The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-18

the operators at sub-statfons report at
the main Office and the accounts Of re-
ceiptS and expenditures are duly entered.
Many of the out-of-the-way stations In
drug stores are operated by young women,
| who also act as clerks to the proprietors
of the stores, and the company is thus en-
| abled to maintain such stations with COM
parative economy.
| Those young women who preside at the
| buster stations down town are confronted
with some amusing incidents. One amia-
Bile and intelligent operator stationed at
prominent hotel remarked recently that
| her position was an excellent one in which
| to observe varieties of character. Being
a Postal Telegraph employee, her Office Ii
sometimes variously construed by differ
ent persons. some coming to her to buy
! postage stamps or cards or to demand
general information relative to the mails
of the United States and foreign countries.
| Excited and impatient individuals. who
| protest they are in most violent hurry,
are inclined to argue heatedly and indefi-
nitely over the probable time in which
they may expect an answer. Such people
/ consume pages of paper in formulating
| message Of some half-dozen words, in
dulging in verbal fault-fnding meanwhile
| with everything the operator tells them.
After consuming in this way, time SUI
fcient to have enabled them to send their
message and receive an answer. they tear
the document they have labored over into
tatters, averring their intention OF going
to the main office, as being the shorter
and more direct method, and exit tenn
pestuously, banging the door after them.
Then" continued the Times reporters
informant, there is the woman who has
SO much to say and so little to say it in
or with tfor every word costs money!.
She experiences, to the full, the agonies
of composition and what she at length
produces is a veritable curiosity of lit
eraturc.'
The extremes of grief and Joy may be
witnessed in a telegraph office, and tho
most diverse shades of human character
reveal themselves. Add to this nuI..an
interest the wonder of flashing words
81 Tay mean SO much. to persons at
The her end Of the country or OF the
world perhaps. and .lving their 1e-
plies. and it will read be seen tina; the
business Of telegrap operator is Il n.ost
fascinating one.
There are ffty-four branch telegraph
Offices in this city, not including these
located in the public buildings and de-
partments. The growth OF the system has
been most rapid, starting from the
smallest beginnings. The Western Union
company tirst located an Office in the old
Wizards Hotel, and this was found sLf-
hcient for the needs of the people Of
Washington for long time. The estab-
lfshment of the first sub-station was held
to be 4 risky undertaking, but the gu
perior convenience they afforded 10 the
people as well as the fact that they paid
the company. led to their gradual bur
steady increase. The Postal Telegraph
which now shares honors with the Vest
ern Union, first started in this city IN
1885. The business of both companies IL
very much greater at The present time
than ever before. both together na-:ng
handled nearly 100000 900 kilograms DUR
ing the last year.
An extraordinary record was made DUR
ng the Spanish-American war by the tele-
sraph office of the War Department IN
Ter the charge OF Lieutenant Pearson. The
number OF employees was Increased az that
line, to twenty operators, besides COR
esponding number Of messengers. etc. The
operators were all picked men, and the
efficiency of the service thus instituted
nay be appreciated from the fact that dur
ng the whole progress of the work of tho
'tfice up 10 the present time. only one err
or was made in receiving and transmitting
messages. This one mistake. as it turned
ut, was rather welcome to the soldiers In
he field than otherwise, increasing. as It
i'd the number of their rations from 20, 600
o .o,oeo. Considering the liability to er-
or necessitated by the Morse system, it
) truly matter for wonder that more
Mistakes are not made by operators ansr
sceiyers. The omission or substitutio,>of
single dot or dash teiSS~>fange
be sense Of message. and, in some cases.
light lead to most embarrassing conse-
uences. That such occurrences are OF ex-
.emely rare occurrence Is a fact Of great
-edit to the operators.
The month in which the telegraph office
t the War Department maintained tbs
reatest activity was that OF September.
.9S, Just following the close Of the war.
hen 81, 692 kilograms were handled.
1t has long been the ambition. notably
the Postal Telegraph Company, to secure
n automatic device by means OF which
might be transmitted and re-
aived without the aid OF skilled operators.
was thought, when the company started,
lat such a method had been discovered,
nd that accordingly the cost fc the pub
C Of transmission might be mac@s at the
eneral rate OF 1 cent per word. no matter
, what distance the message was sent. II
as found, however. that the device then
mployed was impracticable. and so the
Id system continues to the present DAB