Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-27
TELEPHONE AS A NECESSITY
NUMBER OF CALLS DOUBLE
DURING BAD WEATHER.
Plays a Big Part in Business Life
Of the City-Growth
In Thirty Years.

1t would be hard to imagine what would
happen to the business and social life OF
the National capital if the number OF
telephones in use We're suddenly reduced
to seventy-eight, and the difficulties or
manipulation were Increased many fold.
Yet that was the situation March. 1879.
The National Telephone Exchange had
Just been opened with seventy-eight SUB
scribers and the man who had a teie-
phone in his place of business was looked
on as a compromise between a plutocrat'
a. genius and a dreamer of dreams A
civil service examination was almost nee
essary in those days in order TO use
telephone. There were bells and red sig
nails and voluminous printed directions
for handling the strange instrument, ana
about 30 per cent of the population was
skeptcal Of its utility, anyhow.
To have a telephone service at your
disposal in that day was just about as
though some company We're to come be.
fore the public now and offer YES,
pocket wireless outfit with which any
man. anywhere. could call up any of his
acquaintance who were similarly equip
ped. In fact, the public would be much
more likely to take stock in SUCH q
scheme now than it was to back talking
over a wire IN the early Gays.
Becomes a Necessity.
But the fact is that the telephone has
entered the scheme Of modern American
Efe now to such an extent that 1t is no
longer a luxury or convenience, but a
necessity.
The growth Of the telephone busineO
here has been surprising through out.
hut 1lo
in the past few years. When the tele-
phone was introduced. 1879, it was only
the very busy and. perhaps, the credulous
who risked the experiment. The news
and they were all down on the first list.
The Associated Press and two bureaus
OF New York dailies were also on the list.
Some of the leading hotels and the more
progressive business houses, two or three
physicians and lawyers and the like were
represented.
The Executive Mansion and the Treas
ury Department were the first of the
federal departments TO adopt the innova-
ton. There was one telephone STATION
in the Capitol, noted in the list of sub
scribers as being "in the corridor, near
the secretary Office Naturally. Dr.
Alexander Graham Bell. the Inventor of
the telephone. had one in his house, but,
aside from that, the telephone in a prl-
vate residence was almost unheard of.
Public Realizes Utility.
It did not take long for the public to
realize the utility of the strange inven-
ton. The newspapers of the day de-
voted many news paragraphs to the novel
use of the telephone. and so it's fame
spread.
Even with manifest advantages. the
growth of the system was slow the first
N ~
instruments In the city. This crept up
to 2,1O6 in 1898 when the message rate
was inaugurated. On this basis the sub
scriber would get 600 calls a year for
S66. The rate now is $50, but that is only
a detail. 1t was after the present CEN
fury had turned the corner that the tele-
phone, as necessary adjunct to the
private house, began to take rank with
the bathtuh. From 1o.Sp telephones In
1904. the number jumped to 21,2O0 in
1906. At present there are $1,000 in use
i'm Washington. and the number is grow
ing considerable faster in proportion than
the population Of the city.
Big Part in Business.
The immense part that the telephone
plays in business life Is realized, of
course, by the big stores and by the tele-
phone company, but it probably does not
occur to the average householder. In
the present Christmas rush the store tele-
phones were worked overtime every min
ute that the stores were open. In fact
in many of the stores the bulk of the
business Is done over the telephone. The
bad weather just before Christmas kept
thousands of people at home and off the
down town streets. but it had little eff
feet on the bulk OF business done. In one
big grocery establishment last week the
store was practically deserted. for the
Indictment
and the delivery wagons were working at
high pressure. Asked how that was.
one of the managers replied, phone
orders. Nobody will come down here to-
day If he can help it. but we do just
as much business by telephone"
The telephone company officials say
that switchboard business increased regu-
iarly with the incemency OF the weather.
A decidedly bad day will double the aver
age number of calls and an exceptionally