PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF TELEPHONES. In Eu rope public ownership of telephones exists to a certain extent and there has been agitation in this direction in the United States. For the most part, such public ownership of telephones is national, rather than municipal, and is chiefly confined to countries where private ownership of franchises is far less common than public owner ship. Actual statistics are not readily available, and are constantly changing, but an admirable summary of the ownership of telephones in vari ous countries, made by U. N. Bethell, general manager of the New York and New Jersey Tele phone Company (see Bibliography below), is as follows: "All over Europe, with a few exceptions, the industry at present [early in 1903] is controlled and owned by States or municipalities. In Bel gium, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Hungary the central Government operates the industry. In Holland the State operates the trunk lines; in the two principal cities, Amster dam and Rotterdam, the municipalities operate the local systems; and at The Hague a private company operates. In Denmark and Norway private enterprise under Government control op erates the industry, while in Sweden the State operates it, except that in Stockholm and vicin ity a private company since 1S90 has been in active competition with the State. In Great Britain, in most places, private enterprise oper ates the local systems under license from the State; in a few places municipalities operate or are preparing to operate local systems; the State operates the trunk lines. In the United States private enterprise, under Government control, op erates both the local systems and the trunk lines." Among the municipal telephone systems in use or under construction in Great Britain early in 1893 were those at Glasgow, Portsmouth, Swansea, Brighton, and Hull. The general movement for municipal telephones in Great Britain followed a Parliamentary act of 1899, authorizing municipal construction. Tunbridge Wells and Glasgow, in 1901, were the first to in stall and operate systems under the act. but after an active campaign against public ownership in Tunbridge Wells the municipal plant was sold to its private competitor. in the latter part of 1902.
There were conflicting reports as to the financial pire, and that all such companies pay 10 per cent. of their gross receipts to the Post-Oflice De partment, which has had a monopoly of the tele graph business since 1S69. The policy of the Post-Oflice Department is to monopolize the tele phone as well.
The general question of municipal ownership has been discussed at length under that head. The public interests demand that the business shall be conducted as a monopoly, under public control. The latter does not exist in the United States to the extent that might be inferred from the closing sentence of the above quotation, but. that is largely the fault of the legislative and executive departments of the several States, and to some extent of the municipalities also. Finally, the long-distance lines would be a troublesome factor in municipal ownership in America, unless they, as in some countries abroad, were owned by the general Government.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The following list contains Bibliography. The following list contains some of the more important works on the tele phone to which the reader is referred for information: Miller, American Telephone Prac tice (New York, 1899) ; Alsopp, Telephones, Their Construction and Fitting (London, 1900) ; Houston and Kenelly, The Electric Telephone (New York, 1896) ; Webb, Telephone Hand-book (Chicago, 1894; new ed. 1901) ; Hopkins, Tele phone Lines and Their Properties (New York, 1898) ; Prescott. Bell's Electric Speaking Tele phone (New York, 1884; 2d ed. 1890) ; Thompson, Philipp Reis, Inventor of the Telephone (London, 1883). For discussion of the public ownership of telephones consult some of the references under I\ 1UNICIPAL OWNERSHIP also papers by Bethel] (against), Parsons (for) and Bennett. (as to Great Britain) in "Proceedings of Na tional Convention upon 'Municipal Operation and Public Franchises." published in Municipal Affairs (New York, vol. vi., No. 4, 1902-3) ; also Hemenway on "Municipal Telephones," Proceed ings Seventh Annual Convention League of Amer ican Municipalities (Des Moines, Iowa, Novem ber, 1903).