Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-06-03
TELEGRAPHERS
 MAY NOT STRIKE Believed Differences With the Western Union Com pany Will Be Adjusted Within a Short Time.
AUTOMATIC MACHINE
1t Is Claimed Young Girls at Small Wages Can W6rk Them-PreSi- dent Small of Unien Says "It Is to Laugh"

New York, June 1.-Strike clouds which have been lowering over the offices of the Western Union Telegraph Company for some weeks seem to have been almost dissipated tonight, and there was dearth of war talk from headquarters of the union.
 Investigation developed that explan- alton of this condition and of the sur prising independence and indifference of the Western Union officials to the strike talk could be traced largely to the new machine for the transmission and receiving of messages which is rapidly being installed by the Western UBion.
 While the machine is not absolute 1y new and has been used experiment. ally for some time, it is said that it's real value has not been made apparent until the present crisis between the operators and the company, and it is only within the last few days that the possibilities of the machines and it's frequent use of telegraphy have been appreciated by members of the opera tors union.
 Automatic Machine.
 The machine, which is known as the Barclay, named after John Bar clay, vice president of the company and it's inventor and former owner, obviates the necessity of trained op- orators, any person capable of operat- ing an ordinary typewriter being quail flied to use the machine, which, it is claimed, works with greater accuracy and speed than can possibly be at tained by the most skilled operator.
 Though the existence of the machine has not been secret, little attention has been paid to it by the operators, who have been generally under the impression that it was in too imper- feet state to be considered factor. Officials of the Western Union. how ever, it is said, have appreciated the importance of the machine, and it is their confidence in it's possibilities that has been responsible for their self-as- surance in the present situation.
 Mr. Barclay, who sold his patent to the Western Union, claims that the use of the machine will result in a 5S per cent reduction of operating eX- penses, while the efficiency of the ser
 
 Girls Can Do Work.
 The saving in expense comes from the fact that girls paid from S6 to $S week can do the work of operators who average $30 The process is sim pie to look at A message is taped off on what looks like an ordinary typewriter. Through this machine runs tape, and on this the letters Of the Morse code are impressed in dots and dashes. The tape is then run through an electrical machine, by mitted at the receiving end of the line directly on a typewriter.
 It is claimed that with twenty ma chimes already installed in the New York office one e-seventh of the com pany's business is now conducted by the machines.
 An order for 800 more Barclays has been placed, to be installed in offices over the entire system.
 Members of the telegraphers union do not accord MT. Barclays invention all the virtues claimed for it. They as sert the machine is by no means per feet Admitting that it Will transmit as rapidly as claimed for it in fair weather, they assert that on rainy days or hot days, when the wires eX- pand. the machine can not be regulat- ed to meet weather conditions and be- come useless
 Laughs at Idea.
 President Small of the Photographers union has rdieuled the idea that the new Barclay machine can play any part in the threatened strike
 We recognize he said, that the day of the automatic machine is com ing. But the Barclay has not been perfected to the point where it can be substituted for regular operators. ln- telligence is required in telegraphins and that no automatic machine has When the automatics are perfected foa regular work We propose to regulate the salaries to be paid operators. The girls who are working the machines now being used are members of the union
 We do not believe any strike will