South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-05-17
AMERICAN HELLO
GIRLS IN RANCE
American Women Fill New
Field at the Wa
Front.

WASHINGTON. May 17-Since
the early days Of the war women Of
the allied countries have distin-
guished themselves in various lines
OF war work Whether lighting
shoulder 20 shoulder with men in
the Russian battalion OF DEATH"
driving ambulances over sheIl-torn
roads. nursing in military hospitals
or performing a thousand and one
duties at home women have taken
an important part
However. there has been thrown
open a new field I'm which the Amer
lean woman has already demon
strated her infinite resOurcefuIness.
innate versatility and racial ca
pacity for speedy. accurate work
The new task Is that OF operating
an American telephone exchange,
often a short distance behind the
trenches in France.
In modern warfare, the telephone
has assumed such importance that
frequently il is referred to as the
nerves Of the army. 10 was not 20
be expected that Cen. Pershfng's
expeditlonary forces we're TO rely on
foreign system Of telephone com
munication. abandoning the more
expedient service. which this nation.
as "A pioneer IN the field. had deveI-
oped. Accordingly, vast quantities
u telephone material were taken
overseas and installed by the army
signal corps. During 1917 men oper-
ators and French women were used
for the work but neither group was
satisfactory.
The great difficulty vas procuring
operators capable OF speaking both
French and English, who were nee
essary in order 10 maintain accurate
communication between the French
and American armies. In November,
last year, Gen. Pershing called up
on headquarters Of the signal corps
10 forward overseas as soon as pos
sible force Of 100 trained opera
tors. able to speak intelligently in
both tongues.
Believing is possible to obtain
operators with a command OF both
languages in parts of the continent
where there were large French pop
ulations, an effort first was made to
FIJI the quota from the French
pioneers Of Canada and Louisiana.
Want ads" were placed in the
F'rench-Canadian papers but from
more than 900 applicants only six
could be considered Then the an
nouncement was published in news
papers Of this country and from
?. 400 applicants there were pro-
cured IS experienced operators and
5 possible eligibles. At the present |
time $500 applications have been
received. and from that list the first
group Of 100 was selected and sent
across. lao more are now in training
schools. and "a reserve force Of 400
more is on file.
Under existing regulations. wives
Of army officers or enlisted men are
eligible 70 those units Unauthor-
lied stories to the effect that wives
or army officers had found il pos
sible 20 rejoin their husbands fin
France by enlisting in the phone
units caused the officers Of the sig
nal corps 10 be flooded with appli-
cations which necessarily had TO be
70 'ected
Each applicants character and
ability was certified by her previous
employer before she was considered.
psychologist gave tests to the
prospective operator using methods
employed by the army i'm Judging
qualifications of officers. Also. since
the work 10 be performed was large
~ of confidential nature. and
would give the operators carefully
guard I'd information as 10 troop
move ments. each candidates loyalty
and motive for applying for service
were Investigated thoroughly by
secret service agents
on Jan L. the first group enter
ed the training schools for instruc-
tions i'm advanced telephony Practice
was given in the largest New York