New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-14

total Belle Plaine with its surrounding territory.
has about ten thousand inhabitants Thus there
is a telephone to every two families, and it Is pos
sible to get nearly any ore over the telephone.
The rural lines and instruments are usually owned
by the farmers themselves. In getting some Of
these rural lines started, business men OF the town
took stock in the constructing company, simply
to have the lines built, because enough farmers
would not become Interested. But the lines had
been in operation only a short tine when the
farmers bought up the stock.
"On these lines n@mber Of instruments.
times thirty or more, arc connected with single
wire. Each subscriber has a different ring,
call and the wires in use nearly all the time,
OF course. any subscriber pick up his receiver
any time and hear whatever conversation may
be going on over the line This unfortunately. has
led to eavesdroppng and has resulted in
neIghborhood quarrels.
The toll lines are direct wires from one village
or town to another. ana, like steam railways. are
used for through business. These are the most
profitable lines. The telephone business differs
from almost any other. in that the larger the num-
Der of instruments installed. the greater the pro-
portiorate cost Per instrument. In enter
prises the larger the establishment CUP to certain
point the smaller the pro2ortionate cost of the
units of machinery. The unexpected growth Of
the Belle PLANE exchange has been a great sur
prise. and has prevented It, SC far. from paying
dividends, for all the profits have been necessary
Ia increase the capacity Of the system. The rapid
increase in cost caused partly by tho duplica-
lions necessary In the switchboard and partly by
the fact that the number of operators required en-
the switchboard increased faster than the num-
Der of instruments in the exchange The larger
, the number Of telephones, the is made
of each one and subscribers are learning to use
the telephone more and
Nearly every day inVents or discovers
for It. one day the girl at Central re-
ceived this message: Hello, Say Central. I have
put the receiver Of the phone in the babys cradle.
and if she wakes up and cries call me up at No.
n
1T must have been an unusually absent minded
woman who sent in the rcssage Oh Central!
Ring me up in fifteen minutes that I won't
forget to take the bread out of the oven
IF some one finds it necessary to take a night
train the operator at the exchange will receive
some such message as this: Central ring ND
half hour before the 2l7 train in the morning.
See if it's late before you call me. please.
GO into the exchange during a rush period
say at o'clock IN the morning-and you viii see
the telephone girl stand up, push her chair into
a corner and throw the Plugs with which con-
nections are made as fast as her fly FOR
an hour at a stretch. All she will have time to
say you will be Every woman IN town is order
ing things for dinner
There are about thirty subscribers who are
called regularly every morning by the telephone
instead Of by an alarm clock. The Central girl
is supposed to know the time OF all railway trains
and, II a train happens to be late how many min
utes behind time. She is often asked the time OF
day, because one has let the clock run down.
When there is an alarm Of fire. Central is sup
posed to know where 1t is. The exchange is just
across the street from the fire house. and fire
alarms often teephoned into the saving OF
valuable time
Toward the end Of a long. cold drive a raw
autumn day 1 was met the gate by farmer
friend with the words: Come right in. The wife
has some hot coffee ready for you. We knew you
were coming. Miss Rankin seen you go by, and
she just telephoned to US