The Holly chieftain., 1911-07-07
A NOTABLE BIRTHDAY
THAI WEN UNNOTIcED

Great Things to Come.
Unhe aided by cell a'ions and gliding
by without noise or c. mony, the ami
versary OF the birth o the telephone has
Just passed into histOr For it was thirty
five years ago this sDrag that Alexander
Graham Bell receive from the United
States Government 'h- patent that was
destined to give a Tremendous boost to
civilization.
With this official action the unknown
professor of elOcutun and student of
acoustics joined the ranks of the worlds
greatest inventors. HI, path was far from
a smooth one. back il 1916, when some
folks doubted, other ,cuffed at and most
people ignored the product of his genius.
They called it q scientific toy, and as such
it seemed for while doomed to remain
in obscurity.
Financial men laughed outright at DR..
Bells scheme to sell his patent for
SlOO, 900. 1t was scofIng of the same sort
that Morse had receiYei, forty years be-
fore, when he tried TO induce the govern
ment to pay him SO 600 for his pet, the
telegraph.
Today the telephone system that bears
the name of the inventor has more than
twelve million miles Of wire in opera.
tion-enough to eirdle the earth many
hundreds of times. The value of the teIe.
phone properties in the United States to-
day AGGREGATES a sum that makes the
the proverbial thirty cents
1t was not long before the march of
progress seized upon the telephone The
wizards Of the electrical field put their
time into perfectinE the technical details
of the scientific toy The usefulness
of the instrument increased, and with it
the demand for share in its benefits.
Today the annual earnings of the tele.
phone in the United States are no less
than 500, ,00O, 600. One manufacturing
concern, the Western Electric Company,
has 1000, 900 of its teept ones in use.
The fact that DR.. Bell himself is still
alive to see the wonderful conquest his
toy has made emphasizes the youthful.
ness of the telephone. Thirty-fve years
seems short time for an agency SO
| widely known and SO universally accepted
| as a necessity. -
! Here are some Of the achievements of
the telephone in its brief span of existence:
| n IL.
"modernbusiness methods. Every busi
ness man has telephone at his elbow,
and finds it his most trustworthy assistant.
The telephone came into the Office and
into the discard went delays, confusion,
uncertainties, etc, etc.
| 1t has invaded the homes of the people
themselves. Here it performs faithfully
its many tasks-savins time and steps,
providing protection and afordins means
OF social diversion
| Without it the skyscraper in the busy
city would be impossible. Telephone
systems and elevators these away
and the modern Office building will be
| useless.
1t has smoothed the way for thousands
of railway trains. In service on dispatch
ing circuits of 81 600 miles of Dad,
supplantins the old, familiar telegraph,
with never an accident due to its use-that
is the record of the railway telephone to-
day.
1t has banished isolation on more than
two million American farms. In the
rural districts the telephone has done in
caiculable good. Many say this is the
most valuable service the handy little
instrument has performed.
The rural telephone enables the farmer
to conduct his business with the greatest
profit to himself. He keeps posted on the
prices of his products and he economies
by cutting out his trips to town when
telephone message will suffice. The lone.
illness which has made farm life a burden
to SO many people, especially to the
women and children the fear that takes
possession of many when the men are