The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-08-21
THIRD EDITION.


Nothing for some time past has done
more to razzle the users of telephones
In this city than the imperfect service
received from them. The blame, OF
course, was all thrown upon the op-
erativee at the Exchange, and sharp
words between them and their pa
IRONS have often resulted. 1t must
be said however, that the sharpest
thrusts have always come from the
patrons, as they pay for the tele.
phones and expect perfect service
which 1t Is impossible to give under the
unfayorable circumstances that sur
round the system
The true cause of the trouble, how
ever. has been discovered, and the
Wilmington Telephone Company Is
now doing all in its power to remedy
the difficulty.
1t seems that as the electric railways
Increased iii the city, the trouble with
the telephones increased. The cleo
trio railways have OF course a grou nd
return for the electricity, and 50 had
the Wilmington telephones. Thus the
railroad interfered IN such q manner
&C the telephone service could not in
teriere with the railroad.
When M electric ear passed through
g sec,icn where telephone were numer-
Gus. the indicators OF all those tele-
phones would drop at the exchange
and the drop would prevent commnni-
cation with those using them. This
is the reason why so many patrons
change, and when they did get it, they
failed to get communication with
The person they wanted to talk to.
AS there are over 700 telephones In
use contested with the City Exchange
from two to three hundred of them are
cut OF by the passage of an electric
car that throws down the. indicators,
and until these indicators are put in
place again there can be no commune
cation
This has bothered manager NIahafry
and his operators more than little.
he did all he could to render "a good
service but it was impossible to render
satisfaction. with the Indicators drop
ping with every passing car. The sit
untion was taken into consideration
and the conclusion was arrived at that
tie telephone System and the electric
car system could not use the ground
return for electricity at the same tlme
and, and us the telephone was injured
more than tho car system it was found
that the telephone had to succumb.
Manager Mahaify then got his work
men together ami commenced putting
up a copper wire return for every tells
pkone in use, disconnected entirely
from the ground system raturn. This
neeessit1te5 an entire overhead sys-
tom while the ground system will he
abandoned to the street cars. The
cost Of this change to the telephone
eonpany will be about $4,000, cost
which will almost atagger the tee-
phone users who have been complain
Ing. OF the high rental Of telephones
ard the poor service received.
The lauor and cost Of putting up an
sxtruretutn wire from every telephone
viii he somewhat lessened by muin
wires being run to different sections
o. the city and return wires connect.
cd with theso main wires. TODAY
wcrkmen are putting up extra wires
from the telephones in the neighbor-
hood OF Third and King strects, aud
telephone users who have cause for
conplaint, are told that every thing
will be right In few days, and until
that time TO have patience.