New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-05
MIR. WANAMAKER,S PLAN.
OPERATORS FAVOR HIS POSTAL TELEGRAPH
SCHEME.
THEIR VIEWS AS EXPRESSED BY AN OLD rELEe-
RAPHER-HopING FOR BETTER PAY.

THEIR VIEWS AS EXPRESSED BY AN OLD TELEG-
RAPHER-HopING FOR BETTER PAY.
Telegraph operators throughout the country are
jubilant the stand taken by Postmaster General
wanamaker the subject Of postal telegraph sys-
tenn for the United States and his letter TO General
Henry H. Bingham, chairman of the House Com
mttee on Possibilities and Postroads, published In
The Tribune last Monday, was read by them with abb
sorbing interest.
1t is estimated that there 100000 operators en-
ployed in active work In the various Offices OF the
telegraph and railroad companies throughout the
United States. Tho members OF this large army Of
skilled workmen believe that the establishment of
postal telegraph service will, as nothing else can,
restore their rates of compensation to the standard In
vogue before the famous sliding scae' reduction OF
salaries promulgated by the Western Union Tele-
graph Company in 1875. OF course an overwhelming
majority OF these men and women are employed by
the Western Union either directly or indirectly. A
large percentage Of them operate the wires In rail-
road offices, deriving portion Of their income from
the Western Union for handling commercial business
I'm addition to the work done for the railroads. Those
employed by the Western Union exclusively nave
tried various means to restoration OF the
former standards OF compensation, but without sue
cess The most notable Of these efforts was In 1883
when the great strike OF the operators crippled the
business Of the company for over month In the
apathetic. Now they are thoroughly aroused again
in the hope that relief will in the absorption
of the telegraph lines by the Government.
There is an extremely interesting story to be told
OF the rise and decline of skill In the fele-
graph service More than score OF years
ago, when the great bulk of business
was done on single wires, there was a constant de-
mand for operators Of exceptional skill to work the
circuits between the large trade centres Operators
of inferior ability could not perform the work with
any degree OF satisfaction and as the experts OF
established reputation paid we'll for their labors
there was a constant incentive before the younger
men to reach degree Of proficiency that would en-
able them to command the higher compensation. 1t
was before the duplex invented that some OF the
operators acquired regulations for skill that extended
over the entire length and breadth of the land Their
names were familiar in the Offices Of the Pacific
slope, along the Atlantic, and from the Gun 10
Canada Regulations extended with marvellous
rapidly in the telegraph service in those days.
| "Billyn Kettles performed the feat Of sending
nearly seventy cable dispatches hard-ctpher messages
| at that. In an hour. The operator on the New
York end of the Chicago wire mentioned the fact to
the Chicago expert all of the Chicago operators soon
heard of it, and each his respective wire spoke OF
IL to the operators with whom he was In communca-
Hon The day after the feat Mr. Kettles's acnicve-
ment had been talked about by the operators IN every
office I'm the country. Thus it has been with many
common enough in their daily work. when speed and
accuracy were essential features of sngle-wire ma"
inhalation Among them were Wills j. COOK. KNOWN
all over the country Bf" Burt Ayres, whose NICK
name was "Patsy"; Harry EitemHer, James LaFsaS,
Glib, Merrill Bogardus JIM Doddy, Fred Catin ana
Fred Baldwin. There many mdSe OF thcm' anu an
were able to receive as many messaes in day as any
operator could send and they coule SEND as many a.
could be received In those days an operator hao u
hc an expert I'm sending as in receiving for was the
custom throughout the day the heavy circuits 10
alternate on each end Of the wire In sendng ana
receiving That is, the operator In New-foK "ouu
send ten messages to Chicago and the operator u'eo
would in turn send ten to New-York In this way
each operator on heavy circuit like those running
from Ncw-York to ether large cities used To handie
from 300 to 45O messages in a day. Every man was
nroud of his work. and 1t considered an honor TO
he assigned To "heavy" wire. The experts were
looked upon superior beings BY their younger 1ei-
lows and they formed distinct social group In their
respective offices. The men VINO manned the sfeaO
circuits would scarcely deign to recognize as social
equal those who were employed on the "way" wires.
There was then most earnest struggle to excel In
good work. Every operator knew that to receive the
| highest salary he must be able to demonstrate his
ability TO do the work the hardest wires Those
who were employed experts We'd constantly with
each other TO perform the greatest amount OF
work I'm single day. Each one when receiving would
strain every faculty to go as long as possible withoat
breaking and when sending he would strive at his
utmost 10 clear away the messages before him in the
shortest possible time. The rapid senders would not
tolerate an inferior receiver and 1t was considered to
be a disgrace to young operator to be rushed OH
wren-that IS to be relieved because he not skful
enough to transcribc the rapid transmission.
There we're some notable circuits in those old times
The wires to Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburg, Cncln
| natl ST. Louis, Buffalo, Washington, Baltimore and
Boston were the starr circuits 1t was Thought to
be an honor by the younger men to be allowed even
to relieve the regular during their lunch hour and
| happy and proud the youth who could upon the
return of the regular report that he had not found IL
necessary to break" There were no leased lines
then and all OF tho were sent by wire rom
the branches to the main Office, whence they were
forwarded to their destination. Some OF the branch
office wires became star" circuits The from the
| Stock Exchange branch Office was particularly hcaVy
II was not unusual 10 exceed 400 messages day On
that wire and OF them were cipher kilograms
relating to stock operations accuracy was an so-
soutcy essential quality Of the work OF tho receiving
operator in the main Office. atom Allen made
great reputation as an expert that wire and when
the writer took his place Mr. Aliens successor on
the receiving end fifteen years ago, no was thc
| proudest youth In the Western Union Companys en-
| ploy
At that time expert operator one one OF tic nrse
| class wires was paid from 1928 to Sl4o mahIh.
|
OF the through CIRCUITS the company found that TWO
men of inferior ability each end of duplex circuit
| would do a vastly greater amount Of work than ore
expert on each end and the standard OF salaries en 10
about 300 month for strictly frst-class operators
| Then In 1876 the sliding scale reoucuoh
| all around which reduced the mghest Hahe-
| AID to about 800 a month Even before this
time the rapid development Of electrical apparatus
demonstrated to the company that by increasing iVs
facilities and its numerical force it could by the EN-
poyment of mediocre talent, handle vastly
greater bulk of business than ever before With this
conviction came consistently regular series OF reduc-
lions The House printing telegraph machine almost
equaed the duplex, with single instrument and a
inglo operator each end Of wire, and these ma
chimes placed ON most of the important shor'
lines. Then the perfection Of the quadruplsx,
giving one wire the capacity OF four and enabling
eight operators to work simultaneously on a circuit
formerly operated by two After tins the Wheatstone
up largely to develop the resources OF the compayy i9r