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Show OGDEN MAN'S OBSERVATION CONFIRMED. An Ogdenite, who traveled in western Canada last summer, said the most noticeable progressiveness of the Canadians is their ownership owner-ship of public utilities and he spoke of the telephone lines of Alberta and Saskatchewan which are owned and operated by the people of those provinces, including tho lines to the farm houses. An official statement has lately been sent out by the American consul general at Winnipeg, a copy of which received at this office, confirms the figures given by the traveler from Ogden. It is estimated that there are some 15,000 miles of telephones in Western Canada, supplying a subscription list of some 40,000. The telephones in all the western provinces were purchased from the Bell company and minor concerns at an aggregate cost of some $4,000,000, and they now represent a capitaliation of at least three times that amount. In all of the provinces where the telephone service was taken tak-en over from private corporations the money was supplied by the sale of provincial bonds. In Saskatchewan the farmers' lines are built and owned by the farmers themselves. To encourage such construction tho government grants a bonus on all telephone poles required. During the past two years Manitoba has constructed over 500 miles of telephone connection and at least 2,000 miles of rural lines. Alberta has built 1,428 miles of long-distance and rural service; and Saskatchewan has not only constructed 645 miles of long-distance wires, but has nearly 2,000 miles of rural lines. The government of Alberta owns all the telephone lines and operates them. Alberta first initiated the government-owned service, the legislature of 1906 voting $25,000 for initial expenses, and a line was constructed from Calgary to Banff, nearly 100 miles. It is stated that the Bell charges for long-distance service up to 50 miles was one cent a mile in Alberta. Under the government-owned system sys-tem the charge is just one-half this amount. In Manitoba there are now 112 exchanges, serving approximately 30,000 subscribers. When the system was taken over from the Bell company there were but 14,000-odd subscribers, and the marvelous growth during these two years is pointed to as evidence of the success of the government-owned government-owned system. During the past year 2,500 new rural subscribers were added, bringing the list up to 9,000. This represents the number of farmers having telephones in their homes with direct long-distance connection with the large centers. |