New-York tribune., 1896-11-01
GETTING ELECTION NEWS.
THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COM
PANY'S ELABORATE PREPARATIONS.
GREAT DEMAND FOR SPECIAL SERVICE IN VIEW
YORK ON TUESDAY NIGHT-How THE TELE-
PHONE WILL RE USED.


Things were rather dull last week in the opess
ators room at the Western Union Telegraph Build
Ing The tick OF the long rows Of instruments.
while insstent enough to make Din. was not
positively fleming; Of the girls had time 70
chat little they sat at their desks, ana tner0
were comparatively few OF the little rohed-up
budgets Of news shooting about the wires over"
head. This dearth Of business. however might %
likened to the ull before d storm. BY Tuesday
food tide Of messages will have ourst In on tno
operators and from every township ana
district In the country. from Maine TO the tsF
South and away TO the Pacific Will be repre-
sented in the tiny bilets that dart about the room
from wire TO wire almost as II possessed OF life.
Hands will be- needed TO check these hying oul'e-
tins In their headlong speed and switch them on
10 the right course Other hands VIII De neeoeo
to classify and apportion them TO the right oesks1
Heads and hands together must work In condens-
ing them and speeding them to their right dest'.
nations and messengers alert and nimble-footed
stand ready to deliver those destined Tor the
city TO the right recipients or these extra mes.
senger boys alone there will be l5o ana scores Oh
other helpers besides the indispensable operators.
will hustle" day and night
There won't be operators enough 10 go around
this year" said the superintendent III is quito
the fashion now for people to have telegraph IN
struments put into their private houses at election
time, and except I'm individual cases, where they
especially wish TO employ person known TO them.
are needed for all the social and political Clubs Tor
the hotels and for all the brokers Offices. and the
downtown offices. where parties Teet 10 see tho
thing out and the question decided one way or me
other Our woman operators We assign to the
private houses, sending men TO the hotels ana
clubs. BY arranging for some to do more than
double their share of work and having the oper-
ators ar the little country stations where business
slacks up al dusk. come in 10 New-York at night.
we are able to make out. In Brooklyn and New
York together there will he over thousand en-
ployes on duty in the Western Union. and 100 OF
those will be outsiders brought in for the time
Will most Of the operators work straight on
until daylght?' he asked.
we plan TO have the women and girls In the
building here get away by II O'CLOCK arranging
for extra take their places. IL Is quite
possible that the operators at work outside will 10
through with their duties by O'Clock that night.
But then you never tell. AT the time Of
Clevelands first election the not de-
clded for three days and then it was only BY
sending men on horseback out into the most out
of-the-wsy country places and begging the local
county clerks help out that We could arrive
at any decision. In close election such instg-
nincant returns have value but usually. and as I
trust the case will be this time the vote IN such
places is not Of sufficient Importance TO turn the
tide one way the other. The officials IN those
localities seem 10 know this. and they generally
dly-dally along and send in their returns by mall.
costs lot of money!" the reporter ventured.
.Ordnarily We spend between $4,000 and 10000"
was the reply. but this year We shall spend much
more. / must add. too. that this year we shAu
probably get back much more than We put out At
the time of a very close election We have to spend
quantities of money in order to secure prompt and
authentic news from obscure places. All the oper-
ators during election times are paid 80 cents tn-
stead of 10 cents hour, and other employees are
paid in proportion
What do the messenger boys get?'
"They ordinarily receive A 80 a week. and when
they work at night and during extra hours they
are nad at the same rate. When you take into
consideration 5000 offices throughout the coun-
try Chicago having one as large as New-fork.
some idea can be had OF the gigantic amount OF
business done At a crisis like this. There are over
5000 operators employed by the Western Union
Company"
lis there a demani for telegraph instrumentsT
repeated the manager OF Cortlandt-st. manu-
featuring firm. looking, up from his books. WELL
rather From cool business mans point OF view
I should estimate that there is just exactly two
thirds more demand this year than during previous
campaigns We have had orders for instruments
for private houses in the vicinity OF New-fork
from nearly every town and village on the map.
The electric journals say that the demand Is
greater tnan tho entire number OF instruments
used during the Civil War; but then telesraphy
was comparatively in its infancy and the messages
were taken by paper instead Of by sound. The in
terest peopl, taking in this election. however.
is marked. We have been busy night and day
for nearly two months. and have been working
on Sundays as we'll. Our employees have been doing
almost double work. but they have been getting
higher pay; those. for instance. ordinarily making
q, cents an hours have been getting 40 cents since
the extra work began
rreaf a0o nt;x Of news on the eventfu Tuesday.
but they do not need hire additional operatives
a
which single "teephoner" Will be able 70 FUR
nish the news 10 several houses at once. Informa-
ton condensed at the various outlying centres 10
furnished to the. New-York headquarters. and
thence sent gratis 10 such local subscribers as have
informed the company that they wish TO hear tho
returns. Such patrons VIII be put in touch win
from the various States the estimates are given
and vii get the gset b a IS susn f s sno
tain the interest. and allow them TO form their own
connected in a sort Of circular village gossip fash.
ION after IN" custom OF the old game. eacn man
The news fresh from current centres on Election
Night will be continuously floating about and gs past
just much of II as they Ike and stop listening
Il had a six sided conversation through the tee-
phone last night says the manager OF this com.
yany @ sn over IN TOWN, S h % o at two
OF different points talked 10 each other and the
tom Without things conflicting or becoming unin-
telligible We six talked as easily as though We
Ssns Sfrs il'tns IN asren fsSs to room
"Thess people who will hear the election returns
in their own homes on Tuesday. will they all b
ringing UP centrals and calling out ,Hello'y
and they can't talk TO any one over the telephone
az that time. They will hear the news. but they
must not question H. This plan OF telephonng
has been tried before in former elections. but only
limited extent. This year Il will be universal.
Chicago is doing much OF It as We Sec
these desks?' he added pointing to the long row
of fresh desks ranged behind the other
in the corridor "On Tuesday night an operator
will be seated at each OF these desks holding
this little receiver her She will the news
from the National and State committees and other
headquarters and pass IL TO her own special
group or circle OF subscribers Each one OF these
desks will be starting point for budget Of news.
and do all this without hiring any outside
help though. OF course. our operators will b0
cared for In this and certain other respects the
telephone beats the telegraph all hollow"