Show an increase of 2350 per cent the part tile the blural telephone has played in the W winning nning of the west two thousand three hundred and fifty per cent seems rather large figures to be dealing with oven even when one is considering 0 as broad a subject its as the increase in the use of rural telephones yet it is a fact eliat alia t in ill the five year period ending deo dec the number of phone statements h in the rui rural al district of the western states did jump 2350 2850 per cent in actual figures the eleven states which constitute this roup group had 2559 2 country icle phones at the end of the year 1902 five years later they had these figures from the most sti striking ikin M part of tile the latest telephone con census sivi statistics placa side gide by sidd for foi comparison a ways speak an interesting story one may deduce some home telling facts froth from the following table showing f just how leany rural phones each western state had in ill 1902 and 1907 1901 S state tit t e 1902 1907 montana 01 61 2889 idaho 93 1013 1018 wyoming 83 1399 new mexico 78 51 77 arizona 0 ai 34 utah colorado nevada 22 washington M oregon california 1 totals 2559 it must be remembered that the telephone was nothing new in 1902 it dates back to 1876 but its marvelous popularity is of wore more recent orgin in fact is within the memory of all where once the telephone was the luxury of the rich man now it is utilized by thousands of plain american farmers who tind find it their greatest convenience a and nd business aid that is the story told by the telephone census and i there are many other sta statistics of more than passing interest in the united states in 1902 there abere were rural phone stations five years later the census recorded I 1 an iti in crease of percent per cent the num ber of farms in the country is given iven as in ill 1902 but r af 24 8 per cent of these s f firms arnis were equipped with facilities for coin communication muni cation over the telephone w wiro i re five years later the percentage was 26 5 the state of iowa on D dec e c 81 a 1907 showed 78 9 por per cc cent nt of its farms usan using the tol telephone ephone today unofficial cia I 1 figures place the pereen lage tit at 85 for tile the in cre ase in the number of fa farm rm telephone ilono lias liar gone on oil even moio inore stoa steadily dily since the latest census figures were published according to the state of the western electric corn com pany which manufactures all tho telephones and apparatus used in this country by the bell sy system stern it alone has sold over eighty thousand rural telephones within the past six months an up to date farmer once think of mowing zd ii his i s hay ha y with an old fashioned scythe as of trying ing to conduct his farm successfully without a telephone these tire are the days when agricultural america is reclaiming ta so called cabled waste land is buying farm implements ts that reduce toll toil and in crease productiveness and the telephone is the instrument that is going hand in hand with a all these improver news in the rural a I 1 communities corn muni ties the fa farmer or ranchman who sells his products produces or r sto stock alc keeps heep well info informed med on the fluctuations of the market by meane of the telephony tele nono lie sells selesa ai to top p arl price i c fj A and calls his phone a real money saver jf if there is sickness sickness ill in the house lie he can locate the doctor even if he has to phone across tho bho country tie ile can got gob in quick with avith tile the veterinary burgoon if some one of his precious tini animals mals becomes suddenly indisposed for his wife and childred child red there As is a means of enlivening the long day by conversations and exchanges of visits with neighbors c neigh bors on western barnis aro are often of ten mauv miles apart but they can be brou brought M ht nearer neared than next door with the aid of the telo telephone phone there are some of tile the many reasons why rural phones jumped 4 19 per cent in the united states and 2350 2850 per cent in tha far west in five years it can truly be said that the country telephone has had its partin part in the winning of the west |