The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-01-13
THE TELEPHONE.
How the s'HeIIo Girls Handled the
Election Returns-How the Sys-
tenn Helps the Newspapers.

ing thereon has died away. But there
are stories and anecdotes connected with
the campaign that will not die for many
years.
Many of these stories, and perhaps
majority, have to do with the getting OF
returns. Every instrument, every news
getting agency andI every being who.is
directly concerned in getting results on
election day and night :areRkept on the
oui yiye. Press associations, newspaper
correspondents, news tickers, and every
other news-getting agency make supreme
efforts to be first in getting returns be-
fore the public. The extent this COM
petition reaches, the intensity OF the
rivalry and the means employed to get
the results first are hardly believable to
one who has not, directly or Indirectly
been participant.
In the presidential election OF l9OS'
this rivalry was unprecedented. The
utmost efforts were put forth and unusual
" large expenditures OF money were
made to score what in newspaper par
lance are known as "beats." In the
late campaign the plum for the most
efficient, feasible and satisfactory way
of getting complete and authentic re-
turns. went to an agency which a lew
wears ago was considered impracticable
and too expensive,
This agency was the telephone.
Some years ago the telephone COM
panies gave out their bulletins direct IN
the large cities. In the last election
they gave them to the newspapers, who'
in turn. gave them to the public over
the telephone or on screens. In these
large cities extra stations and lines were
installed in newspaper offices without
extra charge. The completeness ana ac-
curacy of the telephone companies oui-
Ietins. taken in conjunction with the
smooth manner in which they '-.nuied
the extra arush OF business, have prompt
ed the various newspapers throughout
the country, who enjoyed the benefit OF
the service, to give liberal credit t" the
telephone companies.
The Philadelphia Times, rev even
ing paper, in expressngits appreciat'oh
saws: "This is the first time we have
received anything without paying TOR II
since we have been in business.
The Baltimore World says: The
(telephone) service was project and en-
ab.ed us to put more complete "ex-
tra,' on the street by eight O'Clock than
ever before
Although the bulletins OF the telephone
company were first at hand In nearly
every instance, the accuracy OF the re-
ports was not sacrificed to OBTAIN TINS
result. In SO far as possible every bui-
let;n was ricidlv censored. Wildcat
guesses, prophecies based on hearsay'
etc. were eliminated. Consequently
the bulletins had real value.
Department heads and traffic officials
of the telephone companies are elated at
the highly successful outcome OF this
rigid test of their SYSTEM. AS result OF
the work it performed, stacks OF letters
are carefully filed in executive ofhces
complimentary to the efficiency OF the
organizations.
Other te sts the telephone has beensuo-
iected to would make interesting read
ing. For instance, during the pennant
winning games al Detroit last fall the
citv was baseball mad. during the
last two weeks of the season the enthus-
iasm of the "fans" was bubbling over
with every game. The climax was
reached on the pennant winning Tues
day, however. The telephone exchanges
were besieged with inquiries.
To prepare for the ncythe tele-
phone companies organized bulletin
squads whose only duties wereto answer
baseball enquiries. The large number
OF young ladies who comprised these
squads ha ndled in some cases over 1OOU
calls an hour, or, in other words, some
operators handled about seven calls a
minute, although each one insisted they
handled three times as many. One OPP
orator on that memorable day handled,
by actual count, twenty-one calls min-
ute from an outside exchange, apparent
lv without confusion. This was ut the
rate of 1900 an hour.
These are but two instances out OF
many that are happening day after day
which prove that the telephone has be-
come our most indispensable servant.
1t is becominga a necessity in every home
and office, whether in town, city OF
country. 1t is lock-stepping with pro-
gress at every stride.
These two instances also serve to in
dicate the..increased number of purposes
for which thetelephone is used, and also
tends to show the dependence the gen.
eral public places upon it.
But to get definite idea ofthe growth
in popularity of the telephone and the
increase in the number in use, one
ebo,,ld 4olya nOta Of tho ornwth of the