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TELEGRAPH SERVICE.
1011
service, and it is, as a matter of fact, the mutual competition between
these two establishments which to a great extent explains the
wonderful development of the telephone in Sweden.
The first telephone net in Sweden was constructed in 1880 by the
Stockholm Bell Telephone Co., Ltd. Almost at the same time were set up
telephone nets in Gothenburg (1881), Malmö, and Sundsvall, and some other, smaller
towns (in 1881, or the years immediately following). In order to facilitate
communication between the government departments in the capital, another net was
opened 1881 in Stockholm by the State telegraph department, which in 1882
set up telephones in Uddevalla and Hernösand, besides establishing several lines
of communication between telegraph and private offices.
Simultaneously with these first installations and during the period immediately
following, private telephone associations were constituted it may be said, at
every place of importance in the country. These associations, which contributed
greatly to the development of the Swedish telephone system, were formed, as a
rule, by a larger or smaller number of persons in a town or a district which
for its own part felt the need of telephonic communication. The capital necessary
for the common exchange was contributed, apparatus, etc., were bought in common,
but each member paid for that part of them which he used, and, as a rule, each
one built and paid for his own line. The management was carried on, often free
of expense, by a committee chosen from among the members of the association,
and as each individual kept his line in repair, the annual fees, needed only for
the maintenance of the exchange and its officials, were remarkably small.
In a number of larger towns, however, limited companies, with a view to
profits, undertook the setting up, etc., of telephones. That the fees in these cases
were considerably higher, was a matter of course, so much the more as greater
demands were made upon these erections in regard to technical excellence.
The junction of the nets at various places came about when the technicalities
of the system by degrees rendered conversation at greater distances possible. In
most cases, the necessary capital was obtained by subscription, and no fee was
demanded for conversation even on greater distances.}
About 1890, the private telephone erections were calculated to have
a length of 40,000 kilom, of line, and about 16,000 apparatus in use. At
that period the State began to devote itself to telephone operations with
greater energy. At the close of 1903 the state telephone system had
about 67,600 apparatus in use, the telephone companies of Stockholm
34,800 apparatus, and other private companies possibly about 1,000 — the
last named figure being, however, uncertain. The total number of
telephone apparatus in all countries scarcely amounts to 4 millions, so that
Sweden, with its 103,000 apparatus, possesses between 2 and 3 % of the
whole. The total length of line in Sweden may be calculated at about
200,000 kilom., constituting a proportion of about 2 km. line to every
apparatus, which is the same as in several other countries.
The State Telephone.
As we have mentioned before, the State had set up telephone nets,
even if but on a small scale, as early as in the first half of the eighties.
In 1883 and 1884, the State bought two of the largest systems in southern-
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