Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-12-27
WOMEN TELEpHoNISTS.
Some Respects In which They Art
Superior to Men for That
business.

In its decision to employ girls as
telephone operators the British post
office has submitted to the inevitable
If ever nature created monopoly
in profession, she did so when she
endowed girls with the voices they
possess, says the London Mail.
In lands as diverse in custom as
Roumania and America, Italy and
England, men yield place to women
as telephonists. Even in the land
of the Geisha this natural advantage
reveals itself, and the rapidly grow
ing telephone service of Japan is
Stalled entirely by women. Germany
has rejected women as telegraphists,
but admits their superiority over men
as telephonists.
The proprietorship of the profess
sion is dependent mainly upon one
anatomical character, viz, the length
of the vocal chords. This prime char
acter is supported and reinforced by
number of subsidiary qualities, but
it constitutes in itself the indisput-
able claim which women have to SUI
periority over men as telephonists.
The vocal chords of woman are
considerably shorter than those of a
man. AS result the voice has n
higher pitch. The telephone dia-
phragm responds more accurately TO
the higher pitched voice, the mag
netic disturbances are more rapid,
and, therefore, more potent, and the
currents transmitted to the remote
station lose less in transmission.
Until some method Is devised for
equalizing the value OF the sonorous
waves set up by the longer, slower
vibrating chords of men, and tho
shorter, more rapidly vibrating
chords of women, this primary char.
acter renders women's position So.
cure in the profession of telephonist,
But there are other less importan.
characteristics, which aid in securing
her supremacy. If you listen to an
average woman speaking, and COM
pare her with an average man of her
own class, you will notice the follow
ing among other things: Her enunci-
alton of the words is better. There
is lesser tendency to cut the ends
OF words, or to drop the voice and
humble the Examinations, than Is dis.
played by her male companion. Her
choice of wot6s, too, is better, and
there is n natural purity of diction
that is distinctive. She will use q
larger percentage of the short, crisp
homely Anglo'aaXon words, and show
an avoidance of abstract, Latin-de
rived words. All this helps in con
versation upor a telephone.
In telephone exchanges, too, tn,
nervous organization of women help.
them. They Gse more patient Qe'
telephone subscribers say what the,
willD, and less likely to suffer from
prolonged, mcrotonous work. The,
are not so readily responsive to tn,
effects of nervous strain. Perhaps i
would be better to say they do no
feel nervous strain under circum
stances where the more highly strun,
male becomes nervous and FESTIVE.
These are few of the causes tina
contribute to tie superiority of won
en- as telephon@sts, and it will b.
obvious that tiiey are not likely t,
be ousted unless some new and i'm
portant modification of the telephon
Is invented.
The Postal Union has in it AZ ad
ministrations, End of this number 3
employ women as telephonists. i
addition to this, all the large tele
phone companies in Europe an
America employ women.