Several of his captains deserted, and he was compelled to take control of their unprofitable exchanges.

There was scarcely a mail that did not bring him some bulletin of discouragement or defeat.
In the effort to conciliate a hostile public, the telephone rates had everywhere been made too low.

Hubbard had set a price of twenty dollars a year, for the use of two telephones on a private line; and when exchanges were started, the rate was seldom more than three dollars a month.

There were deadheads in abundance, mostly officials and politicians.

In St.Louis, one of the few cities that charged a sufficient price, nine-tenths of the merchants refused to become subscribers.