El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-01-27
Tri- Estate Company Adds a
New Building For Con
venience Of Operatives.

In spite Of its mechanical checking
system. which demands OF every one Of
it's ~ switchboard girls that she at
tend to an average of 2SO phone calls
each hour she is on duty. the Tri-state
Tc,c1hon, company has not overlooked
the elements Of human interest and hu-
man comfort for its women workers. The
edition 70 the Telephone building. at
the corner o. Texas and Florence
streets. built las; year al COS, Of S5o,-
GOO IS an Illustration of the methods ~
which this company has established
friendship with its employees. while it
pushes forward TO give the cities of the
southwest quick communication with
one another.
Modern Comforts for Girls.
There was need for more room in
she building for installation Of mechau-
zeal devices. but. in the opinion Of The
company. there was equal need for
modern comforts for its employees 50
their rest quarters We're greatly eX-
tended in the annex. embracing par
Tor. emergency hospital. music room.
small dance ROOM dlnfnS room ANA
kitchen. The girls lunch I'M n neat lit
tie Apartment. wher- drinks. hot and
cold. s-e served by the cOmpany's ma
irons. amUse themselves till their shift
is called. with reading and music, and
have homo comforts OF many sorts. sl-
pervised by experienced women
Drill Students n Month.
The enlargement enables The COM
pany to establish IT'S school of instIuc-
tion in a large room. where working
models OF the bis switchboard are be
ing erected. and where the novIces viii
be trained for a month before being
called TO tn rapid work in the main
operating room The drilling includes
instruction as 70 how the "irate SUB
scriber H. to be Modified. when things
on the line don 20 To suit him. as well
as thorough knowledge Of what 10 90
and what to say when the little lights
CLEAN on the row of Jacks" in front OF
the operator Plugging about four
calls a minute gives the girl only time
FOR the choicest. most efficient queries
and responses. as she puts the 1000
subscribers in voice with each other.
Calls Per Day 10000.
There are more than 11.01p subscrib-
ers on the city list ia II Paso and 26s
more in the immediate vicinity The
SWitC d board that connects all this con-
tons and would require a newspaper
column for its technical description
There are 1888 business phones and b5l-
home phones wired 10 it, An average OF
10000 calls per day are registered in a
device called a peg counter" which is
a new sort of meter that doesn't let
one call escape In a downstairs de
partment another efficiency device.
watched by an expert girl. checks off
the service of 80 girls at a time. just
to see that they are speeding at the
minimum rate Of connecting the pa
irons. Alongside the long distance op-
orators an automatic time printer
counts the time for which tolls are
charged on the subscribers tickets. The
switch board room. enlarged. has room
for so more positions" and better 10
cation viii soon be made of the toll
lines board. The information depart
nent tells the inquirer instantly by
street number. name or phone number.
from cross indexes by card system. the
information required
Account Department Now Installed.
In the addition to the building. on
the lower floor. is the accounting de-
partment. recently transferred to II
PasO from Denver. where records of
the company. embracing the lines in
u est Texas. New Mexico. as far as san
Ia Fe. and Arizona are kept y. L.
Smith. chief Of this section. brought
with him employees who have increased
Fl Pasos population by . families.
The southern division of the Mountain
States Telephone x Telegraph COM
pany has its headquarters here.
Talk to East Texas Cities.
Since the first Of this year CONNER
cial converse tons are being carried on
between Fl PasO and eastern Texas
cities over a circuit more than 200O
miles in length. There is no wire from
Dallas or san Antonio running west of
Big Springs. but with the aid Of the
wonderful repeater subscribers here
talk to those in the big ceuteFs of Tex
As by way of Denver. Kansas City and
Oklahoma City as clearly as If they
We're in the same city Since the mob
ilizatiOn of United States army forces
on the border. commanding officers in
Fl Paso have repeatedly spoken to Mai
Gen Frederick Funston at Fort Sam
Houston, San Antonio. over this circuit
Over the repeater circuits local peo-
pie can talk with those Of most of the
principal cities of the union.
Adding Subscribers Rapidly.
Since 1915 the number of subscrib-
ers of the Tri-State Telephone company
has increased 1872 In the past five
years the subscribers increased 60SG
Ten years ago the subscribers were
1861. The company employs over 500
people, with monthly payroll of SIS
600
Underground Gables over City.
FL PasO has more underground cable
phone lines than any other city of it's
population in the United States. Main
cables run in conduits in several di-
rections. more especially to Manhattan I
Heights and other additions north OF I
the railroads along Mount Franklin and ]
eastward as far as Washington park
Carries HeraId-s 4. T.. News
An interesting feature of the tele- 4
phone company's plant is its telegraph Z