TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 257 



investment in these lesser lines was then $1,511,373, 

 and their gross receipts, exclusive of the assessment 

 of mutual companies, was $277,744.^ The major 

 portion of these smaller companies was doubtless as- 

 signable to the rural districts. The rural population 

 has greatly appreciated the many advantages accru- 

 ing to them from telephone service, so much so that 

 occasionally they have independently promoted their 

 own neighborhood systems without reference to the 

 larger systems under corporate control. A farmer 

 living on such a rural neighborhood telephone line 

 near Flint, explained its construction by the less cost 

 and less delay in its installation. Tn this instance 

 the farmers bought the poles, wire and equipment and 

 furnished the labor tliemselves. The cost is given for 

 each of them as $15 cash in addition to labor. The 

 line connected with the Bell system at Flint, the 

 annual cost for the connection a party being $8.00 

 a year, later raised to $12.00. 



The general market situation may he regarded as 

 favorable. Both peninsulas arc in easy reach of 

 the great Chicago stock and grain market, while other 

 live-stock markets exist in Detroit, Toledo, Cleve- 

 land, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh 

 and lesser places, all very accessible by rail or water 

 to the producers of Michigan. The home market is 

 extensive, for the State has lumbering, manufactur- 

 ing, mining and marine industries that call largely 

 for food supplies. More than half the population of 

 the State are city dwellers and hence consumers of 



'U. S. Census of Electrical Industries, 1917, — Telephones. 



