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Great Independent: The Lincoln Telephone Company, 1903–1908

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

William D. Torrence
Affiliation:
Instructor of Business Organization and Management atUniversity of Nebraska

Abstract

It was not in the nature of the local American entrepreneur to concede to monopolistic power. Technical competence, good controls, and appeals to local pride were potent weapons in the struggle of a small company to succeed in the face of competition with the giant Bell system.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1959

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References

1 Hartley, Joseph, The History of LT&T: A Story of Free Enterprise (Lincoln, Nebraska: Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company, c. 1955).Google Scholar

2 Nebraska State Journal, March 10, 1903.

3 MacMeal, Harry B., The Story of Independent Telephony (Chicago: John F. Cuneo Company, 1934), pp. 271274.Google Scholar

4 Special Report, U.S. Census, Telephones and Telegraphs, 1902; Special Report, U.S. Census, Telephones: 1907.

5 The North Central Division (a U.S. Census designation) includes the following 12 states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.

6 Hartley, op. cit., Chap. 2.

7 Lincoln Journal, July 12, 1920.

8 Western Union Independent Telephone Co., Minutes of Stockholders, May 4, 1903. All records of the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company and its predecessors are deposited in the company's executive offices in Lincoln, Nebraska.

9 MacMeal, op. cit., pp. 271–274.

10 Interview with J. H. Hartley, Editor, Lincoln Telephone News, Sept. 2, 1958.

11 Lincoln Telephone Co., Minutes of Directors, June 22, 1903.

12 Franchise granted to the Lincoln Telephone Company by City of Lincoln, Nebraska, March 9, 1903.

13 Lincoln Telephone Co., Minutes of Stockholders, June 22, 1903.

14 Contracts of Lincoln Telephone Company with General Engineering Company, June 22, 1903; Automatic Electric Company, July 14, 1903; and Campbell Brothers Construction Company, Oct. 6, 1903.

15 Lincoln Telephone Co., Minutes of Directors, Nov. 11, 1903.

17 Ibid., Minutes of Stockholders, Oct. 3, 1904.

18 Ibid., Minutes of Directors, Oct. 11, 1904.

19 Ibid., April 27, 1905.

20 Ibid., May 30, June 30, July 12, 1905.

21 Ibid., Minutes of Directors, Feb. 15, April 15, 1907.

22 Ibid., Minutes of Stockholders, May 1, 1905.

23 Letter to Stockholders from General Manager, May 1, 1905.

24 Lincoln Telephone Co., Earnings and Expense Statement, Jan. 31, 1905.

25 Letter to Stockholders from General Manager, May 1, 1905.

26 Lincoln Journal, July 17, 1904.

27 Lincoln Star, Nov. 15, 1904.

28 Ibid., Dec. 10, 1904.

29 Ibid., Sept. 3, 1905.

30 Lincoln Evening News, Nov. 21, 1906.

31 Sunday State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska, Dec. 2, 1906.

32 Report by E. P. Hovey, Accountant, to C. H. Rudge, J. C. Harpham, and P. L. Hall of Lincoln Commercial Club, Dec. 1, 1906.

33 Lincoln Star, Nov. 20, 1906.

34 Toll Circuit Map, Western Telephone Company, Lincoln, Nebraska, Aug. 26, 1907.

35 Contract between Lincoln Telephone Company and the Western Telephone Company, Nov., 1907.

36 Hartley, op. cit., Chap. 3.

37 It was a prevailing practice in the early part of the twentieth century to consider stock equity under the general heading of liabilities.

38 For purposes of this paper we are concerned with three basic ratios: the current ratio, which indicates the number of dollars of current assets available to meet current debt; the quick ratio, which indicates the number of dollars of cash plus receivables available to meet each dollar of current debt; and the ratio of net income to stockholder's equity.