One Thousand Ways to Make Money by Page Fox

956. TELEPHONE MONOPOLY.--One of the greatest monopolies of the country

is that of the Bell Telephone. The company has increased its capital stock in eighteen years from $110,000 to $30,000,000. In that time it has earned $42,903,680. It pays dividends of eighteen per cent., and could pay more, if allowed to do so by its charter. The surplus is used to increase the capital stock, so that in addition to its enormous dividends, every little while it presents its stockholders with new blocks of this exceedingly profitable stock. The present price of shares is about $280.