Kensington, March 25, 1878

To the capitalists of the Electric Telephone Company:

Gentlemen: It has been suggested that at this, our first meeting, I should lay before you a few ideas, concerning the future of the electric telephone, together with any suggestions that occur to me in regard to the best mode of introducing the instrument to the public.

The telephone may be briefly described as an electrical contrivance for reproducing, in distant places, the tones and articulations of a speaker's voice, so that conversation can be carried on by word of mouth between people in different rooms, in different streets, or in different towns.

The great advantage it possesses over every other form of electrical apparatus consists in the fact that it requires no skill to operate the instrument. All other telegraphic machines produce signals which require to be translated by experts, and such instruments are therefore extremely limited in their application, but the telephone actually speaks, and for this reason it can be utilized for nearly every purpose for which speech is employed.

At the present time we have a perfect network of gas pipes and water pipes throughout our large cities. We have main pipes laid under the streets communicating by side pipes with the various dwellings, enabling the members to draw their supplies of gas and water from a common source.

In a similar manner it is conceivable that cables of telephone wires could be laid under ground, or suspended overhead, communicating by branch wires with private dwellings, counting houses, shops, manufactories, etc., uniting them through the main cable with a central office where the wire could be connected as desired, establishing direct communication between any two places in the city. Such a plan such as this, though impracticable at the present moment, will, I firmly believe, be the outcome of the introduction of the telephone to the public. Not only so, but I believe in the future wires will unite the head offices of telephone companies in different cities, and a man in one part of the country may communicate by word of mouth with another in a distant place.

In regard to other present uses for the telephone, the instrument can be supplied as cheaply as to compete on favorable terms with speaking tubes, bells and annunciators, as a means of communication between different parts of the house. This seems to be a very favorable application of the telephone, not only on account of the large number of telephones that would be wanted, but because it would lead eventually to the plan of intercommunication referred to above. I would therefore recommend that special arrangements be made for the introduction of the telephone into hotels and private buildings in place of speaking tubes and annunciators, at present employed. Telephones sold for this purpose could be stamped or numbered in such a way as to distinguish them from those employed for business purposes, and an agreement could be signed by the purchaser that the telephones should become forfeited to the company if used for other purposes than those specified in the agreement.

It is probable that such a use of the telephone would speedily become popular, and that as the public became accustomed to the telephone in their houses, they would recognize the advantage of a system of intercommunication.

In conclusion, I would say that it seems to me that the telephone should immediately be brought prominently before the public, as a means of communication between bankers, merchants, manufacturers, wholesale and retail dealers, dock companies, water companies, police offices, fire stations, newspaper offices, hospitals and public buildings and for use in railway offices, in mines and other operations.

Although there is a great field for the telephone in the immediate present, I believe there is still greater in the future.

By bearing in mind the great object to be ultimately achieved, I believe that the telephone company cannot only secure for itself a business of the most remunerative kind, but also benefit the public in a way that has never been previously attempted.

I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant.

Alexander Graham Bell Cited in Ithiel de Sola Pool, pg. 156.