The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-02-19
PROVES WORTH
NEW AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE
EXCHANGE HAS VERIFIED
ALL PREDICTIONS.

Ten months Of uninterrupted sery-
ice in Madison has proved the su-
perior utility Of the automatic tele-
phone system over the old. and this
fact is no better evidenced than b.
the showing the new service made
during the recent storms when it was
unaffected in any way while prac-
ticaIly every other m Of public
communication was blocked.
During a storm several years ago
the old line was entirely out OF order
for several months and thrown into
complete disorder and il was almost
necessary 10 rebuild the entire sys-
tenn before service was resumed
Operators could not get 10 their work
through the deep snow and the city
was practically cut off from the out
side world.
And the disorder ean1e just al the.
time when the use 81 the phone in
creased many fold with the resulting
ex~asperated public a. the delays and
Inconvenience suffered. the newt.
able consequence that confronts
every manual system in an emer
gency.
over 5000 calls per day were sent
through the automatic exchange dur.
ing the recent storms and the ma
chimes seldom rested except for a
few seconds az a time. They de
handed no resi-. no sleep. no vaca
tions. and We're on the job every sec
ond Of the day.
An automatic exchange IS no dis
criminator Of persons Neither does
il misunderstand your number. nor
does il fail TO tell you quickly II the
line is busy. and if il is o occupied
will connect you with the line called
and Internationally n the sub
seriber until he responds. or you are
certain he or she il not a. home.
In normal times an average Of
5000 calls passed through the Mad
ison exchange daily. an average Of
six per subscriber. The average for
the long distance calls is $50. but.
during the recent tie up, their total
raised TO $50. 1t would be hard TO
equal this record under the old man
ual system.
Every call has the exclusive use Of
over 1000 parts and $4,000 moving
parts are kept in use daily. Some Of
the machines are adjusted TO operate
through a space of but 1000 OF an
inch while some Of the other ma
chimes operate at the tremendous
speed Of 1850 vibrations per minute.
Where formerly four o six young
women were required TO handle the
work Of the exchange. one is now en-
ployed TO serve as information OPP
orator. and one for the long distance
calls. Two others do the work on
the toll lines out OF Madison. The
old system required constant changes
in the operating forces. Few young
women remained in the game" more
than a year and the exchange nearly
always contained n who was an
apprentice. The automatic system
never quits. 1T goes on just the
same whether there are one or six
young women in the office.
The old adage To err is hu-
man" inspired a young engineer, a
Mr.. Keith, 10 contrive a machine that
would erase the human equation and
thus stop the t~orrential outbursts Of
temper from peeyed subscribers ev-
cry day. He was considered a Wis
ionary and worked necessarily for
twenty-five years to make his dream
come true. That he was ultimately
successful is shown by the success of
the automatic system In every city
where il has been put into operation.
Madison is one of the smallest
cities in the country to be favored
with automatic service and is far
ahead of some of the largest ones In
seeing the practicability of the in