Evening star., 1909-02-28
SERVANT OF EVERY ONE
Development of Uses of the
Telephone.
SPANS TIME OR DISTANCE
Often Supplants the Electric Tele-
graph Message.
EVER IN TOUCH WITH WORLD
Omnipresent Aid Of the Business
Man-Minimizer Of Petty Annoy
ances In Domestic Life.

Man-Minimizer Of Petty Annoy
ances in Domestic Life.
| Several we'll known Washington busi-
ness men were lunching downtown the
other day, when, for some reason or
other. the talk turned on telephones and
telephony. One of them. who. by the
way. would rather argue than eat. SEEM
ed to have decided views on the subject.
Does the telephone do all that is claim
| ed for it," he asked. Couldn't We get
| along pretty well with the mails. mes
senger service and such? Why are we
known? By using a. bit Of forethOught.
couldn't we eliminate the need for this
instantaneous service? Isn't 1T a Scien-
| tific fact that all of these means for
| short business day are tending strongly
| toward shortening. our lives, by causing
undue nervous Strain?'
| WE'LL the three of them talked it over
as they lunched and finally voted the tel
ephone as up near the top of the list of
necessities. Even the man who had
grouched and questioned, swung around to
admit that he'd probably cry like child
II denied his ever-used telephone service.
Telephone in Business Life.
'Tis of interest the way the telephone
has made itself felt as the very foremost
among modern inventions For instance,
the demands for goods of all classes have
| so changed during the past thirty years
that none but the newest, the most suit
able and the best In every way are gen.
orally wanted. Clothing is an excellent
example of this. 'Twould seem to the
staple would require regular orders at
regular intervals. Fact is, however, that
the demand is so irregular that emer-
gency orders are placed continually.
There's the case of the manager of the
clothing department of one of Washing
ton biggest stores, who found one after
noon that the extensive advertising of
the previous day and the ensuing rush
had seriously depleted his stock. Antici
pating, like a wise and competent citizen,
still further rush on the following day,
he telephoned Immediately to a whole
saler in Rochester, N. Y, about 800 miles.
and placed an order for 200 mems suits,
comprising eight different styles and
twenty-nine Zines in clothing parlance.
Technical clothing terms and numbers
were dictated at that distance without a
bit of difficulty. The suits were inmed-
ately packed and shipped, and arrived in
time for business the next morning. The
telephone had been his friend all right,
as he had been able to obtain personal as
surance of the receipt Of the order and
OF the immediate shipping of the goods.
Quicker Than the Telegraph.
Moreover. it is we'll known that perish
able goods command higher prices in pro-
portion to their original cost than many
other classes, as the greater risk in hold
ing them in stock, the additional cost of
fastest transportation, hurried deliveries
and losses by exposure to the elements
each in. turn, adds. it's due proportion to
the price which the consumer pays. The
very fact that the demand for these goods
past few years adds another argument to
the indispensability Of the telephone.
Such goods are now quoted by telephone.
priceds packed and delivered while the
sent0and while the letter Of the same day
was being written. -
Modern department stores consider the
telephone of such great value as a busi-
may enter, that they arrange for addi--
tional telephone lines and restrict their
use to strictly incoming business. And
most all large business firms do this
nowadays as soon as the demand Is ap-
parent, even If they do not anticipate 1t.
| Modern store managers place cards near
the telephones in the various departments
| instructing the employees how to use the
| instruments intellgently and courteously.
| The value of telephone courtesy Is i'm
pressed upon each clerk most emphati-
| cally.
In a big Washington store memorandum
pads are placed beside each telephone
with ten rules for handling telephone mes
sages. The incoming telephone business
of this store during December, 1908, in
creased so per cent over the same period
in 1907, despite the fact that 1907 was
telephone record breaker.
An indispensable Fixture.
There's no doubt that hotel men, small
storekeepers and mechanics everywhere
have been educated-some of them against
their will, be it said-to look upon the
telephone as an indispensable fixture in
every line Of business. Property owners
find tenants more readily when they ad-
vertiSe telephone service on the prem
iSeS," and appreciate Its value even more
when a leak Is discovered In the roof or
the plumbing. Apartments are much
more readily rented for the same reason.
too for the public wants to keep within
touch of it's friends in the busy world.
The value of suburban or still more isO-
| lated property is also greatly increased If
| telephone service has been installed
| OF course, folks might eliminate many
| of their telephone calls IL they planned
and worried and made notes whenever
| they happened to think of it. But under
| such conditions the average man would be
! like the fever patient who attempted to
dispense with the service of a nurse and
| to tax his own brain with his medicine
schedule. 1t is said he died wondering
what he had taken last and when.
|
! telephone minimizes the thousand and one
petty annoyances and serious happenings
| that occur at the most inopportune times
| Whoever heard of company surprising
| prepared" hostess? Or was the physi-
| clan eyer present when a member of the
| family met with serious accident or be-
came ill?
What the Telephone Saves.
The telephone saves one-half of the
emergency trip and very often the whole
of it. The comparatively short time need
ed to summon the veterinarian has saved
many a valuable animal. In nearly every
issue of every paper nowadays one may
read of burglars frightened away. i'm
posters baked. serious fires avoided and
of those who tried to take advantage Of a
consumers ignorance of market prices
badly fooled.
Socially, the telephone means a whole
lot, too. Back yonder, the old folks, liv-
ing modestly, when wants were few,
were content to take several days to
make trip cityward and wait several
more anxious days for messages from
friends and relatives. There's no danger
of a desire in the mind of any average
| person to return to those day and that
condition of life. to tallow candles and
to homes without modern conveniences.