376 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



XXIV. SWITZERLAND 



HISTORY AND PRESENT POSITION 



THE Swiss Government at an early date determined to control 

 the telephones within its jurisdiction, and in 1885 took over the 

 only exchange, that at Zurich, which it had permitted a company 

 the International Bell Telephone to establish. For about 

 nine years the administration has consequently been in the hands 

 of the State, and the development attained is certainly most im- 

 posing, there being at the close of 1894, with a population of 

 about three millions, nearly 20,000 subscribers. 



The Swiss telephone system is remarkable in many ways. 

 From the beginning of its management the Government has 

 endeavoured to bring the telephone within the reach of all and 

 to render the service as complete and satisfactory as possible. 

 Originally, the annual subscription for an ordinary line and instru- 

 ment within a radius of two kilometers was 150 francs (6/.), 

 without restriction as to the number of communications ; but Dr. 

 T. Rothen, then director of the Swiss telegraphs, as early as 1883 

 pointed out in the * Journal Telegraphique ' that it was not more 

 logical to accept an annual payment from a merchant to cover all 

 his telephonic communications than to cover all his telegrams. 

 The system, notwithstanding its convenience and almost universal 

 application, is, in fact, inequitable for a busy merchant, to whom 

 telephonic communication is a necessity, obtains much greater 

 value for his annual subscription than does a person whose 

 business relations are neither so extensive nor so important. Dr. 

 Rothen proposed, as the only just solution, to charge subscribers 

 a fixed sum for every connection asked for and had, just as tele- 



