Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1904-01-28

Mr.. Mulford is practical telephone
man who for several years has given
special attention to the promotion of
rural telephone lines. His remarks
were listened to with deep interest by
the large audience and evoked gener-
GUS applause:
Five world-moving inventions,-the
printing press, the steam engine, the
iron plow, the cotton-gin, and the
electric telegraph, each pioneer in
it's own field,-for time gave to the
names of Gutenberg, Watts, Rogers,
Whitney, and Morse, prestige far
above all other men of creative
thought having to do with the intro
duction Impractical helps to human pro-
gress. They were fore runners whose
efforts prepared the way for the COM
ing of greater. We accord them
praise unstinted, for they were
the leaders of a vast multitude
of constructive geniuses whose
inventions have added depth,
and breadth, and force, to the great
gulfstream of civilization. And we
detract not from the honor in which
they are held, when we evidence our
profound appreciation of that climax
of human achievement, the Telephone,
the greatest of all inventions, be-
cause it is the effective and benificent
helper of them all. When, in the
course of time, usefulness has becom e
the gauge by which collective man
measures greatness, then, | am sure,
the name of Alexander Graham Bell,
inventor ofthe Telephone, will illumi-
nate the keystone of the arch of fame.
Man is alive to the extent that he
brings things to pass AS | study the
telephone problem, with its constant
ly widening horizon of usefulness, my
enthusiasm increases ! do not know
of any good thing that it will not help,
nor any bad thing that it may not be
used to hinder.
The Telephone has a Commercial
Value. The business of this day could
not be conducted without it. No
longer does the buyer or the seller go
or send a man, or else waste precious
time while the locomotive carries his
order to the distant dealer Time,
space, mountains, valleys and plains,
vanish when the man of trade rings in
to his Immediate presence the buyers
and sellers of the land. Even the tele-
graph has become too slow. Whether
the telephone be in the farmhouse,
city Office or factory, and whatever the
message the result is the same. All
can have their say. The telephone
speaks all Languages. 1t is no re-
specter OF persons-in this regard
being distinctively American.
The Telephone has Social Value. -
Isolation not only prevents intellect
ual and spiritual development, but it
impoverishes mind and soul. Man
must be companionable in order to be
valuable to himself The telephone in
the rural home not only puts neighbor
In touch with neighbor, but compells
them to be neighborly. Nothing
ever devised will tie the tongue of a
gossip so fast and sure as telephone
wire. 1t locates the evil and publicity
does the rest.
The Telephone has q Religious
Value.-The Common Law of the tele.
phone service agrees with the Divine
Command, "Thou shalt not take the
name of the Lord thy God in vain.''
1t induces polite as we'll as clean and
correct speech. Pastors are learning
that it is a great saver of man and
beast. Also that they can enter the
homes of their people easiest and often.
est, when their work demands, by its
aid.
The Telephones Life Saver.-To
me this seems the most significant
point that can be raised in calling your
attention to few of the multituden-
Gus phrases of the telephones utility.
recall the case of Farmer Chamber
lain, whose place is five miles from
Ramona, N. Y, and in whose house q
young woman by mistake took a kill
ing dose of poison, while doctoring a
cold. A moment later Mrs. Chamber
lain was talking with DR.. Lawrence in
his office at Ramona; he quickly told
her what to do in the emergency,
and when the doctor got to the farm
house with foaming horse, he found
the patient not only alive but out o.
danger. Had it not been for that tele
phone she would not have lived ter
minutes. In view of the physica
dangers that haunt mankind, il
seems criminal came near saying il
is ian unpardonable sin, ,''-for those
who can do SO, not to provide them
selves with this necessary means O
quick communication. Out in the
rural sections it may not be conven
lent to have a telephone in every
home-but it is possible to have al
least one in every neighborhood.
The Telephone is the best Fire Alarm
ever devised. By it help can quickly
be summoned.
When a contagious disease aff1icts {
home the telephone is not subject II
quarantine. Some time ago l was con
versing with Mr.. Thu Van Ness, in hi
general store at Lambs Greek, Pa.
when the telephone bell rang and b,
excused himself to answer the call.
smallpox epidemic was prevailing il