XVI 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



January, 19 13 



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JUST PUBLISHED 



Scientific American 

 Reference Book 



Edition of 1913 



it contains 608 pages and 1 ,000 illustrations, is substantially bound in 



cloth, and the cover carries a special design 



printed in three colors 



Albert A. Hopkins 



Compiler and Editor for Part I. Statistical 

 Information. Editor of Cyclopedia of 

 Formulas, Handbook of Travel, Etc. Mem- 

 ber of the American Statistical Associa- 

 tion. 



A. Russell Bond 



Compiler and Editor for Part II. Scientific 

 Information. Editor of Handyman's 

 Workshop and Laboratory. 



The editorial staff of the Scientific American receives annually over fifteen thousand 

 inquiries, covering a wide range of topics — no field of human achievement cr natural 

 phenomena is neglected. The information sought for in many cases cannot be 

 readily found in text books or works of reference. In order to supply this know- 

 ledge in concrete and usable form, two of the Editors of the Scientific American 

 have, with the assistance of trained statisticians, produced a remarkable Reference 

 Book, containing over seventy-five thousand facts, and illustrated by one thousand 

 engravings, for which the entire world has been scoured. Immense masses of 

 government material have been digested with painstaking care with the collabora- 

 tion of government officials of the highest rank, including cabinet officers, and assisted 

 by competent professors of world-wide reputation. 



Owing to the printing of an edition of 1 0,000 copies, we are enabled to offer 

 this book at a merely nominal price. The purchase of the book is the on/p adequate 

 way to judge of its merits. An elaborate circular, showing specimens of illustrations, 

 together with four full-size sample pages, will be sent on request. 



Part I. 

 STATISTICAL IN- 

 FORMATION. 

 Chapter I. . 

 population and so- 

 cial statistics. 

 Chapter II. 



FARMS, FOODS AND 

 FORESTS. 



Chapter III. 



MINES AND QUARRIES. 



Chapter IV. 



MANUFACTURES. 



Chapter V. 



COMMERCE. 



Chapter VI. 



MERCHANT MARINE. 



Chapter VII. 



RAILROADS. 



Chapter VIII. 



THE PANAMA CANAL. 



Chapter IX. 



TELEGRAPHS AND 

 CABLES. 



Chapter X. 



WIRELESS TELEG- 

 RAPHY. 



Chapter XI. 



TELEPHONE STATIS- 

 TICS OF THE 

 WORLD. 



Chapter XII. 



POST OFFICE AFFAIRS. 



Chapter XIII. 



PATENT S, TRADE- 

 MARKS AND COPY- 

 RIGHTS. 



Chapter XIV. 



ARMIES OF THE 

 WORLD. 



Chapter XV. 



NAVIES OF THE 

 WORLD. 



Chapter XVI. 



AVIATION. 



Part II. 

 SCIENTIFIC IN- 

 FORMATION. 



Chapter I. 



CHEMISTRY. 



Chapter II. 



ASTRONOMY AND TIME. 



Chapter III. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Chapter IV. 



MACHINE ELEMENTS 



AND MECHANICAL 



MOVEMENTS. 



Chapter V. 



GEOMETRICAL CON- 

 STRUCTIONS. 



Chapter VI. 



WEIGHTS AND MEAS- 

 URES. 



Net Price *}> 1 *5U Postpaid 



Send for large prospectus and specimen pages 



MUNN & CO., Inc., PUBLISHERS 361 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY 



THE TELEPHONE AT HOME AND 

 ABROAD 



"YY/NILE we are looking forward to 



W the benefits we hope to get from the 

 parcel-post, and we are discussing whether 

 or not it is wise for the government to con- 

 trol the railroads, telegraphs and other 

 public utilities, let us not forget," says the 

 Youth's Companion, "that there are two 

 sides to the question of government own- 

 ership. The telephone affords a good illu- 

 stration of one side of that interesting ques- 

 tion." 



"The United States is the only important 

 nation that has not put its telephone serv- 

 ice under the control of the post-office ; it 

 is also the country where the telephone has 

 made the greatest progress, where the serv- 

 ice is the best, and where the number of 

 users is both actually and proportionately 

 the largest. 



"For example, there are twice as many 

 telephones in this country, in proportion to 

 the population, as there are in Canada, the 

 country that stands next highest on the list. 

 There are more telephones in the city of 

 Chicago than in all France; and there are 

 more in a single big office building in New 

 York than in all Greece. 



"But the difference is not merely in the 

 fact that telephones are less common in 

 European countries than they are in the 

 United States; in every one of those coun- 

 tries, except Sweden, the service is very 

 poor. 



"At the beginning of the present year 

 the government of Great Britain took over 

 the entire telephone system of the kingdom. 

 Before that time there had been many com- 

 plaints about the service; since then, how- 

 ever, the number of complaints has multi- 

 plied. 



"Persons who have written to the 

 newspapers about their grievances declare 

 that they sometimes have to wait as much 

 as fifteen minutes to get a number for 

 which they have asked; that even then 

 they are often connected with the wrong 

 number; that they are told that the line 

 is busy when it is not; and that they are 

 charged for calls that they have not made. 

 There are many other complaints of a 

 similar kind. It is true that those who 

 use the telephones in this country are not 

 always satisfied, but dissatisfaction is by 

 no means so general as it is in every one 

 of the countries of Europe. 



"Not only is the service in European 

 countries poor, but it does not pay. Here 

 it has become customary to condemn mo- 

 nopolies, and some of us become angry 

 when we learn of the great profits that the 

 telephone companies derive from the busi- 

 ness. 



"But when we compare the cost of 

 telephones in this country and in other 

 countries, we should not forget that it is 

 worth more to a subscriber to have fifty 

 thousand other subscribers within call than 

 to have ten thousand. Great Britain has 

 reported a deficit from its telephone busi- 

 ness for the year. 



"The German government has recently 

 sent three of its telephone officials to the 

 United States to study our methods. When 

 they go back, it is not likely that they will 

 recommend turning over the business to 

 private owners, for in these times the prin- 

 ciple of public ownership and control of 

 utilities is spreading, and Germany would 

 be the last country to go backward in such 

 matters. But if the only question were 

 how to make the system commercially 

 profitable and as efficie it as the system they 

 find here, they might lake such a report." 



