Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-01-10

Boston, January 2.-It has been
possible for officers of the warships
at present under repair at the navy
yard to send holiday greetings home
without even as much as bothering to
secure shore leave to go to a tele.
graph Office, for the ARRANGEMENTS
made by the navy department to pro-
vide the squadron now at Charles
town with long distance telephone ia
.cilities have been completed and each
of the big men-of-war has its own
public pay station for the use of the
captain and the members of his star
The pay station is located aft. near
the officers quarters, and all the lien
tenant or the ensign need 20 is drop
In to the booth and call UP central
which in this case is the New Eng
land Telephone and Telegraph COM
panys exchange in Charlestown-
and ask for New York. Chicago Or St
Louis, or any other of the thousands
of points in. the Bell system east of
the Mississippi.
This arrangement is purely for the
convenience of the visiting officers.
AS they may be called, the officers at
tached to the ships stationed tempo
rarily at the yard. and it goes to
show how indispensable the telephone
has become even to men accustomeo
to spend a greater share of their
time af1oat
In a way, this arrangement is the
result of the increasing business of
the yard. The scene at the mouth
of the Charles is particularly pictur-
esque at the present time. In addi-
ton to the impressive display OF
towering white battlements and buff
colored crows nests built OF carry
rapid fire guns, there is the element
of constant activity. Truly there is
something doing at tue old yard.
a good deal more than has been do
ing there for many, years past. Every
pier and dry dock mas it's imposing
cruiser or battleship and every shop
is working under high pressure.
Five of the battleships now in COM
mission are at the yard. the Georgia.
Missouri, Indiana, Rhode Island and
Illinois a powerful meet by them
selves and typical of the new -Svy.'
Besides these there are the cruisers
New York. Nashville and Detroit and
the torpedo training ship Vesuvius.
These last four are out of commits
sion for the present.
Things are done faster. and prob.
ably better, than they were in the
old days. Here is an example OF
this. Until the flood tide of bust
ness struck the Charlestown yard the
telephone was looked upon as lin
tied convenience, while now it has
taken its place among the indispens
able things and become an almost un
limited convenience. There were
plenty of telephones for yard use
formerly, about $50 saltogether. but
when the commandant or the head OF
a department wanted to call up Wash
lngton or New York he had to go to
one OF the yard pay stations, or else
to some station outside the yard al
together.
Finally these busy men realized thai
such an arrangement would never
meet the requirements of the press
of business following the completion
of the mammoth dry dock. 1t would
be more like the twentieth century
century to have direct outside con
nection, they felt; and with the ap
proval of the navy department The
New England Telephone and Tele
graph company took out the 80 tele
phones used by the chief officer ant
department heads and put in new
telephones and an extra switch
board with trunk lines running t
the Charlestown exchange. Since