The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-02-27
The Future Of the Telephone.

The Future OF the Te1epnOllee
There is nothing more characteristic
of the present age than the avidity with
which it seizes upon and puts to practical
use the discoveries of science and the in
finite marvels of invention. To-day the
experimental student wrests from the Sc
cret treasures of the universe new
truth, a new law, new manifestation
of force. Tomorrow countless host of
printing presses spread a knowledge Of
the discovery to the, earth's remotest
bounds. Directly it is made working
factor in the worlds best thought and
action; in little while some practical
mind puts the harness of utility upon
the new truth, and straightway the
world is the richer by another useful in
vention. What would formerly have
taken centuries to accomplished what
the most fearless minds would scarcely
have dared to dream of undertakings
now done in a day. The invention is
achieved, and finds world predisrosed
to receive it with gladness, even though
its adoption should necessitate many
and radical changes in the whole range
of national and social customs 1t took
the steam engine centuries to pass from
the stage of science unapplied to that of
practical utility. The telegraph was
not SO many years raising from the level
of scientific experiment to that of a use
full factor in the daily affairs of nations.
What the telegraph accomplished in
years the telephone has done in months.
One year it was scientific toy, with in
finite possibilities of practical use the
next it was the basis of system of COM
munication the most rapidly expanding,
intricate, and convenient that the world
has known.
One of the most notable occurrences
of our Centennial year was little gath
ering of scientific men from various parts
of the world to test the performance of a
new scientific invention of which won
derful stories had begun to be told, espec-
tally with regard to what it was going to
do. To the establishment of all it did do
marvellous things. A little disk of metal
could be made to speak; still more, the
operator might be miles away, and ex-
erting power only through his vocal
organs. With couple of magnetic cups
and slender wire spoken messages were
transmitted through considerable dis
tances and delivered in tones so like those
of the speaker that his personality could
be detected by the sound of his voice: if
it had ever been heard before. Though
far from perfect, the speaking telephone
was an assured fact, and new era in
social and business communication had
dawned. Scores of active minds at once
set to work upon the problems to which
the telephone gave rise, and hundreds
soon joined them. In little while the
telephone in various forms was in the
hands of progressive men in every par:
of the world.
It was tried as a means of uniting
more or less widely detached portions of
business houses, as the salesroom and the
mandatory, and proved great success.
As a means of social and professional
communication it was equally satisfac-
tory. The next step was to form little
clusters of telephone communicates;
the wider and more varied the business
csllings of the members of the group
and the more numerous its membership
the greater was found to be the utility
of the system. But it soon outgrew
manageable proportions without some
system of Capitalization. The telephon-
ic exchange, or central Office, was nat
ural aud necessary result.
The limits of our space forbid any at
tempt even to summarize the infinite
range and variety of possible telephone
communication. Its scope is as wide, as
limitless indeed, As is the range Of COM.
munication possible between men. Any
question that business man may have
occasion to ask Of another, any instruct
ton he may wish to give to distant
Subordinate, any message that q boy
can carry, and that may be written, falls
within its province. Even At the low.
average of mile for the distance be-
tween the widely separated subscribers
in this CITY the five thousand daily com.