The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-07-16

day. Photographs tnken OF some business streets as
e % aS 40 indicate the situation II with great
eledlhess IL Is probable that failure TO find a way
- pat The wires under ground would have necessi-
ateo The forbddlng of the telephone wire and there
lore Of the telephone
hui The end yet. The telephones OF that
"a! nad what We're known local batteries a bat
tery had to be Installed with each telephone nstr,-
lept device still In common in the small towns.
especially Of the Middle West II necessary with
tnlS instrument to ring up by turning a little hell
uhnoe hxed In the side Of the aud ring on
Nneu through This necessity has been done away
WIN DIV the common battery system, and the
Term ring OF" remains with only expressive
weapon against the loquacious With the common
battery the Instrument rings up automatically when
she receiver Is removed from The hook. lighting a
small electric bulb In front of the operator aud
nguishlnG the same when the subscriber is through
when the idea OF the automatic telephone FIRST
came 10 high hopes were expressed that II could be
carried 10 IFS logical conclusion and operators dis
pensed with altogether. The automatic system. how
ever mas not been found practicable for large cities,
though several cities In this country do use H. The
great trouble with It Hes In the loss Of valuable time
commodity far too precious In New York to be tam
pered with The New York system has been made so
nearly automatic that there is practically nothing for
the operator TO do ordinary calls but 10 make the
connections; but nevertheless she Is there n needed
WIN quick myers and quicker mind The New YORK
system Is known a scmi-automatc system and Is
thought TO combine the best points Of the two ideas.
Still, In spite of the improvements made and the
reduction Of expense In operation. the list OF sub
scriberS remained small one. One thing stil made
trouble That was the "aat rate" The Hat rate
system charged certain yearly amount for the use
Of n telephone and then allowed the subscriber as
many calls as he wanted This very profitable
for places of business and firms that had largo nse
for telephone. 1t meant that no matter what price
they paid they still getting their service AT
rate rldlculorsly low in proportion to It's cost and
value. Owing to the steadily increasing number OF
such places and the general growth of business the
demands on the system became such that rates had
TO be raised TO figure almost probbitye TO the man
Of ordinary means. The burden OF the arrangement
fell on the small dealer and private householder II
resulted In deadlock that did much to prevent any
rapid growth In the OF telephones for many years.
Again The New York public up in wrath. 1t
asked. Why. wherefore and how long?
fright now" said the telephone company obedent-
ly. 1t cut the Gordian knot and introduced the
message rnte system instead BY this plan so much
wds paid by the subscriber for many calls. For
nj, calls that amount he paid much extra
Reduced rates given large contracts buJ the
burden the whole fairly distributed so that
the remaining bar 70 general of the telephone
In New York at last removed