WAUPACA REPUBLICAN

January 24, 1896

 

            The Record sets forth in flying colors it sails for another telephone lien and exchange for Waupaca, quoting the Berlin plan of $1 per month for business houses and 50 cents per month for residences - THE SUBSCRIBERS BUYING THEIR OWN ‘PHONES.

            That sounds well on paper but there’s a tail to it.  Who wants to put in $2,000 or $3,000 in toll and exchange lines along side of the Badger where there are no tolls to subscribers and only 15 cent rate to non-subscribers.  And while apparently the price seems low on the Berlin plan the investment in telephones and extra expense every time something gets out of whack or a battery needs replenishing would more than make up the difference.  And then, the Badger company will, at anytime that subscribers want to buy the phones, let them have the service for $1 per month per phone, and keep them in repair.  As for extending the lines, that is already the intention of the company in the near future, the state of the times being the only thing that has prevented such a consummation ere this.  The fact of the matter is that there has been some misunderstanding between the editor of the Record and President McWain in regard to arrangements for telephone service at Pine River; hence the boom for “another telephone line”.