The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-08-22
The Telegraph.

Paper Read Before the ChautduQua Circle.
The United States has the proud dis
of being the originator of the
telegraph and the telephone. They
have become entirely Indispensable in
our everyday commercial life. The
original telegraph instrument has un-
derwent many changes, but the Morse
code remains the same. Originally
messages were transmitted on tape and
then translated, causing long delays
and much tedious work. This soon
gave way to the sound method, and to-
day person fling a Frisco message in
New York, if business is working un-
der normal conditions, knows that this
telegram will reach its destination in
from three to eight minutes. The i'm
vention of the duplex and quadruplex
has made it possible for telephone
and telegraph instrument to be worked
simultaneously en- the same wire.
Now this might not sound reasonable
and cannot give the technical details,
but positive and negative battery is
used. These two currents will not in-
terfere with each other if properly bal
anced and equalized; this is obtained
by rheOstat made up of many coils
of German silver.
To man wire duplexed, two men, a
tender and receiver at each terminal,
are required. A guarded wire is di-
vided into common and polar side
and four men at each terminal are re-
quired, two senders and two receivers.
might add TO make this more COM
prebensive that an electric current
passes around the wire and not thru
as some may think. Most OF the tele-
graph fraternity obtain their knowl-
edge of this trade early in life. His
school is the city Office as check boy,
or the local depot as messenger boy.
This is peculiar fact, the younger a
boy learns the better operator he be-
comes. After the age of eighteen or
twenty it becomes harder and harder
to acquire, and the best operators are
those who gained their knowledge rum
ming messages.
OF the telegraph fraternity there are
| two classes. The railroad and the
commercial. The railroad operator as
d rule never becomes first-class man.
He does not have the practice; a good
share of his work is clerical. His hours
are from seven until seven night and
day. His salary ranges from $4,000 to
$75 90; this depends on his location
and his ability. The train dispatcher
draws the best salary of any of the
railroad fraternity which ranges from
$1,000 to $4,000 per month for eight
hours work. This position is only
filed with the very best of men. He
directs and is responsible for every
train on his division. assure you on
a single track road his responsibilities
are great indeed and takes very COO
and careful man.
In the commercial world there are
few divisions. In the heavy relay Of
fees the salary ranges from $4,000 tC
$95 90 per month, in addition most OF
the important wires are "bonused.'
/ After q man has handled certain
number of messages per hour be re-
ceives one cent for each additional
message handled during that hour, the
limit may be thirty-one messages. A
really good man can handle fifty tt
sixty messages per hour, and mar
working this system averages abou
$500 per day bonus the year around
this in addition to his regular salary
Those of the day force work nine hours
with no Sunday work. If compelled
to work Sundays they are paid over
time. Seven aud half hours cOnsti
|. tute day for the night force, bu
these men earn many hours overtime
Their day starts at or $50 p. 10. AM
: ends as the business demands.
There is the broker operator; thi
!, position requires good man with tn
chalk. He must be fast and accurate
His hours range from $50 a. m. to nc
!, ster than p. m. His salary range
iron $500 to $4,000 per week. He
exempt from duty on all legal hol
D days. He works only when the diffel
: ent boards of trade hold session
There is the newspaper operator;