The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-19
H Is NOW IN Pull SWING
OLD-TIME TELEGRAPHERs HELD
THEIR BUSINESS MEETING
YESTERDAY MORNING
J. B. M'FARLAND Is PRESIDENT
Speeches Delivered by Mayor Smith,
j. ID. Reid and Senator G. X.
Dayis-TrolIey Ride to Fort
Smelling in Afternoon.

| sway, Inc nrSC session having Deen nelQ
yesterday at Elks' hall.
Though Thomas Edison, the grand high
moloch extraordinary of all telegraphers,
was not present, James Reid was, and so
too was United States Senator Cush-
man K. Davis, and Mayor Robert A.
Smith and a host of others, well kno wn
| in the state or all over the land.
When President H. c. Hope took the
chair yesterday it was. to all ap-
pearance, with a feeling of pride,
which may justly be pardoned,
for everyone knows what a repre-
sentative meeting he had to do with
He brought down his gavel with a bang
and, to quote a telegrapher, "The only
sound was silence" Mayor Smith was
| then introduced and in a whole souled.
hearty manner welcomed the telegraph
/ ers to the Sanity city. To make them
sure that his welcome was of the right
kind he presented to James Reid the mas
| sive, gold plated key of the city made ex-
pressly for the occasion.
Mr.. Reid. though having passed the four
! score mark, is in heart and appearance
man of fifty or sixty and his voice is
! so finely modulated that he pleases all
listeners. He took the key and said:
This key looks like the key to prison.
1 want to caution you all, now that I
! have 1t in hand, that will care for YOU
! II you forget yourselves" Later, when he
! was escorted to the front by the presi-
dent he said:
| 1t is not often that a bruised reed has
an opportunity of leaning on the strong
breast of hope
LII. Reid then made a short speech AMI
the principal theme of his remarks was
the strong neighborly feeling for dis
/ tant people, which the telegraph has
given to every civilized country.
SENATOR DAVIS SPEECH.
When he had finished President Hone
introduced Senator Davis who was greet
ed with much applause. In part, ae
| spoke as follows:
The first telegraph arrangement I
| ever saw was during the time that
F-erce ana Scott We're running for the
| presidency. The people from the conn
| try came into town. to get the returns
1t was an Interesting occasion, and there
| was an element Of fun in it, Most OF the
people beleVed implicitly in the opera
| Con OF the instruments, but some Of the
Wise ones shook their heads and thought
the entire affair huge joke Some Of
the toWnspeople stood back by the door.
| They were afraid of Lightning.
The first place [ ever held as an oper-
| ator was on the railroad between Mil
waukee and Whitewater 1 received
messages, and, having no messenger
no revenue stamps on kilograms in those
days. If there was trouble with the
wires. | took a livery rig and drove
aIong the POLES toward Milwaukee or
Whitewater until I found the break.
Then l clamkered up the pole and re-
paired the damage. was fourteen
years old at the time and the object of
envy OF all the boys in the neighbour
4 i~I H.;
across the road and it did not make
| much matter ii 1 was absent from the
of1lce for an hour or so My rights to
| use the livery rigs were of great value
to me, and very often 1 took my cousin
| out riding.
Il never see a man climb a telegraph,
pole now, without either laughing or
He told good many stories of the old
times but the lest ever was the follow
"Do you remember the time when the
| milwaukee road ran only as far as Mil
ton, Wis ?''
A single voice answered in the affirma-
| tive.
well, I remember the time I first
| saw S. S. Merrill, the first president of
the road He was building a railroad
when he was first pointed out to me.
Some time later the operator at White
water was taken ill, and 1 was ordered
| to Whitewater to take his place. I
served until he recovered and then got
OA the lIdlu 10 come nome.
| THE conductor on the train on which
| rode was S. S. Merrill. He was col
lecting the fares and he came to me-
| +" Tickets he said.
| / have no ticket / replied
Dollar he then demanded
Il told him [ was the operator at the
| next station.
"'Well, you can't ride on this train for
He dug a dollar out of me, much to
my discontinue.
1.-TWO weeks later my father woke me
up in the middle of the night, and ]
found Merrill standing outside Of the
door, his arm through his lantern. His
train was wrecked, and he wanted to
send telegram to Milwaukee. l dress
| ed and went to the Office. He sat down
and wrote his telegram and 1 sent if.
| Then he thrust his arm through the Ian
tern handle again and started out.
whether it was on account of the dol
| lar he had charged me for my fare I wifi
not say, but told him that I charged
| him $3.50 for sending the message He
told me that he was the conductor of the
! train, but I was immovable, and he paid
| the $3.50. I did not tell him that I was
the young man from whom he had ex-
| tracted a dollar as train fare
OF the military telegraph operators
| Senator Davis said:
! Wherever there was a military opera
| tor, wherever there was a military adj
vance, a telegraph operator was there.
| and whenever there was a military re-
| treat he was generally the last to leave,
| u0iIIS lell D0nlI1U 10 QoluQ6 the DurSu 1nP
| foe. Every resource of human ingenuity
! he was called upon to exercise He was
| to be brave and circunlspect He was ia
take charge of every situation. He was
not only the collector. but he was the
transmitter of intelligence, and m my of
| them were the confidential friends of
| our greatest military commanders. And
| my friends, 1 have yet to learn or read
that these men, many of them very
! young and untried-I have yet to learn ar
| read that one of these men Jun thought
6nn elof IOfr
| country.
THE last telegraphing L ever did was
at Duxal Bluff, Ark, in the first inva-
my career as telegraph operator end
| ed. But my mind goes back with pleas
ure, and it becomes brighter as 1 grow
though my courses in life have been such
| as not TO permit me critically to examine
| the progress of your noble art, yet l can
| perceive it, although L can not exactly
1t is a noble art
j. B. MFARLAND is PRESIDENT.
When Senator Davis had finished the
routine business was transacted and the
| election of officers of the Old-Time Te-
Iegraphers association resulted as fol
lows:
President. B. Mcfarland, president
Of the Bell Telephone company, Mon.
Vice President-J. E. Hutchinson, presi
dent Of the Ottawa Street Railway com
pany, Ottawa.
Secretar y-Treasurer-John Brant, man
ager of the Western Union in New York
Montreal was chosen as the next place
of meeting. The time selected was the
third Tuesday in September
The committee which had the nomina
| tons IN charge was composed of w c.
Burton, New York; H.. A futile, Mime
apolis; G. H. Yetman, Boston; j. F. Pc
! tit, Chicago, and Col. j. Winthroup, Phil
adeiphia.
President A. K. Pruden, of the CONNER
cial club, was present at the convention