Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 71.djvu/152

145 The stockholders in the New England Telephone Company were practically the same persons who composed the membership of the original parent company, the Bell Telephone Association. The officials were: President, Gardiner Greene Hubbard; treasurer, Thomas Sanders; general agent, George L. Bradley; clerk, Thomas B. Bailey. Incidentally it is worthy of note that since its organization Mr. Bailey has been the purchasing agent of the American Bell Telephone Company. On July 27, 1878, Mr. Hubbard resigned the presidency and Mr. Sanders was elected in Mr. Hubbard's place, while Mr. Bradley succeeded Mr. Sanders as treasurer. Until February 15, 1879, the New England Company occupied room 43 in the Sears building in Boston, when it moved to room 52 Mutual Life Insurance building.

Meanwhile Mr. Hubbard found it difficult to borrow the funds necessary to carry on operations outside of New England. Friendly bankers had loaned generous amounts, but when further advancements became imperatively necessary, they asked for a more tangible form of collateral than certificates issued by an unincorporated association, and it was suggested that the stock certificates of a conservatively incorporated and wisely managed company might be acceptable as security, if offered at a low valuation. So, on July 30, 1878, the second of the parent companies was incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts to transact a general telephone business in all of the United States outside of the New England States. It was capitalized at $450,000, and that amount of stock was issued in return for a cash payment of $50,000 and all the rights and privileges held by its predecessor, the Bell Telephone Association. Its officials were: Trustee, Gardiner Greene Hubbard; treasurer, Thomas Sanders; electrician, Graham Bell, and superintendent, Thomas A. Watson. At first its headquarters were at the Williams factory, 109 Court Street, Boston, but in August, shortly after its organization, it moved to New York City and occupied rooms at 66 and 68 Reade Street. It bore the name: Bell Telephone Company.

The interest awakened in the development of the telephone industry through the activity of these three organizations and their agents created a volume of business, the character of which necessitated the formation of a broader organization, and resulted in the birth of the third parent company, the National Bell Telephone Company, as detailed in Chapter V. The company was organized on March 10, and its charter issued on March 13, 1879. It was formed through the amalgamation of the New England and the Bell Telephone Companies, and succeeded to all the property and patent rights and privileges of both these companies. The new company was capitalized at $850,000, and this amount of stock was issued in return for telephone exchange and manufacturing property representing a cash investment