Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1909-09-16
Profanity
at the
Telephone

.
The Court of Appeals Of Iowa is
reported to have decided that a tele-
phone company cannot refuse TO
provide service for a householder be-
cause he swear at the operator, or.
apparently, because he is in the hab-
1t Of eavesdropping On party lines,
says the New York Sun. The text
of the decision is not at hand and
It's full effect therefore cannot be
stated, but evidently the company is
declared to be without power as q
censor OF the language and manners
Of its customers. What recourse q
telephone operator assailed with In
decent, violent or p~rofane language
would have the newspaper dispatches
do not set forth. 1t might be IN a
prosecution for d%isorderly conduct.
threats and even assault. For the
creature who listens to conversations
over the line he uses, boiling II
mush Is not too were a punishment.
The temptation to profane and
violent language over the telephone
is felt and acknowledged even by
those strong men who resist it. Why
Is the number busy at the moment
when we want to arrange for to
morroWis picnic? Probably it 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 it reaches the ears not OF
the operator for whom it is intended
but of a callous person whose sole
duty it is to listen to the abusive
outbursts OF irate customers.
There was once a popular series
of stories of "firtatious operators"
What basis had these yarns? We
never encountered an operator who
was other than coldly businesslike.
Our instructive Thank you!" is cut
in halves by the pulling Of a plug
or lifting OF a 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. Il am much obliged" is
cut off in the flower Of its polite
youth by the final click. 1t may be
that our voice is not attractive to
the young oma at the central Of
ice.
AS for swearing at a telephone OPP
orator, it belongs in the same class
with kicking the door on which a
cropping householder has bang
useless acts goes deep into human
Professor THISANDTHAT
asserts that it is a survival from
hat stage OF development in which
each rock, tree, river, pool and noun
ain had its spirit to be propitiated
Or punished as the victim Of its good
will Or malice believed discreet. But
Who has not longed "to take it out"
# the transmitter and receiver when
he essential guest blandly inform I
u III llO" ITClfO 1hllCo &" Juoh =
IS the butler was announcing din {
Ter, that, she had been forced to {
his plans and couldn't get
'ver tonight? or course profanity
S never defensible, but men are t
weak. Let the man of the house t
end his wife to the telephone when S
he guests are arriving. She does f
OF swear, though only Heaven knows p
she restraints herself from hot t
lords a thousand times a day. a
There are, Of course, timid souls t
'ho are v~alorous at the other end 7
f seven miles OF wire. These are r
who, having got a number they Il
id not want, arrogantly tell the
ian who has risen from his easy fl
lair to answer the jingling bell ii
ring off, in a tone that conveys il
leir conviction that he is disturb D.
g them on purpose, and that they
ould punch his head gladly could D;
reach him; but to such pro- in
nifty is Of no avail. Answer them Ii
.lmly; give your full name, business h;
ldress and home address; remark b;
at you will be at any spot at any G.
our that may suit their convent
ice; declare that you are out of
ndition, but still willing to have a
with any person who boasts his to
owess from a safe distance; and
d that the determination of muck sb
s is a subject Of the deepest inter ca
t to the man who keeps his TEN. err
r and his decent manners when Or
ephoning an