The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-03
LONG DISTANCE
 TELEPHONE IS NEW Quarter of Century Since Idea
 Was Perfected II SERVES FOR MANY USES Spread of the Long Distance Tele. phone Has Been Remarkable and World is Now Dependent Upon
 1t in Business.
II SERVES FOR MANY USES

Boston, April 2.-It is a quarter of century since the beginning of long dis tance telephony.
 Before 1879, no tephone message had been transmitted from one city to anoth- CT, and the idea that the sound of the human voice could be carried over wire 40 or 50 miles in length was not gen erally entertained. It was, however, firm ly fixed in the minds of the men who had recently formed the Bell company and they even then predicted that the time would come when the country would be covered by harmonious network of tele- phone wires, and the distance over which conversation could be carried on would be measured by hundreds and thousands of miles bringing the entire population in communication through a single unver- sal system.
 Three years after the invention of Alex ander Graham Bell had been exhibited at the Centennial exposition at Philadelphia and had excited the curiosity of the world, rather a scientific novelty than a practical utility, these men in the New England company authorized the con struction Of line from Boston to Lowell, a distance of 2 miles. When the wire had been strung it was found that they were right in their expectations, and the voice of d person speaking in Bos- ton could be head by the person at the receiver in Lowell. Even then the pub lie failed to grasp the significance of this achievement, and 1t was regarded largely as an experiment until a business transaction, involving several hundred thousand dollars, was brought to suc- cessful contamination by conferences over n. 1.safwu tt, cities. Papers were drawn at Boston agreed to by those present and then read to the parties in Lowell Amendments were suggested and discussed, until the document was satisfactory to all the per sons interested.
 ews Spread Far.
 The news of this transaction spread far and wide and did much to awaken in the minds of business men a realiza- tion of the commercial possibilities of the telephone, while it served to stimu- late the engineers and experts employed by the company in their endeayors to perfect the system Although 1t was pos sible to use the Lowell line for business purposes, the apparatus was crude and imperfect in operation But the beginning had been made on that career of pro- gress in long distance telephony which Is one of the marVels of the modern indus
 
 dent that some better conductor must be found than the iron wire then in use, and within six years from the date of the Lowell experiment hard-drawn copper wire had been made and tested in actual operation, and the ability to con verse over long distances. as the term is understood today has been the result of the use of this medium
 The first experimental line in which copper wire was used was that from Bos- ton to New York, completed in 1884 and this was in turn followed by extensions 10 Philadelphia and other points of com mercial importance that the cities in the eastern section of the country were soon linked together Then the lines were pushed westward, and on October 2l, 1892, Professor Bell, in the presence of company of distinguished electricians and officers Of telephone companies, spoke into a transmitter in the city of New York. and the message was heard in Chicago. Less than three months later on the 7th of the following February Governor William E. Russell of Massa- chusetts, surrounded by group of men prominent in the affairs of the Bay state opened the line from Boston to Chicago and during the Columbian exposition held in the western city later in the year. there were many occurrences which brought home to the minds of the peo- ple the fact that what had been exhb- tied as a toy at the Centennial exposi- tion has become factor of vast import ance in the world of affairs.
 Usefulness Illustrated.
 In what unexpected ways the long dis lance telephone fits into the occurrences or every day life was early illustrated by an incident in the visit of distin- guished educator to the fair. 1t was one or the first and most notable instances ,n which the telephone has been used to locate man visiting a city far from his nome An important matter at Harvard university required the action of Presi- dent Eliot then in Chicago. The resi- dence at which he was a guest was call eu by telephone, only to learn that Presi- dent Eliot had left for the fair few minutes before the message was received and was not expected to return until late m the evening. It was explained to the presidents host that the question was one of emergency and the Chicago man called upon the president of the telephone company Tor assistance. The police de- partment of the fair was at once com municated with by telephone, and by means of the same instrument descrip- tion of President Eliot was given to the guards at the entrance gates. with in- structions that when he entered the grounds he was to be requested to go to the office of the chief of police. Conse- quently, much to the surprise of the head of the university, as he passed the turn stile, an officer approached him, and after