The St. Louis Republic., 1904-12-18
BUSIEST HOUR OF THE YEAR
is JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS.
This Fact Is the Long Distance Telephone Which
Pirtur"sltlv Business and Social CusomSFuc
tuat ion of Calls" a Blromet er of Commercial Life.

Boston Dec IT.-with the coming OF
tho holiday season. there comes the time
when the great army o. the telephone op-
orators prepare :o- the hardest work OF
the yea. cor during December It se"Ts
H. z everybody ws-. ''on the wire.
Probably the busiest hour OF the SO:
hours o! The year. occurs IN the Telephone
eXchaI ges between u and Il o'clock on
tho saturday before Christmas. and that
IS tsatamount TO saying ;hat this IS tia
busiest hoGr OF Tho YEAR III the business
world
There &. 10 be sure. a likelihood. IN
some sections Of ihe country that sim
liar hour on The day before Thanksgiving
may havo shown as many calls rushing
into the busy exchanges
lt's toss Up. IN many cities, 10 say
those who have II in hand TO compile sta
t.st:cai charts covering the subject. wheth-
er the people Use the telephone most ex-
tensiveiy for ordering Thanksgiving tur-
keys o. for calling the department stores
10 ask about Christmas presents.
Undoubtedly. however. taking the coun-
Try az large. Christmas has the call over
the Puritan harvest festival
Everybody during the holiday s-asou
seems 20 be calling up everybody else with
the result that the weary operators look
forward eagerly 10 the lull which occurs
in every exchange after the first Of Jan
uary.
For the rush OF business does rot cease
with the night before Christmas.
There is. Of course. big drop in The
number OF calls on the festal day i,sel.
only TO be followed BY jump during tbs
next week while everybody is present ac-
knowledgtng the receipt OF presents.
BAROMETER OF COMMERCE.
The fiuctuation OF telephone calls is. IN
fact, an interesting barometer Of the ups
and downs Of commercial life in American
cities not only In the holiday season. bu;
throughout the year, and the sheets On
which the variations of traffic are plotted
in curves of red and black. after the man
ner of modern stattstic!ans. are fascinat-
ing documents Whose can read them
correctly may certainly trace in them
something Of current history from week
to week. from month to month.
AS he follows the general curvature OF
line rises through the autumn months in
a great swelling curve to nigh peak
JUST before Thanksgiving: then drops Il
iittie ONLY to MOUNT a.,tIn a. nigh ~, ~ ese,i
a .
the holiday season the load stays well up.
then says a little through January and
February when people are going about
their daily occupations sobered utter the
excitement of New Years time. Towards
the close OF Lent, in the days before
Easter. the curve ascends and IL high
through April. continuing upward uni
just before people begin to go ava? Tor
the summer
Then there comes sudden drop and
the average number OF calls through July
and August may, be equal to scarcely
more than one third. OF one-fourth OF
those II the height o: the winter season;
Tho lowest point ia ordinarily reached
in the first week in August when the
Tass.on season is at ,cl It's height fjo5. ~.
volume OF telephone traffic mean that
for MAN. hours in a day and for many
months in the year every telephone cen
trail office has 20 maintain large equip
ment than IS necessary 10 handle the
average OF business.
In planning their exchanges. the en-
gtneers o: the Bell system ascertain M tht
business hours OF the year and that de.
termines how large the switchboard must
be and how many persons must be EN-
ployed for It is a hard and fast policy OF
be answered with the same dispatch
whether they are coming thick ana Iasl
during the busy hours or whether they
are flowing more slowly through the ex-
change
SERVICE IS GENERAL
II the telephone companies could lei
their patrons wait and take their turn II
talking over the wire during thess rush
hours It would mean a saving OF many
millions Of dollars now invested IN the
plant But that. OF course. Is not the
American practice. and millions are spent
TO make the service as efficient in the
busiest hours of the year as It is wheI
the calls are few and far between.