The Greeley tribune., 1911-07-06
TELEPHONE IS
35 YEARS OLD

gliding by without noise or cere-
mony. the anniversary OF the birth
OF the telephone has just passed in
to history. For it was thirty-five
years ago this spring that Alexander
Graham Bell received from the
ent that was destined to give a tre-
mendous boost to civilization.
With this official action the un-
known professor of elocution and
student of acoustics joined the
ranks of the worlds greatest in
ventors. His path was far from q
smooth one, back in 1876, when
some folks doubted, others scoffed
at and most people ignored the pro-
duct of his genius. They called it
scientific toy, and as such it seemed
for a while doomed to remain in OBJ
scurity.
Financial men laughed outright
at Dr. Bells scheme to sell his pat
ent for 100000. 1t was scoffing Of
the same sort that Morse had re-
ceived forty years before, when he
tried to induce the government 20
pay him 100000 for his pet, the
telegraph.
Today the telephone system that
| bears the name of the inventor, has
more than twelve million miles or
wire in peration-enough to girdle
the earth many hundreds OF times.
The value of the telephone proper
ties in the. United States today ag-
gregates a sum that makes the
100000 that DR.. Bell requested
| look like the proverbial thirty
cents.
1t was not long before the march
of progress seized upon the tele-
phone. The wizards of the electric
al field put their time into perfect
ing the technical details OF the
scientific toy The usefulness of
the instrument increased, and with
it the demand for a share in its
benefits. Today the annual earn
ings OF the telephone in the United
States are no less than s20O,000.-
900. One manufacturing concern,
the Western Electric Company has
100000 of its telephones in use.
The fact that Dr.. Bell himself is
still alive to see the wonderful con-
quest his toy has made emphasizes
the youthfulness of the telephone.
Thirty-tve years seems a short time
for an agency so widely known and
so universally accepted as a neces-
sity.
Here are some of the achieve
, ments OF the telephone in its brief
: span of existence:
1t has made possible what is
known as modern business meth
DDS. Every business man has a
telephone at his elbow, and finds 1t
; his most trustworthy assistant. The
telephone came into the office and
into the discard went delays, con-
D fusion, uncertainties, etc, etc.
Z ] ha nf
n people themselves. Here it per-
n forms faithfully its many tasks
Il saving time and steps, providing
It protection and affording means o.
l. social diversion.
'e Without it the skyscraper in tn
r. busy city would be impossible. Tele
% phone systems and elevators-tak,
o these away and the modern Office
9 building will be useless.
). 1t has smoothed the way fol
i thousands of railway trains. In SER
s vice on the dspatching circuits OF
:, $4,000 miles of road, supplanting
q the old familiar telegraph, with
u never an accident due to its use
that is the record OF the railway tel
q ephone today.
e 1t has banished isolation on more
: than two million American farms.
!, In the rural districts the telephone
d has done incalculable good. Many
d say this is the most valuable service
the handy little instrument has per-
S formed.
e 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 cut
! ting out his trips to town when q
telephone message will suffice. The
loneliness which has made farm life
burden to so many people. espe-
cially to the women and children !;
; the fear that takes possession of
I them when the men are away, the
fear of the inability to reach a doc
: tor in times of sickness, are all ban
ished by the telephone in the farm
house.
What will come next? An army
: of engineers is constantly at work
| planning and devising new wonders
of the telephone. The rapid spread
of service over the wires shows NO
signs of abating and telephone men
declare the future is most rosy. On
) ly last month conversation was
carried on between New York City
and Denver. over two thousand
miles.
Is 1t unreasonable to suppose that
an instrument as young as thirty
five is in the prime of it's life, and
that it still has man new achieve
ments ahead of It?