WiirUmberg 419 



seeing the extent of the exchange, this is remarkably liberal. In 

 many countries the attempt to confine the use of subscribers' 

 iustruments to those who pay for them has been abandoned either 

 openly or tacitly as impracticable, but in Wiirtemberg the 

 strictest regulations still exist on the subject. Subscribers are 

 not allowed to use their instruments except for their own affairs, 

 nor to permit strangers to use them on pain of disconnection 

 without return of money paid in advance unless in the case of 

 sudden illness in a lonely locality, or of accident. Even then the 

 circumstances have to be explained to the operator, who may give 

 or withhold permission. If the talk is allowed to take place, the 

 subscriber whose instrument is used has to pay the amount that 

 would have been collectable at a public telephone station. A 

 subscriber becomes entitled to the refund of a proportionate part 

 of his subscription when his line has been interrupted longer than 

 four weeks from the date of notice. Subscriptions will also be 

 refunded should the State at any time exercise its right to per- 

 manently or temporarily close the whole or any part of the tele- 

 phone system. When subscribers change offices or houses, their 

 new premises are connected 1 to the exchange without charge if 

 situated within the three-kilometer radius. 



2. Intercommunication between the town and its suburbs. 

 In the case of Stuttgart this means Cannstatt, Feuerbach, Unter- 

 tiirkheim, Zuffenhausen, Waiblingen, Degerloch, Backnang, 

 Vaihingen, and Boblingen. The town subscribers may ring up 

 any suburban subscriber without additional charge, but, con- 

 versely, the suburban man has to pay i/. 5^. per annum extra for 

 the privilege of initiating conversations with the town. The 

 excess charge is small, but it seems rather unjust to saddle the 

 suburban subscriber with it. He necessarily cannot use his 

 connection locally to the same extent (the largest suburban ex- 

 change is Cannstatt, with 190 subscribers ; the others are much 

 smaller) as can a subscriber in Stuttgart ; consequently it is of 

 less monetary value to him, and it would be more equitable to 

 put him on the same footing exactly, especially in view of the 

 desirability of encouraging the connection of suburban residences. 

 The same arrangements apply between Heilbronn and Sontheim, 

 Reutlingen and Pfullingen, and Ravensburg and Weingarten. 



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