Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-04-12

| BY the Bell telephone engineers
going into every realm of manufac-
ture, the products of which were EN-
ployed in the furnishing of service
and devising means for purchasing
what they wanted at the lowest cost,
they have been enabled to more than
offset this rising cost, so that to-day
the average exchange rate for all
stations Of all classes, including prl-
vate branch exchange stations and
desk sets, averages $3045, where
fourteen years ago. the average was
s44.6S, reduction of one third.
Far Reaching Inventions.
Some Of these inventions have
been far-reaching in their benefits
Before the Bell telephone system
could become a long-distance sys-
tenn it was necessary to invent type
of copper wire which could be man
ufactured commercially They solved
the problem by inventing what is
]
which gives the copper wire nearly
double its ordinary strength This
Invention not only extended the range
Of long distance transmission, which
was limited to points so and 70 miles
apart to towns $50 miles apart, but
it served in the development of cleo
trio light. street railway and the tele-
graph; and it is employed in all of
these businesses throughout the
world
'The growth of the business and
the number of wires required to serve
it made it impossible to carry such
burdens on poles The wires were
therefore. placed underground, but
this introduced many new problems
all of which required years of patient
work, but finally the art was learned
and to-day cables are made with con-
tinuous lead sheaths which contain
1,212 wires, each separated from the
other and so arranged that they may
be separately located. All these wires
are contained within a lead sheath
with an external diameter of 25-S
inches, which is the outside diameter
of the earpiece of the. telephone re-
ceiver.
TO reductions in the cost along
these lines of invention, however,
there is a limit, because no man can
produce manufactured product be-
low that irreducible minimum which
is the cost of the large materials en-
tering into its makeup; and the Bell
telephone system. through its enor-
nous purchasing power, has now al
most anDroximated that condition.
Government Ownership.
The speaker was questioned as 10
whether he did not think that under
Governmental ownership Of tele-
phones and telegraphs the men would
be just as interested in their bust
ness, just as devoted to the service,
as they now are, to which he replied
that he did not believe it would be so
because the same conditions which
made for loyalty and which rewarded
industry would not be present under
) Governmental ownership.
mo business man." he said, would
for one moment think of risking mis-
: time. his abilities and his money in aa
2 enterprise in which he had no choice
in the selection Of his partners or of
! his employees. Under Governmental
ownership. it is fundamental that the
OPERATING heads of the telephone busi-
ness would be directly or secondarily
chosen by the public at large or
chosen might not be agreeable to each
other, and their tenure is short Four
years are frequently required for the
proper initiation OF policy, let alone
its carrying out.
s Again no business man would
wish to be responsible for the sue
cessful results of an enterprise in
which he could not select the en-
ployees, not only with regard to their
ability, but particularly with regard
to the fitness of the men to cooperate
with each other
Nothing but private ownership can
secure these benefits Under such a
D policy of private ownership, the
! United States has to-day more than
a twice as many telephones as there are
in Canada. Mexico, South America.
1 Europe, Asia and Africa-that g,
T twice as many as the rest of the
world put together "a all OF the 9TH
, err countries Governmental ownership
predominates; and the quality Of the
service differs more widely than the
number OF stations, for here we have
> day, night, SUNDAY and holiday serv-
ice, whereas week day service is the
prevailing condition under Govern
y mental ownership"
!, Following Mr.. Yundts address, the
members of the club visited and in
spected the Ivy Exchange-the m st
modern telephone plant in the South.
: Nebraska Will Vote