Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-07-08
SUNDAY SERMONS BY PHONE
IL Men VIII Not Come to the Church,
the Church viii Get 'Em ON


Gradually the rural telephone has grown
from a fence post affair to a thing OF
daily convenience. And now in Kansas
it Is entering a field that is unusual and
yet useful for 1t is becoming the dis
seminator Of the Sunday sermon. No more
the farmers wife who lives, three miles
from church need to worry as to whether
the weather viii be too bad for the long
drive; no longer need the hitching up of
the horses for that trip to the church be
matter Of absolute necessity, for the tele-
phone has stepped in and brought the
church to the home.
1t is in Olathe. Kan, that the expert
ment of the telephoned sermon is being
tried, and so far il has been a success
that is growing There Illness and weather
cannot interfere with the Sunday worship,
for the sermons and every other church
service, for that matter is transmitted
directly to the home and all one needs to
do to hear Is to place a telephone trans
mitter to the ear. The telephone company,
through a connection with the pulpit of
the churches, does the rest
Three Olathe churches the Prcsbyte-
rian, the Reformed Presbyterian and the
United Presbyterian are using the SER
vice now. In the first two it is used only
for the old and Ill. But in the other one
the service is of general practice. Each
Of the churches is fitted with a trans
mitter, containing an extremely sensitive
microphone arrangement and provided
with special batteries and coils. The
transmtter is no larger than the ordi-
nary one used in telephone exchanges
and hangs suspended from a rod in front
of the pulpit, without obstructing the con-
gregations view of the minister. AS the
sermon is delivered the transmitter takes
in the tones and carries them over the
wires to the various listeners.
Recently the writer sat in an easy
chair in a hotel three blocks away iron
the church and with an ordinary tee
phone receiver. to his ear heard every
word of the service-the reading Of the
Scripture, 1.-The prayer, the singing of the
Psalms the announcements, the sermap,
and the bepediction. -.,-..,., a.r...
. Sometimes the receiver had to be held
away from the ear on account of the
loudness with which the sermon was
transmitted. The manager of the tele-
phone company says that constantly
growing number of the company's patrons
use this service on Sundays, and this
raises the considerable as to what will
be the effect on the churches should the
"electrophone" come into general use.
Will the preacher Of the future sit in
his study and preach" his sermon be-
fore an. electrophone while his congrega-
ton sit at home in easy chairs. with tel
ephone receivers to their ears? Or will
we have canned religion as we have
canned music, sent out from a central
station every Sunday morning and even
ing? VIII there be different grades of
service so that those who can afford the
high-priced brand may have 1t, and hear
the great pulpit orators of the world, the
peaIng Of the great pipe organs in the
metropolitan churches, and the wonderful
singing of high-priced aud famous choirs?
The objection that all this neglects the
personal equation" viii vanish when tee-
vision becomes an accomplished fact and
one may sit at home and as we'll as
hear all that goes on in the church,
blocks or miles away,--Chicago Tribune.
tfgiV &c h. 10 frrI