420 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



3. Intercommunication between town and suburbs and more 

 distant exchanges within the district or vicinity. No hard and 

 fast radius is imposed in determining the limits of such a district, 

 as trade and other local requirements are taken into consideration. 

 The group round Stuttgart comprises Esslingen, Ludswigsburg, 

 Sindelfmgen, Hohenheim, and Castle Solitude. Other ' vicinity r 

 groups are Reutlingen with Pfullingen and Tubingen ; Ulna 

 and Waiblingen ; Friedrichshafen and Langenargen. The con- 

 necting lines are all metallic circuits, and are really extra-suburban 

 or short-distance trunks. The charge for utilising them is 

 generally 3^. per five minutes, but for some there are also annual 

 subscriptions. (See Tariffs.} 



4. Long-distance trunk communication within the limits of 

 the kingdom. Every town and many villages are in telephonic 

 communication. The time unit is five minutes, and the charge is 

 uniformly $d. As the distances talked over are considerable (as 

 Trossingen to Langenargen, 166 miles ; Heilbronn to Friedrichs- 

 hafen, 129 miles), this is one of the most liberal trunk rates in 

 Europe. Talks are limited to five minutes if the line is wanted 

 by another. There is a system of express talks by which a sub- 

 scriber can take precedence of all others by paying triple the ordinary 

 rate. A subscriber in one town may likewise demand simultaneous 

 connection with two or more in another town in order that he may 

 give them the same message or that all may consult together. 

 Twopence per five minutes per extra subscriber connected in com- 

 pliance with such a demand is the not extravagant charge levied. 

 The records of the telephone operator must be taken as decisive 

 as to the duration of talks, but complaints are inquired into, and 

 any reasonable grievance that may be proved, rectified. Within 

 Wiirtemberg itself, talks which are not, for any reason, actually 

 held are not usually charged for, even if the wires are in order 

 and the telephone officials have done everything that it was 

 necessary to do to effect the connection. In the interest of good 

 discipline amongst the subscribers this rule is more liberal than 

 politic, since it permits a man who has asked for a trunk con- 

 nection and caused the line to be occupied with the necessary 

 communications between the operators, to change his mind or to 

 leave his instrument and neglect the connection signal. In con- 



