The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-24

vestigation would be useful in the probe that the Senate committee will renew next week George B. Cortelyou repup- lcan national chairman In 1901, testified in July that his only knowledge of these contributions came from the insurance companies, where it was disclosed some companies had made contributions of s2i,ooo to s5o,o0o
 of telegraphy. was building long dis tanee lines and exchanges In the state long before their real importance was recognized by the public, Anniston and Talladesa, Ala, first had long distance communication over lines owned by me. 1 built and owned the first independent long distance line into Birmingham. I owned 250 miles of long distance lines and 10 exchanges when I retired from the field seven years ago to take up my present work of agriculture and manu- facturing There is no business in my opinion as hard to handle as the tele- phone business. The instrument was shown as toy at the Centenial Exposi- tion at Philadelphia in 1876 and we find 1t 8 years later the predominating fac tor in business thriughout the world. You will find it in the farmers cottage, the millionaire home, the palace of the king ana everywhere that rapid com munication of mind Is required.
 Telephones are artificial ears and there fore just as delicate as a human ear. Thunderstorms and high electrical cur rents arc their greatest enemy and the delicate instrument has to be guarded with great care to prevent its destruction. The average subscriber to a telephone exchange thinks 1t merely means the installation of his telephone and the stringing of wire back to central. 1t does mean this and then some. The wire leading back to central has to have to make it safe six or more lightning pro- tectors. By protectors, l mean the wire Is cut and the current made to pass through small lead wires. The first interruption Is directly behind the switchboard In the operating room; again where the cir cult enters the cable again where 1t leaves the cable and again where the line enters the home or office. If this protection could be avoided 75 per cent of telephone complaints would stop, but it is absolutely necessary to prevent fire Lightning or some foreign current may be ten miles away, when 1t strikes the wire, but the current instantly flows along until one of the protectors are reached ana melting the small wire pre- vents any damage, but puts the subscrib- CTS line out of business until a lneman can be sent to repair it for the melting of one of the protector wires is just as effective as if the line had been cut with an axe. I can state as farmer and lumberman that this year has been one of extraordinary annoyance. lightning and rains have been of daily occurrence and your own city was made sad by the death of two of your soldier boys by lightning while on duty near Anniston
 Telephone wires in large cities like yours arc encased in lead cables, some cables contain 300 pair of wires, others less, each pair~of wires represent sub scribers line. These wires are wrapped with paper to prevent contact and all wires in this cable must be dry as pow der to give good service. The cables generally run underground from the ex- change to certain limits required by city ordinance and after this they follow the poles in the air. As l stated dampness kills the service and when it occurs sometimes hundreds of feet of valuable cable Is destroyed.
 Telephone lineman frequently find cable troublo caused by the bulelt from some small boys air rifle. policeman's bull let, or negro boys slingshot in the way of the call and the hole is made, the service steps from moisture and com plaints pour in. Of course these troubles are repaired as rapidly as expert men can do It. but the subscriber suffering thinks he ie the only one getting lemon and tells his neighbor that the service is the worst ever Two to one his neigh DOT is non-subscriber, but his cussing is just as effective in carrying on the chain. A thousand and one things bring on telephone trouble. l remember one particular case in my career that came very near causing me to seek home with pr. Searcy at Tuscaloosa.
 The wife of wealthy and prominent subscriber to one of my exchanges Ire quently complained of poor service, said she could not ring central and various other causes The service at times would be good and at other times bad. l changed hei telephone, but she still com plained, then I gave her new pair of wires and still the service would go and come. We finally found the ghost, and 1t was that the lady had a habit of leav- ing her silver thimble. on top of the tele- phone and thus crossing out the instru- ment.
 Another great trouble in giving per- feet service in your town or in any town that is growing rapidly like yours is that the service is necessarily fre- quently interrupted to meet municipal Improvements. You get annoyed at your city authorities for tearing up your streets, digging up your sidewalk and messing around generally. but it is all for the future use of your city and the city authorities don't care rap for your opinion, but all such work brings on un- told annoyance to telephone subscribers and great expense to the telephone com pany.
 Go down to the operating room and see the young lady operators at work. As a rule they are good looking. See the care ful supervision of the chief lady opera tors and watch how business like every thing appears The operators are se- lected from applicants who show good breeding and intelligence. After employ ment they are thoroughly trained by ex- perienced instructors and then assigned to some department; then the telephone companys trouble start, for she Is nat urally scared and gets rattled and the company gets -. Somehow d won1an's voice sounds just little sweeter on a telephone wire than anywhere else and the voice of central has roped in many a hard-hearted old machelor and made q home for him, but trouble for the tele- phone company in filling her place.
 Perfect telephone service will never exist you have in your town the finest exchange equipment that money can buy and men thoroughly competent to take care of the situation, but you will have interrupted service, sometimes good. again not SO good, as long IS your town grows and the world stands R. l.. ADAMS.
 Cedar Crest Plantation, Auburn. Sep
 tember 20. 1912.