Sweden 339 



4. International trunk service. This exists to Norway and 

 Denmark only. A line to Finland or Russia is not yet spoken of. 



5. Telephoning of telegrams. The State's own subscribers 

 are switched through to the central telegraph office for the trans- 

 mission of their telegrams, but this . facility .is denied to the 

 General Company's supporters. But Mr. Cedergren has esta- 

 blished an office adjacent to the central telegraph station where 

 his subscribers' telegrams are written down by company's clerks 

 and immediately handed in over the counter for transmission. 

 Conversely, telegrams for his subscribers are delivered at the 

 special office and telephoned to the addressees. This rnay, 

 perhaps, be a little less rapid than direct connection with the 

 telegraph department, but the difference is not great, and the 

 subscribers are reconciled to it by enjoying the service free, while 

 the State's subscribers have to pay '66d. per message. 



6. Local message (telephonogram) service. 



7. Messenger service. 



8. Public telephone stations. In Stockholm a public tele- 

 phone station belonging to the State or to the General Company 

 is met with about every hundred yards in the principal streets, 

 as nearly every hotel, restaurant, and tobacco-shop keeps one. 

 These keepers pay the full tariff for their instruments and are 

 allowed to retain all local receipts in the case of the company, and 

 25 per cent, of the receipts in the case of the State. Public 

 stations are also numerous in the provincial towns. The company 

 has tried and abandoned many forms of automatic slot machines ; 

 the State is now about to experiment with them. The General 

 Telephone Company's services Nos. 3 and 4 have to be conducted 

 through the intermediary of the rival exchange and paid for. 



The State renders similar services in the other towns in which 

 it is established, except that the international wires are not yet 

 available from all points. The yo-kilometer radius is, of course, 

 an arrangement peculiar to Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, &c., 

 having lacked local Cedergrens at the critical moment. The 

 General Telephone Company is conducted on similar lines in 

 Upsala and the other towns within the yo-kilometer radius in 

 which it does business. 



z 2 



