The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-09-22
Profanity
at the
Telephone
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The Court of Appeals of Iowa is
reported to have decided that tele-
phone company cannot refuse to
provide service for householder be-
cause he swears at the operator, or
apparently, because he is in the hab-
it Of eavesdropping on party lines,
says the New York Sun. The text
of the decision is not at hand and
its full effect therefore cannot b.
stated but evidently the company Is
declared to be without power as q
censor of the language and manners
of its customers. What recourse
telephone operator assailed with in
decent, violent or profane language
would have the newspaper dispatches
do not set forth. 1t might be In
prosecution for disorderly conduct
threats and even assault. For the
creature who listens to conversations
over the line he uses, boiling IN
mush is not too severe a punishment.
The temptation to profane and
violent language over the telephone
Is felt and acknowledged even by
those strong men who resist 1t. why
is the number busy at the moment
when we want to arrange for To-
morrowis picnic? Probably 1t ISM
at all; that lazy girl is simply neg
lecting us and flirting with some clerk
over the wire. Then comes strong
language a relief for the feelings,
it may be. but we have been inform
ed that 1t reaches the ears not OF
the operator for whom 1t is intended
but Of callous person whose sole
duty 1t is to listen to the abusive
outbursts of irate customers.
There was once a popular series
of stories of "flirtatious operators.
What basis had these yarns? we
never encountered an operator VINO
was other than coldly businesslike
Our instructive THANK you!' is cut
in halves by the pulling of a plug
or lifting of jack, or whatever me-
chanical action disconnects the wire.
"Will you please"-we begin when
our watch has run down. ASK IN
formation" comes over the wire with
a decorousness that is anything but
enticing. 81 am much obliged is
cut off in the flower of its polite
youth by the final click. 1t may De
that our voice is not attractive 10
the Young woman at the central OIL
flee.
AS for swearing at telephone op-
orator, 1t belongs in the same class
with kicking the door on whlch
night cropping householder has bang
ed his head The instinct to such
useless acts goes deep into human
history. Professor THlSANDIHAl
asserts that it is a survival from
that stage of development in when
each rock, tree, river, pool and noun
tain had it's spirit to be propitiated
or punished as the victim of its gooi
will or malice believed discreet. But
who has not longed "to take 1t out
| of the transmitter and receiver when
| the essential guest blandly INFORM
ed him from twelve miles away, just
as the butler was announcing DIN
ner, that, "he had been forced TO
change his plans and couldn't get
over tonight? OF course profanity
is never defensible, but men are
weak. Let the man of the house
| send his wife to the telephone when
the guests are arriving. She does
not swear, though only Heaven knows
how she restrains herself from hot
words thousand times a day.
There are, of course, timid souls
who are valorous at the other end
of seven miles of wire. These are
they who, having got a number they
did not want, arrogantly tell the
man who has risen from his easy
chair to answer the jingling bell
to "ring off, in tone that conveys
their conviction that he is disturb
ing them on purpose, and that they
would punch his head gladly could
they reach him: but to such pro-
family is of no avail. Answer them
calmly; give your full name, business
address and home address; remark
that you win be at any spot at any
hour that may suit their convent
ence; declare that you are out OF
condition, but still willing to have a
90 with any person who boasts his
prowess from a safe distance; and
add that the determination of muck
ers is a subject of the deepest inter-
est to the man who keeps his tenn
per and his decent manners when
telephoning.
| INDIANS, SUDDEN WEALTH..