40：電話 / 日光一番 Telephone: Nikko Ichiban

電話、日光一番。
Telephone: Nikko Ichiban

「知られざる日光」という書籍の中にこんな記述がありましたので、引用してご紹介します。
I found the following passage in a book called "Unknown Nikko," so I would like to quote it here.
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日光郵便電信局に設置された交換台が始動したのは明治三十五年九月十七日。
東京ー横浜間で国内初の電話が設置されて十二年後のこと。この時加入していたのは十九回線で、電話番号の一番が金谷ホテル。以下、小西旅館、日光ホテル、古橋旅館と続き、旅館やホテルが若い番号を独占した。
この年、葉山や箱根湯本、鎌倉などでも相次いで交換業務がスタートしている。日光で交換業務が始まったのも、この地が各国の外交官や政財界人の避暑地として脚光を浴びていたためのようだ。
とはいえ、加入業者集めは容易ではなかったらしい。
「日本電信電話百年史」によると、地方都市に設置された電話は「特設電話」と呼ばれ、電話線を敷設する工事費や材料費は加入者の負担だった。さらに、「電話は伝染病を広める」といううわさまで流れ、日光でも当初用意していた五十回線がなかなか埋まらず、局員は加入を渋る客たちを説得して歩いたという。

「知られざる日光」読売新聞社宇都宮支局・編

The switchboard installed at the Nikko Post and Telegraph Office was put into operation on September 17th, 1902. This was 12 years after the first telephone in Japan was installed between Tokyo and Yokohama. At that time, there were 19 lines, with the telephone number one being Kanaya Hotel. Following this was Konishi Ryokan, Nikko Hotel, Furuhashi Ryokan, and so on, with inns and hotels monopolizing the lower numbers. That same year, Telephone exchange operations also began in Hayama, Hakone Yumoto, Kamakura, and other locations. It seems that exchange services began in Nikko because the area was in the spotlight as a summer resort for diplomats and politicians and business leaders from various countries.
However, gathering participants was not easy. According to the "100-Year History of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone," telephones installed in regional cities were called "special telephones," and the construction and material costs of laying the telephone lines were borne by the subscribers. Furthermore, rumors spread that "telephone calls spread infectious diseases," and in Nikko the 50 lines that were initially prepared were not filled easily, so company employees went around trying to persuade reluctant customers to sign up.

"Unknown Nikko" edited by the Yomiuri Shimbun Utsunomiya branch

文中でも紹介されていますが、電話へのニーズは日本人よりも外国人の方が高く、多くの外交官や政財界で活躍する外国人を受け入れていた避暑地では電話導入はマストな課題だったに違いありません。そのために善一郎らが中心となり宿泊業者たちと電話導入に動きました。そして、善一郎の活躍が評価されて「日光1番」は金谷ホテルが手に入れました。
As mentioned in the text, the need for telephones was greater among foreigners than among Japanese people, and the introduction of telephones must have been a necessary task in a summer resort that hosted many many foreign diplomats and people active in the political and business world.　To that end, Zenichiro and Accommodation providers took the lead in working  to introduce telephones.　Zenichiro's efforts were recognized, and the Kanaya Hotel got the phone number of "Nikko No. 1." In reality,