recent special reports by the United States Census Office, publishing the requisite data as of January 1, 1910. The chart shown below gives the result of a comparison of the telephone business with ten large United States industries. Despite the fact that the telephone has been in use but thirty-five years, the telephone investment per capita January 1, 1910 is the fourth largest, yielding only to the Iron and Steel, Lumber, and Gas and Heating industries.

One of the earliest experiments for reproducing sounds by means of sound boards connected by a rod was Wheatstone's "Magic Lyre," 1831. In 1861 Philip Reis conducted experiments to reproduce human speech by means of electric pulsation. In 1875 Prof. Bell invented the electric telephone, which he patented in 1876. Edison patented an invention of his July, 1877.

The growth of the Bell System, its broader usefulness and resulting prosperity, are shown in the annual report of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company for 1912 by the financial statement and other comparative statistics.

At the end of the year 1912 there was a total of 7,456,074 subscriber stations, of which 2,502,627 were operated by connecting com

panies.

The Bell toll lines now reach 70,000 places, which is 5,000 more than the number of post offices and 10,000 more than the number of

railroad stations in the United States. The total wire mileage has been increased to nearly 14,610,813 miles, of which over half is underground, and the new 450-mile subway between Boston and Washington has been completed.

The traffic over the Bell lines shows a daily average of 25,572,345 or at the rate of 8,950,000,000 connections a year.

There was spent in plant additions $76,626,900 in the year. There was applied to maintenance and reconstruction during the year $66,705,000, making a total provision for the last ten years of $409,000,000.