The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-19
THE FINISH OF
The HELLO GIRL
Phone Operated Without the
Dulcet Voiced Central
Has Reached Chicago.

CHICAGO, Jan. 1S.-The automatic
experimentation hello" girls, with
out slot machines, and without party
lineS-iS about to be installed in Chi
cago, according to the announcement
of the Illinois Telephone and 'Tele-
graph company. Tomorrow gangs of
the company's employees will be set to
work wiring downtown buildings for
the phones, and it is expected that
the work will be completed shortly
President A. G. Wheeler says that TO-
900 automatic secret service" instru-
ments will be in operation by May 1.
While the company has been rapidly
extending it's tunnel for the reception
of the telephone trunk lines, it has
been transforming the building. at ISL
Fifth avenue into an exchange. Here
are tier after tier of curious wired
contrivances crowded together like
book racks in a library. 1t is the do
main from which the central girl has
been dislodged. In a few. days each
of the five floors Of the building will
he turned into one vast automatic
Switchboard, and then the service will
he, ready for operation.
i Private Phones in Operation.
Il For several months the company has
been successfully operating private
service of several dozen telephones
connecting the main office at IA La
lSalle street with the West side factory
of the Automatic Telephone company
and with the different sections of the
subway. The principle Of the device
isSmore mechanical than electrical and
fsfsaid by its owners to be so simple
that no electrician, or even skilled me-
cIfanics have been employed to install
it<and keep it in order.
According to Ahe company's sched-
uIe of charges for it's automatic serv-
ice, the cost of telephoning in Chicago
will be reduced one-half. Five cents
will be the standard price a call for
all instruments, but the contracts will
provide that the maximum charge for
office telephones will be $85 a year
and $50 for residence instruments. The
meter system will control the service
and the subscriber will pay only for
the calls he makes. For example, a.
subscriber will be charged 5 cents q
call on his office instrument till the
bill amounts to $S5 and then all addi
tional calls during the year will be
free The subscriber can have any
number Of telephones in his house or
office but will not be required to pay
a cent for them if he does not use
them. He can go away to the country
fnethe sumnlar or to Europe for a year
and the telephone wills await his re-
turn without running up bill.
How the Device Works.
This is the way the device works:
You find the number you wish to call
say, 572-and you take down the re-
oeiver and turn a ratchet to the three
numerals successfully. Then you press
a button and presently you will get
/ phone 572. AS the ratchet designates
the numbers an automatic arrangement
in the central switchboard turns on the
number required just as the cogs- work
in opening a safe. If phone 572 is
busy, buzzing like the ordinary ''busy
signal" is heard, and the meter of the
calling phone does not register.
The automatic telephones will be in
stalled as rapidly as possible in all drug
stores and other public places where
the slot payment instruments now hold
sway. But there will be no slot ma
chimes, and five cents a call for all mes
sages in the city will be the charge.
Each person making a cali will pay the
druggist, and he will make a profit of
all receipts beyond the $85 "a year he
pays for the phone.
Said to Be Used in Many Cities.
To prove that the automatic tele-
phone is an unqualified success, the
officers Of the company say that q score
of cities of more than $4,000 popula-
ton in this country are now using the
device. At the factory at Van Buren,
and Morgan streets it was stated that
work was being rushed night and day
on switchboards contracted for by q
dozens cities in the Mississippi valley