The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-11-13
THIRD TELEPHONE
EXCHANGE NEEDED
WILL BE EsTABLIsHED ON STUART
AVENUE NEAR MIL
BERRY.
HAVE PURCHASED SITE
WILL SUPPLY CITY's NEEDS TO
1880 -- SUPERINTENDENT
TALKS or GROWTH
or SYSTEM.
HAVE PURCHASED SITE

OF SYSTEM.
That the growth of the telephone
business in Richmond-baron tter of
the city's tioPment--h had Sc far eX-
Ceeded the plans of the corporation,
mapped out to 1929, rs to re nder IA
/ third exchange necessary was the an
nouncement made yesterday by
Division superintendent c. \. Weber
in an address at the table talk
/ luncheon OF the Business Men 3 club.
The property has been purchased at
the corner Of Stuart avenue and Null
berry street; the plans completed and
the new exchange will be READY next
October Though this point has not
been settled it will probably be known
as Jefferson" and is planned to take
care Of Richmond's needs in telephone
service al least until 1880.
Peep Into Future
The plans of the company were
made known incidentally TO the bust
ness men in the course Of an inter-
estins address by Mr. WehDer. in
which he reviewed the past history of
the telephone system in Richmond,
gave a practical insight into til, com
pick undertaking confronted -
present. and & peep into tha future,
Whether they were too absorbed
with interest in Mr.. Weber talk;
abashed by i'll lstrations OF lack IF CO.
operation he gave or appale1 by the
magnitude OF the intricate personal
and inaminatc machinery necessary TO
render the service they are iow re-
ceiving, none OF the members had a
word to say when President Alvin Nj.
Smith, who presided at the luncheon,
called on the members To make their
kicks then and there, or to ask Mr.
Weber questions
President Smith. after cttine very
briefly carcl nssness observed in his
own private exchange stated that be
believed that all of us have about
come to the conclusion that the trouble
with the telephone service is much the
fault of the subscriber as it is Of the
company" and that II w VII fall
Madison when we want Madison and
not call Monroe and have little
patience we will find that Richmond
is getting pretty good telephone ser
vice"
Outlines History.
MIR Weber outlined a history of tho
telephone service in Richmond TO
which the business men listened with
intense interest. In 1850 tbs i1rst tele-
phone system. crude affair, Was
established with twenty five snhscfib-
ers the old Ballard * Exchange hotel
being No. !.
The FIRST exchange WAS eS-7 t1ffEtfc-t
in 1852 with women operators, and ~
1898 The company moved Ia h. Eden
building and Installed what was
thought then TO be the acme 81 per
fpctlon--the cid coffee mill phones.
In 1909 the growth Of the system de-
manded the new building en- Grace
street and the Madison" system which
the company figured would suffice for
some years 10 come. but in lS0o the
! second building as an apues 10 the
first was niece ssaiy and in 1903 the
Monroe" switchboard was found
necessary.
End is necessity to care for the growth
of Richmond socially and CONNER
cially.
AS evidence of this growth Mr.
Weber gave some interesting figures.
In 1890 the company had iS9 telephone
users in 1913 il has $4,000. In 1000
the average number OF calls answered
by the exchange in business day
was $4,000; today the operators am
swer $4,000 calls daily
The company now emplays @a0
trained operators They are taught
in classes of from ten to thirty in the
intricacies of the system; tested for
vision and hearing in three weeks
course An average OF one out Of ten
teaches the switchboard. The Diff
Guilty of keeping these trained opera
tors even after securing them was neld
up as one of the problems with which
the company had 90 deal.
Careful statistics showed that TIE
operators averaged sixteen errors out
Of 1000 calls and that twelve per
cent of the busy complaints is due to
the use of the party lines by the
other" party. Fifty per cent of the
calls that go TO information are for
numbers furnished in the book. The
exercise of a little more patience on
the part of the subscriber and CO.
operation on the part of the public
generally would ala greatly in the
IMPROVEMENT of the service, he said.
His recital of the steady progress In
the installation of modern apparatus;
the placing OF the wires underground
where one cable represented 2.4eo con-
Meeting lines and where slight aeci~
dent would put out of commission per-
haps 500 telephones without notice,
down or up TO the intricate working Of
the exchange and its complicated ma
chinery, impressed the business men
and held their closest attention for
half hour.