256 RURAL NEW YORK 



be considered at least to double the favored zone 

 around a shipping or market center. Motor trucks 

 have been installed by some of the larger and more 

 progressive farmers, and freight, express and passen- 

 ger routes have been established between local centers 

 over a circuit of thirty to one hundred miles, at many 

 places in the State. This means of transport af- 

 fords an efficient and economical method of extend- 

 ing the range of established transportation service 

 to rural communities. Such a line is elastic and need 

 not pass each day over the same route but may cover 

 various routes on different days. Companies are now 

 establislied to operate these rural automobile lines 

 at different centers as tbe traffic may warrant. These 

 lines should be encouraged as serving the convenience 

 of rural districts just as the bus and carting lines 

 serve the city dweller and are one of the factors that 

 will aid in making rural life more acceptable. 



The teleplione has found a large place in rural life 

 and has relieved niueh of the isolation. In every part 

 of the State, every progressive farmer is supplied 

 with telephone service either by the larger companies 

 or by local cooperative concerns that have a working 

 relation with the large exchanges. In 1914 there 

 were reported to be 2,790,060 miles of telephone wire 

 and 970,449 telephones. This is at the rate of one 

 mile of wire for each three persons and 102 tele- 

 phones to a thousand of population. The propor- 

 tion in Pennsylvania was 79, in Illinois 139, and in 

 California 168. Of course, a large proportion of 

 these telephones were in cities but the rural popula- 



