378 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



best serve as a rough check, and the operators' records would still 

 have to be relied on and the present laborious system of accounts 

 preserved. On the other hand, the mind rather shrinks from the 

 idea of fitting four or more counters in each office, and especially 

 from the expectation that the subscribers would use them properly 

 if fitted. 



In Switzerland the adaptation of the telephone and telegraph 

 to popular requirements has undoubtedly received its widest appli- 

 cation. The consequence is that the country is covered with 

 trunk wires altogether out of proportion it must be remembered 

 that there is not an ounce of native coal in Switzerland to its 

 industrial importance. One pauses in wonder at the idea of what 

 might be done in the United Kingdom to facilitate intercourse 

 under similar intelligent (not benevolent, because it pays) manage- 

 ment. 



But the Swiss public was not yet satisfied. It was held 

 a grievance that a subscriber should be compelled to pay for 800 

 communications per annum whether he had them or not, and 

 many found that they could manage with less. As a result of repre- 

 sentations of this nature, a committee of the Federal Council was 

 appointed, and after hearing evidence, reported in favour of a 

 reduction of the first or foundation annual charge to 4/. for the 

 first, 2/. i6.f. for the second, and i/. \2S. for the third year, the 

 abolition of the free margin, and the rating of all connections at 4*. 

 per hundred, or -48^. each. According to this plan, a subscriber 

 making two calls per day exclusive of Sundays, or 616 per annum, 

 would pay after the expiration of his second year of membership 

 only i/. \2S. + 616 x '48^. = 2/. i6.r. *]d. per annum (a sum which 

 has been proved remunerative in Holland) in lieu of the present 

 minimum of 3/. 45. If he can manage with one call per day his 

 annual telephonic disbursement would be only i/. 1 2s. + 308 x "48^. 

 = 2/. 4J-. 4^. The committee's recommendations were adopted by 

 the Federal Council and embodied in a law on June 13, 1894, which 

 received the sanction of the Council of States on December 7, 1894. 

 It is still liable to challenge until March 26, 1895, by a demand 

 for a national vote on the subject, but no steps have been taken 

 in this direction ; and as the measure is a popular one it is con- 

 sidered certain to pass the critical date successfully, and to be 



