Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-05-22
Hoods
The standard blood-purifying medicine.
In usual liquid or new tablet form.
SarsapariIIa
A TELEPHONE TALK,
interesting illustrated Lecture at EIks
Club Last Evening.

<ht lHt nan OF augusta Lodge. II. L
.. T., last evening large attendanc,
of members and invited guests enjoyed
| a most interesting and instructive lee.
| ture by DR.. H. NJ. Fail b INKS of the New
England Tel. Co, his subject being
The History and Development of the
| Telephone"
In pant he said that it takes months
| OF the time Of hundreds of skilled me-
chanics to build such switchboard as
the large exchanges require. A 10000
line board, which is the largest size
consists of several million parts In il
there ere 1000 miles of wire more than
1900, 900 soldercd connections ana Il Got
incandescent electric lights each hard
ly larger i'll diameter than the end of q
lead pencil. The switchboard is only
one Of the several pieces Of intricate
apparatus in the central Office. and in
the others are thousands of miles of
wire and hundreds of separate pieces.
People have all manner Of mistaken
IDEAS about "Central' and her work.
Ihcy often say, tor instance, that they
know better when "Central' tells
them the line is busy. or that nobody
answers. In fact. however. much tn"
easiest thing for the operator to do is
to give the person called for il she can
possibly get them. By the time that
she has found out that a line is busy
or that Il subscriber does not answer,
"Ccntrars' work on a call is three
quart done and it is simpler to fin
ISh the connection whenever she can
turn the switch on your line and report
to You.
When "Ccntrar' tells you a person
does not answer it is only after she has
made several unsuccessful attempts to
get him. Sometimes people forget to
ring off when they are through talking
and that might keep a line waiting os
apparently busy when it was really not
in use.
The talking lines are used to Il ire
men1ouS extent nowadays. The last
census report showed that in the l.
months its figures covered 500, 80 ,.53
conversations passed through the coun-
tryS telephone exchanges. This was
almost Il billion more than all the let
ters that passed through all the govern
ments rostofiiccs. and was consider
ably more than - times the number Of
y.
that period.
Of all Americans, the lecturer declar-
ed. none has benefited more by DR..
Bells ingenuity than the farmer His
property is better protected than ever
before WAS possible, his family is more
comfortably and safely situated. his
anuSemcnts and recrcations are many
times increased. Ten years ago the
telephone was considered a luxury in
the country; nowadays, it is coming to
be regarded as IL necessity there just
as in the city.
Many stories are told Of the ways in
which the telephone saves money for
the farmer. from protecting his crops
by giving him the governments daily
weather predictions to protecting his
profits by keeping him posted on prices
current. When some of the farm ma
chlnery breaks down the damaged part
can be replaced in a day by telcphon-
ing supply house; if there is an ac-
cident. or sudden illness, Il word from
the doctor over the wire may save a
life which could not wait unaidcd for
him to take q long drive. If fire threat
ems. the whole countryside is summon
ed in 4 few moments: tramps and
mdrauders VIGOROUSLY avoid places
to which the telephone wires lead.
The telephone has brought the great
est change to the farmers social life
and his family's though. Impromptu
dances. slciChrides. parties and gath
eringS of every sort are arranged by
wire. The woman of the family no
longer depends for the news of the
world as some one who goes to the
poStoffic" once in two or three days
When her houScWork Is done she calls
up a friend and has a neiEhborly chat
in her spare moments without having
to step outside the door.
The farm telephone has spread trc-
in the past few years.
Thee are already 1170 farmers lines in
the New England Company's system.