The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1908-03-26
Railways Are TO Use Phone In
Place of Telegraph After
March 4.
OPERATORS TO BE LET QUIZ
clock Signals Also VIII Be In
stalled and Many Small
Stations Closed

A new Geld OF employment for Won
en- Is 10 be opened by the railways
This does not mean that the roads VIII
employ women felegrdphers, but on the
contrary their employment Will be for
the purpose Of taking the place OF tele-
graphers already IN the service The
future woman railway operating en-
pIoye win be engaged At the smaller
stations taking train orders over tele-
phone. where formerly such orders s'ere
transmitted and received by telegraph
This new field will be open 10 women
when the new nine-bour day law gov
erning the working time OF railway
telegraphers goes into effect on
March i.
II was confidently expected that this
law would work a revolution IN railway
operation. and IT was with this end in
view that the Order Of Railway Tele-
graphers procured rs passage despite
the determined opposition Of the rail-
way managers and even against advice
direct from the White House The lev
olution is coming. all right, but II will
be a revolution which VIII relegate the
telegraph to a back seat as an adjunct
to railway operation and wiz throw
thousands OF operators out OF employ
ment and annually will decrease their
number until they will almost disap-
pear from American railways
II was expected that the reduction
in the working hours Of railway tele-
grspbers TO nine hours would compel
the railroads to employ at least 5000
additional men at once It was also
known that 1t would be impossible TO
secure this number Of men when need
ed. and 1t was therefore hoped by the
men that an increase In wages would
~ a part Of the revolution planned
Changes TO Result.
The railway managers at first took
similar view OF the situation, but IL
soon vas discovered that II would BE-
impossible to supply the demand IL all
existing telegraph Offices were to De
! maintained after March /. AS a re-
suit Of q careful study OF the situation
} the nlne-hour day for telegrapbers viii
; bring about the following changes:
i. The abandonment Of all stations
as telegraph stations except division
headquarters and functional points
2 The substitution Of telephones for
the receipt and the transmission Of or
ders and messages
3. The employment Of women as
agents In many stations thus trans
/ formed into telephone stations
4. The transaction Of a tremendous
amount OF office business by ler-e<
which formerly was transacted BY tele-
graph
8. The rapid extension OF the auto
matte electric block signal system,
which will make telegraph stations un-
Necessary
! In determining TO inaugurate these
: changes the railway managers found
/ that they had in reality been preparing
, for them for years 1t was discovered
D also that by adopting the most expen-
! sive system OF block signaling train
2 orders and telegraph stations could for
the greater part be done away with
The railroads, therefore. decided that
they would rather spend millions in
providing and maintaining automatic
block signals which never go TO sleep
and which never fail unless they spell
$ danger" than to spend the same
b money In maintaining telegraph sta
5 lions and telegraph operators The
!, closing OF stations as telegraph stations
+ is made possible by the fact that with
e an automatic electric signal al that il
; necessary is to start trains as fast rs
r the terminal block Is empty and keep
n them going until a semaphore says
h stop"