Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/180

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UNITED STATES

Telephones

STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY ON JAN. 1, 1891 TO 1898

1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898
Exchanges 774 788 812 838 867 927 967 1,025
Branch offices 467 509 539 571 572 686 832 937
Miles of wire on poles 171,498 180,139 201,259 214,676 232,008 260,324 286,632 237,315
 Miles of wire on buildings 13,445 14,954 14,980 16,492 14,525 12,861 12,594 13,776
Miles of wire underground 54,690 70,334 90,216 120,675  148,285 184,515 234,801 282,634
 Miles of wire submarine 779 1,029 1,336 1,637 1,856 2,028 2,818 2,675
 Total miles of exchange service wire 240,412 266,456 307,791 353,480 396,674 459,728 536,845 626,400
Total circuits 173,665 186,462 201,322 205,891 212,074 237,837 264,645 295,904
Total employees 7,845 8,376 9,970 10,421 11,094 11,930 14,425 16,682
Total subscribers 202,931 216,017 232,140 237,186 243,432 281,695 325,244 384,230

This company practically conducts the telephone business of the United States.

The aggregate length of wire operated is 951,283 miles. The number of instruments in the hands of licensees under rental at the beginning of 1898 was 919,121. The number of exchange connections daily in the United States was 3,099,472, or a total per year of about 998,000,000. The average number of daily calls per subscriber is about 8+110. The company received in rental of telephones in 1895, $1,475,850.64; in 1896, $1,450,032.85; in 1897, $1,597,959.36. It paid its stockholders in dividends in 1897, $3,682,948.50. The capital of the company in 1897 was $25,886,300. The gross earnings for 1895 were $4,475,445.42; for 1896, $4,538,979.07; for 1897, $5,130,844.92. Net earnings for 1897, $4,169,874.73.

The Long Distance Telephone Company represents about $20,000,000 of capital.

Postal Service

The postal business of the United States for six fiscal years was as follows:

Year ending
June 30 —
Pieces of Mail
handled 
Registered
Packages
and Cases 
Through Registered
Pouches and Inner
Registered
Sacks handled
Total
1893 9,772,075,810 16,487,241 1,302,466 9,780,865,517
1894 10,033,973,790 15,253,586 1,333,454 10,050,560,830
1895 10,377,875,040 14,720,002 1,357,723 10,393,952,765
1896 11,166,323,240 14,970,775 1,465,395 11,182,759,410
1897 11,571,540,680 14,640,832 1,615,831 11,587,797,343
1898 12,225,706,220 15,416,292 1,661,416 12,242,783,928

The Number of Money Orders

Issued during 1897-1898 was as follows:

Domestic 27,798,078, amounting to $191,354,121.63
International 955,344, amounting to 13,239,769.27
Total 28,753,422, amounting to $204,593,890.90