Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1912-12-31
IMPROVEMENTS
ARE PROMISED
MANAGEMENT OF LOCAL TELE-
COMPANY MAKE STATEMENT
OF THEIR DIFFICULTIES.
EQUIPMENT AT FAULT

impossible Any Improvement in
Service, But There Will Be No
Cause for Complaint When New
Building Is occupied-PubIic Is In.
formed.
For several months past there has
been more or less dissatisfaction with
the service being given by the local
telephone company. The criticism
has become general and the Demo
crat invited the local management to
give their side Of the case in order
that no injustice might be DONE
Complying with this request the COM
pany has submitted, for the full in
formation Of the public, the following
article, which explains a few Of the
difficulties under which the local tele-
phone business is now being trans
acted:
During this week the new building
of the Mountain States Telephone &
Telegraph company will be completed
and turned over to the company by
the contractor, G. E. Walker & Co., Of
Denver. The C. e. Walker Co. are ex-
buildings, this being but one of sew
eral now being built by them, and
have built here what is probably as
well constructed building as is in
lLeWistown. The structure is prac-
tically tire-proof, there being 17-inch
brick wall from basement to roof,
separating the offices, work rooms
and operating rooms from the main
hall and stairways, the doors from
the hall being all of metal, making
fire-proof stairway for egress in case
of fire. In addition to this method of
escape, the rear of the building is
equipped with iron stairs from the
roof to the ground, with large double
doors opening from the building to
large iron platforms, from which the
stairs descend. This building was
built OF LewistoWn brick, excepting
the facing brick, which are from
Hebron, N. D.; the lumber was fur
nished by local dealers, as we're prac-
tically all the supplies used, and the
plumbing and heating was done by
Lewistown people.
"The Western Electric Co., who will
install the new switchboard and
equipment, expect to start work the
first week in January with as large
force of men as they can convenient.
ly use, and will probably finish the in.
stalation in March or April. The new
switchboard is to be of the latest type
multiple equipment, consisting OF
eight operators positions for handling
local traffic and four for long distance
work, this being just double the pres
ent equipment. The equipment in use
now is not capable of satisfactorily
handling the business the company
has and is, the cause of considerable
bad service, such as wrong numbers
delay in recalling the operator, etc.
due principally to the use of a trans
fer or trunking system in calling mum
bers which cannot be reached by the
operator taking the call, making II
necessary for her to get the assist
ance of another operator to complete
the connection. On the new switch
board, the multiple arrangement O.
lines places each and every line il
front of every operator, so that the
operator who answers your call car
always ring the party you are calling
herself. It can readily be seen tha
this method will do away with mos
OF the wrong number troubles, par
ticularly if the subscribers use theil
directory and make sure they are call
ing the right number. In passing, i
might be stated that large percent
, age of wrong number" calls are dus
to the calling party having the wronf
number or reversing the figures in the
. number, i. e., calling 615 for 651, etc
During each month the company
keeps a record of the number of calls
! handled during each twenty-fou1
I hours. On the last count, taken OF
Wednesday, which is an average day
the heavy load usually being on Sat
urday and Monday, there was a tota
, of 10,287 calls, 9,516 Of which wer.
, between s a. m. and 9 p. m. TIL,
: busiest hour was between 10 and l,
a. M, during which time 1913 call'
were handled by four local operators
{ and 78 by the long distance operator
, The local operators averaged 209 call
: apiece per hour or about 3.5 calls pc
: minute.
There are at present 13 youn,
ladies employed by the telephone com
pany as operators, who work eigh
hours per day in two shifts of fou
: hours each. During each four-hou
shift the operator is allowed a ter
minute relief period, making the ae
/, tual working time seven hours an,
7 forty minutes per day. No girl unde
: eighteen years of age is employed a
y an operator by the company, this rul
having been adopted few month
n ago. The average age of the Lewis
j, town operators is 22.2 years, tn
i youngest being 10 years of age. tn
e oldest, 20. The length of service O
these young ladies, with this and otf
a er telephone companies, ranges fror
o seven months to ten years, the ave.
age experience being three years an