The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

Information" gives it up. She is wise in many things, even in household affairs. but she isn't living cookbook.
 A great many questions that the wisest of sages couldn't answer offhand are posed to the patient young person in the telephone exchange whom the world seems to think omniscent. She is as- signed to her place in the clearing house of talk so that the public shall have ac- cess to information about the telephone service which the busy operators at the regular switchboards cannot be eXpectAl to possess and which they couldn't take the time to impart if they had it without seriously hindering traffic. Her equip ment consists in part of lists of all the subscribers stations connected with her exchange carefully arranged by names, by numbers, and. in large cities, By street addresses. too-lists that are corrected daily to include the very last telephone put in and the latest assignment of num- bers, covering the changes made neces- sary by subscribers moving their offices and homes or giving up party-line ser vice for a special line, or a dozen other causes. The rest of her equipment con sists Of specific knowledge of many things acquired in the course of her work many things not supposed to come into her work at all. strictly speaking, being in no way concerned with the telephone serviee-and imparted to the public with that uniform courtesy and clearness that are exacted of employees by all good tel ephone companies.
 But the questions that come up to her! Many an exchange manager gets now and then a feeling that the public abuses it's privilege of putting all sorts of queries to Central; though, of course, the great 1ai iofitV of iDtprrDoa tiOnc in reality sensible and serious. Simply there are persons in all communities who don't realize that q young woman sitting at a desk in the telephone exchange cannot be expected to tell them everything they happen to want to know on any conceV able subject She is there primarily to facilitate the telephone service, not to satisfy idle curiosity.
 Recently one of the Bell companies in an examination of it's service. had a record kept for a few weeks of the CO., nundrums propounded to "Information" in the principal exchange of a city of about 100000 inhabitants. The result showed, for one thing, what valuable convenience to telephone users the in- formation operator Is. for on the average one call in each hundred is ''up to her. Most of the inquiries were perfectly com prehensble, even if large proportion of  phone. But the investigation referred to revealed an almost unbelievable lack of understanding on the part of some pebble of what can be expected of i"Central' with reason and propriety. For exam- pie:
 "I want man-dont know his name or what street he is on, but he has a pay station, and l should think you ought to know where 1t is,'' said one of "Informa- saft har Ia that any one would really expect an answer to this implied question, yet de- mands as vague as that are not so un- common in the exchange as one might suppose. A great proportion, indeed, of the absurd queries are of this sort. Not infrequently the inquirer appears to be in one of those states of bewilderment that come now and then to most of us, and at such time Information occurs as a person who can possibly assist-as in the case of this distressed lady: "Infor- nation, can you help me out? told a dressmaker on W avenue, l would call her up, and I have forgotten her name, number and everything else.' Another of the same character is: Information, l want to get some people, and I don't know their names or number. You go out to the end of the D. avenue line and take the road that turns to the left, and they live up on the highlands. Can you tell me who they are?' Still other examples of vagueness of inquiry are these:
 Have you telephone on H. avenue that the call number is or the last number is 6?"
 q want two numbers on T. street. One is upstairs and the other is down.
 "Glve me the number of the best gro- cery store on S. street"
 Whats the number of new tele- phone on O. street,"
 Give me Mrs. Cook on e. avenue: the telephone is in her fathers name"
 That, in fact. information" is person. ally acquainted with everybody in town seems to be assumed frequently by those who resort to her assistance. One sub scriber wants to know ''the name of the fat man in Greenwood cemetery" An other would like to discover if State At torney W is in the city today. Still an- other inquiries for a local "poetess whose first name begins with e. One demands Give me the name of hair dresser where you don't have to make an ap- pointment, and give it to me quick, too" It is something of poser to "Inforn1a- ton to have to reply to-"Do you know Mi. King whose coachman Is B col ored man?" Sometimes the subscriber who is behind such interrogations gets mad because Information" cannot come to his aid
 Misapprehension indeed, as to the par ticular kind Of information the young woman at central is supposed to pur- vey leads to great many questions as to matters that are quite outside the pale of the telephones legitimate busi- ness. One person, for example, wants to know if law has lately been enacted against sending souvenir postal cards by mail Another seeks guidance as to which playhouse has the best show on for given night Some seems to suppose that the exchange is a kind of municipal lost articles department, for a typical question is Information, please tell me the number to call to lind something that we lost" Another of the same kind is this: "Can you tell me if a little round black purse was found in the car going to w Thursday night?'' Again requests have been registered for the telephone company to remove dead animals
 One man would like to find out when he can become voter, another how soon he can have glass of whisky sent up to his room The population of various American cities is frequently called for. Requests for telephone numbers in Lon don or Berlin are not Gnknown, for