The St. Mary banner., 1909-11-20
Profanity
at the
Telephone

The Court of Appeals of Iowa Is
reported to have decided that a tele
phone company cannot refuse tc
provide service for a 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 be
stated, but evidently the company Is
declared to be without power as
censor of the language and manners
of it's customers. What recourse q
telephone operator assailed with in
decent, violent or profane language
would have the newspaper dispatches
do not set forth. 1t might be In a
prosecution for disCrderly conduct,
threats and even assault. For the
creature who listens to conversations
over the line he uses, boiling il
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 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 popular series
Of stories of 'flirtatious 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 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
decorousness that is anything but
enticing. Il am much Obliged IS
cut off in the flower of it's polite
youth by the final click. 1t may be
that our voice is not attractive to
the young woman at the central Of
fee.
AS for swearing at telephone op-
orator, it belongs in the same class
with kicking the door on which
night cropping householder has bang
ed his head. The instinct to sucn
useless acts goes deep into human
history. Professor THISANDTHAT
asserts that it is survival from
that stage of development in Whlcn
each rock, tree, river, pool and noun
tain had its spirit to be propitiated
or punished as the victim Of its good
will or malice believed discreet But
who has no. longed Ito take it 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 restraints herself from hot
words a thousand times 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
give your full name, business /
address and home address; remark ,
that you will be at any spot at any
hour that may suit their convent
ence; declare that you are out OF
but still willing to have
90 with any person who boasts his
prowess from a safe distance; and {
add that the determination OF muck
srs is a subject of the deepest inter
est to the man who keeps his tenn
Der and his decent manners when
INDIANS SUDDEN WEALTH.