The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-01

calls are recorded, between I and 5
| o'clock. In the Rector district }here Is
| little telephone business until the early
morning hours on the other hand
! Audubon. orchard and fremont show
a surprising activity between midnight
and daybreak. The busy hours in the
Riverside dist riot do not come until late
in the afternoon and the load OF traf-
fic continues until far into the morn
ing hours.
The nature OF the business trans
acted by telephone In the very early
hours differs considerably in the vsri-
Gus sections Of the city. The great Of
nee building district covered by the
Rector station sleeps very soundly.
From midnight until A. NJ. there are
on the average about a dozen calls an
hour and these have to do with electric
| lighting or water supply or some such
mechanical problem. About o'clock
the superintendent OF the buildings be-
Gin to get busy and the traffic increases
steadily.
The busiest section of the city in the
so-called dead period is of course the
White Light district reached by the
Bryant station. The theatre business
shuts Off about midnight. The late res
taurants keep central busy until
about 3 o'clock. The taxicab stands
are good patrons OF the telephones
every hour of the twenty-four, but their
trade declines with the closing OF the
theatres and falls to its lowest ebb a
! little after as the restaurant crowds
gradually thin out.
The great hotels use the telephone
continuously through the night. but
after 3 o'clock this class OF calls falls
to its lowest point. There are q sur
| prising number OF doctors calls from
/ this general neighhorhood in the early
morning hours. The telephones OF the
newspaper offices are an important fac.
| tor in the total number OF calls but the
dead point in this traffic comes at 2
/ o'clock. There are OF course a number
Of clubs In the White Light district
which ind uses for the telephone liter
ally until daylight.
The telephone operator If likely to be
the victim at any moment of the day or
night of "A flood Of curiosity calls" Any
! unusual event such as ire or an eX-
| plosion. Will bring down on the defence
/ less hello girls a storm of inquiries
/ This may happen at any hour Of the
] night, and in fact some of the most dif-
/ ncult situations OF this kind have oc-
CURED IN the small hours OF the morn
! ing, when the force OF operators is
| smallest. Let a neighborhood be sud
| denly wakcncd by the shock of an eX-
! plosion or perhaps the reflection in the
/ sky ~ "A great ire and hundreds Of
telephones will he used TO ask for infor-
nation.
The curiosity call costs the telephone
companies thousands Of dollars In the
course of n year. II is especially dim
! cult to handle in the suburbs, where the
| curiosity seems TO be more lively than
IN the city. So serious is this trouble
that records are kept of the number OF
such calls and special measures are
taken TO guard against them,
Only a few weeks ago for example
the fire alarm bell IN Hackensack
sounded an alarm at an early morning
hour, with the usual result The tele-
| phone Centrals were swamped with
curiosity calls. In all more than 1900
| calls were received The telephone COM
pany thereupon inserted display adver-
tisements in the local papers explaining
the difficulties Of the situation. 1t was
pointed out that the telephone girl had
no Information TO give and that the
regular business Of the exchange could
not be carried on In the face OF such a
rush of calls, The advertisement had
Its effect, and when another IRE oc
CURED shortly sfterward the operator
was not seriously disturbed.
The most insistent ana annoying Of