contented with half service, or double the cost of the telephone
by subscribing to two companies. It is not unlikely that the
"independents" have exercised a wholesome influence upon the Bell
Corporation, but, as the principle of government regulation
rather than individual competition has now become the established
method of controlling monopoly, this influence will possess less
virtue in the future. In addition to these independent
enterprises, the telephone has unfortunately furnished an
opportunity for stockjobbing schemes on a considerable scale. The
years from 1895 to 1905 witnessed the growth of many bubbles of
this kind; one group of men organized not far from two hundred
telephone companies. They would go into selected communities,
promise a superior service at half the current rates, enlist the
cooperation of "leading" business men, sell the stock largely in
the city or town to be benefited, make large profits in the
construction of the lines and the sale of equipment--and then
decamp for pastures new. The multitudinous bankruptcies that
followed in the wake of such exploiters at length brought their
activities to an end.



CHAPTER V. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES

The streets of practically all American cities, as they appeared
in 1870 and as they appear today, present one of the greatest
contrasts in our industrial development. Fifty years ago only a
few flickering gas lamps lighted the most traveled thoroughfares.
Only the most prosperous business houses and homes had even this
expensive illumination; most obtained their artificial light from