The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1909-08-19
AUTOMATIC
TELEPHONES
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rather than wait until the subscriber
may force its use upon the owner?
There are features about the auto
matte system which render it extreme
ly popular. In every place | visited
| made extended inquiry of subscribers
and found that % per cent of the sub
scribers were extremely well satisfied
and more than 80 per cent of the sub
scribers preferred the automatic to
the manual. The majority of the 9th
ers were neutral and not over 3 or 3
per cent preferred the manual to the
automatic. | would also say that in
every instance where ! visited cities
with automatic exchanges the manual
exchange was giving service equal to
the best service obtainable upon the
manual system. and this made the
comparison severe.
Therefore ii is safe to say that the
automatic telephone is entirely ac-
ceptable from the subscribers stand
point and that in the majority of cases
the subscriber would consider it an i'm
provement over a well-conducted ma
nUal system. One reason for this is
that wherever the automatic systems
have been installed individual lines are
used in the majority of cases and in
the minds Of the subscribers greater
secrecy prevails than when connection
is made through an operator. 1t
goes without saying that an individual
line renders more private service than
a party line, but from my observation
of automatic exchanges owing to the
facility with which an operator can
connect in on an automatic switch
any and all conversations going over
the line can be heard by the operator.
This is fundamentally essential and
SIMPLY emphasizes the extreme fleXibil
ity of the automatic apparatus.
In summarizing, therefore, I would
say that;
First, it is my believe that the Au-
tomato Electric Company of Chicago
has an adequate plant to manufacture
and will continue the manufacture of
equipment which they now
supply and that in the future it will
be possible to obtain additional auto
matte apparatus to make the neces |
sary extensions and repairs to an au-
tomato plant
Second, that from an engineering
point of view the automatic switch
board and automatic telephone are
now sufficiently perfected to perform
the function of selecting, connecting, !
calling and disconnecting one subscrib- !
er with any other subscriber of the
same group accurately, promptly and
they are durable and
not expensive to operate and maintain. |
Third, from the standpoint of the
that the automatic telephone |
is more popular than the manual and |
that as years go on the difficulty of |
good operators will increase |
In connection with this statement, | |
would call attention to the report of |
the Butte, Hont., telephone company, |
the statement is made that |
their operators were paid $50 90 per |
month. The tendency to pay oper-
ators higher prices will be greater as
The years go on, The public will be-
come more critical in regard to the
service and better class operator will
pc necessary The popularity of the
may become so great with
he public that they will insnst upon
is installation by the owners of the
telephone company.
Fourth, that with good management
md care to keep down the first cost
# original installation and maintain
he present income per phone, the saw
ng in maintenance and operation of
he automatic telephone over the ma
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