The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1905-04-14
NEW PHONE SYSTEM.


Blacidoot the First Idaho Town tn
Install a Plant.
De Veau Inter-communicating TEL
ephone System! That's pretty long
name, but you call it De Vean (De
Voo) for short. It is q system thar
has just made its appearance in
Idaho within the past week, and
Blackfoot has the honor Of using it
first.
1t was installed by the Pocatello
Electric Supply company under tho
management of L. j. Haddock, the
"Light Doctor" He had the as
sistance of an expert from Salt Lake,
Mr.. Jos. Held, who by the way is q
brother of Mrs. F. R. Jackman who
trims ladies' hats so beautifully at
her millinery parlors on Bridge street
Blackfoot. 1t will do no injury to the
hats nor the De Veau system to
say that Mr.. Held is also brother Of
John Held, the Salt Lake engraver
and band master. With some people
it will make difference when they
are told that the new system was in
stalled at the asylum; but that is
only snap Judgment, for the manage
ment out there is conservative, and
always insists on being shown and
guaranteed, and besides that, it is a
department of great state.
The unique feature about this sys-
TEN is that it requires no Central,
and yet a person can speak to any
part of the system at will. There are
ten 'hones at the asylum, distributed
in ten parts of the building. One in
the Superintendent's office, one in
each ward, the engine room, the kit
chen and the main hall.
If an attendant has trouble and
wants help on the ward, he or she can
summon if from any or all parts Of the
house at once. Pressing one Of the
ten buttons on the switch by the
phone rings the departments connect
ed with the buttons which are touched
and all of them can get the message
at once. If she wishes to call one and
cut out all the others, pressing that
one button does the work. If the
Superintendent wanted to summon the
cook and the engineer to the phone
and let nobody else hear what he said
to them he could do so, or if he want
ed to sit in his Office and talk to an
departments at once, he could do SO
by pressing all the ten buttons at once
and then taking down the receiver and
speaking as with any other phone
When we went to see the novelty
we rang the doctor, but found he was
down town. We then rang the cook
who Immediately responded and in
answer to our question, "Haye you
got any pie?" he said, "Yes, we have
some, 1 think" Then we called the
engineer and asked him if the eccen-
trio had slipped or anything gone
wrong, and he said he was using the
motor and that everything was al
right. Then we pressed button for
one of the urner wards, and lady's
voice answered. In response to our
question as to whether she was hav-
ing trouble with any Of the patients
she said, "WEy, no sir. Not now.
One of them was giving some trouble
but she is composed now." We learn
ed that this system Of ten phones
cost the state $4,000, and that such
a system is used by the Keith-O o 'Brien
company in their department store at
Salt Lake, the Utah Light & Power
company AMI several hospitals. 1t
seems to be adapted to the use Of
large buildings or many buildings
situated close together, sucn as uni
versities, hotels, school houses Of
many departments, factories and
mines. Thoughts can be tossed to
any part Of the system, and answers
received in quiet, easy way, and, to
the ,uninitiated, it is all as wonderful
and maccountable as is prayer to the
ifneR He who would get the bene-
the system has only to press the
bd and speak, but pressing the
buttonSs as much requisite as faith
is in prayer. Just what the pressure
on the button really does, is not Of
SO much Importance to the operator,
, SO long as he does it; nor the particu-
lar effect Of faith is not 50 import
ant to the Christian 30 long rs he
has it; it is the one who lacks this
that gets into trouble and fails to
connect. 1t impressed us as being
a step nearer to Divinity, greatly in
creasing mans sphere Of action here,
and when we returned to town We
learned that Mr.. Haddock had just
taken an order from Brown h Eld-
redge to put in such system in their
stores on Main and Bridge streets.