The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-21
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SO e'i- 1!3
The ir<t steamship line to use the
a wire from the dock to the office in
49,. and the first railway was the
Pennsylvania. which TWO years later
was persuaded by Prof. Bell himself
to give it d trial in Altoona. Since
then this railroad has become the chief
beneficiary of the art OF telephony. 1t
has l.5 exchanges, 800 operators, 49,.
coo telephones and 10000 miles of
wire-a more ample system than the
city OF New York had in 1886.
In the operation OF trains the rail-
roads have waited thirty years before
they dared to trust the telephone. Just
as they waited fifteen years before they
dared TO trust the telegraph. In 1853
a few railways used the telephone in
2 small wa:, but in 1907. when a law
wa passed that made te~!egraphers
highly expensive. there was a general
swing TO the telephone.
Several dozen roads nave now put
t in Use. some employing it as an as
socia.e of the Morse method and 9TH
ecs as a complete substitute. 1t has
already been found to be the quickest
way OF d:spatohing trains. 1t will do
in five minutes what the telegraph did
in ten. And it has enabled railroads
10 hire more suitable men for the
smaller O.I.CeS.
When quick action is needed in New
York city a general alarm can be sent
in five minutes By the police wires
over its whole vast area of 800 square
miles. When recently q gas main
broke in Brooklyn sixty girls We're at
once called to the centrals in thai part
of the city to warn the 10000 families
who had been placed in danger.
II the disaster cannot be prevented
it is thu telephone usually that brings
first aid TO the injured. After the
destruction OF San Francisco Cover
nor Guild of Massachusetts. sent an
appeal for the stricken City to the 354
mayors OF his state. and BY the cour-
tesy of the telephone company. which
carried the messages free. they were
delivered 20 the last and Furthermore
mayors in less than five hours.
After the destruction Of Messina an
order for enough lumber to build TO-
611 new houses was cabled to New
York and ,elephoned to western lum-
bernen. So quickly was this order
filed that on the twelfth day after the
arrival of the cabiegram the ships were
Or their way to Messina with the lum-
Der.
After the Kansas City food Of 1903.
when the lrenched city was without
railways or street cars or electric
AG1Its. IL "cs litc lc!cpIOIle tildt tlei1
the city together and brought help to
the danger spots.
And after the Baltimore fire the
telephone exchange was the last TO
nui. and the first to recover Its girls
sat on their stools at the switchboard
until the window panes were broken
by tha heat. then they pulled the co.-
ers owe the boards and walked out.
Two hours later the building was in
ashes. Three hours later another
building was rented on the unburned
rim OF the city and the wire chiefs
were At work. In n day there was
q system OF wires for the use Of the
city officials. In two days these were
linked To long distance wires. and in
eleven days a 1000 Zine switchboard
va: in full working trim. This feat
still stands as the record in rebuilding.
In the supreme emergency OF war
she telephone is as indispensable. very
7earl". as the canno This at least is
the belief Of .he japanese who handled
their armies by telephone when they
d!c"e hac!; the Russians. Each body
u japanese troops moved forward
ike 2 si!hworm. leaving behind it a
g~lis;en:.g strand az red copper wire.
Al the decisive battle OF Nrkden the
silk WORT arm. with a million legs.
c-ept ayai7st the Russian nests in a
last Crescent. e hundred miles from
end 10 end. B. means of this glistening
red wire the various batteries and
regiments We're organized into fifteen
divisions.