Bell System Statistics
| Dec. 31, 1920 | Dec. 31, 1925 | Dec. 31, 1930 | Dec. 31, 1935 | Dec. 31, 1938 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Telephones2 | 8,133,759 | 11,909,571 | 15,187,296 | 13,573,025 | 15,761,095 |
| Number of Central Offices | 5,767 | 6,147 | 6,639 | 6,896 | 6,975 |
| Miles of Pole Lines | 362,481 | 394,529 | 428,212 | 407,454 | 399,368 |
| Miles of Wire: | |||||
| In Underground Cable | 14,207,000 | 27,769,000 | 45,116,000 | 47,639,000 | 50,783,000 |
| In Aerial Cable | 6,945,000 | 12,835,000 | 23,777,000 | 26,425,000 | 28,072,000 |
| Open Wire | 3,711,000 | 4,339,000 | 5,231,000 | 4,562,000 | 4,590,000 |
| Total | 24,863,000 | 44,943,000 | 74,124,000 | 78,626,000 | 83,445,000 |
| Per Cent Total Wire Mileage in Cable | 85.1 | 90.3 | 92.9 | 94.2 | 94.5 |
| Average Daily Telephone Conversations:3 | |||||
| Exchange | 31,818,000 | 48,051,000 | 61,150,000 | 58,066,000 | 67,400,000 |
| Toll and Long Distance | 1,307,000 | 2,090,000 | 2,884,000 | 2,224,000 | 2,497,000 |
| Total | 33,125,000 | 50,141,000 | 64,034,000 | 60,290,000 | 69,897,000 |
| Total Plant | $1,373,802,000 | $2,566,809,000 | $4,028,836,000 | $4,187,790,000 | $4,489,078,000 |
| Number of Employees4 | 228,943 | 292,902 | 318,119 | 241,169 | 257,443 |
| Number of A.T.&T. Co. Stockholders | 139,448 | 362,179 | 567,694 | 657,465 | 646,882 |
Footnotes
1“Ahoy!” was the first telephone shout, and was used during the experiments, but “hello!” superseded it when the telephone got into practical use.
2Excludes private line telephones numbering 79,612 on December 31, 1938. Including telephones of about 6,500 connecting companies and more than 25,000 connecting rural lines, the total number of telephones in the United States which can be interconnected is approximately 19,885,000.
3For year ending December 31.
4The employees of the Western Electric Company, Inc., and the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., numbering 34,910 on December 31, 1938, are not included.