< Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu
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UNITED STATES

Telephones

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

1891189218931894 1895189618971898
Exchanges 774788812838 8679279671,025
Branch offices 467509539571 572686832937
Miles of wire on poles 171,498180,139201,259214,676 232,008260,324286,632237,315
 Miles of wire on buildings 13,44514,95414,98016,492 14,52512,86112,59413,776
Miles of wire underground 54,69070,33490,216120,675  148,285184,515234,801282,634
 Miles of wire submarine 7791,0291,3361,637 1,8562,0282,8182,675
 Total miles of exchange service wire 240,412266,456307,791353,480 396,674459,728536,845626,400
Total circuits 173,665186,462201,322205,891 212,074237,837264,645295,904
Total employees 7,8458,3769,97010,421 11,09411,93014,42516,682
Total subscribers 202,931216,017232,140237,186 243,432281,695325,244384,230

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 9,772,075,81016,487,2411,302,4669,780,865,517
1894 10,033,973,79015,253,5861,333,45410,050,560,830
1895 10,377,875,04014,720,0021,357,72310,393,952,765
1896 11,166,323,24014,970,7751,465,39511,182,759,410
1897 11,571,540,68014,640,8321,615,83111,587,797,343
1898 12,225,706,22015,416,2921,661,41612,242,783,928

The Number of Money Orders

Issued during 1897-1898 was as follows:

Domestic27,798,078,amounting to$191,354,121.63
International955,344,amounting to13,239,769.27
Total28,753,422,amounting to$204,593,890.90
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