The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-15
TELEPHONE GIRLS
GET OPPORTUNITY.
TO AID FIGHTERS
Big Army Being Recruited
to Operate, Switchboards
Behind the Lines.

A disciplined army Of women
switchboard soldiers to take the
places of men in the gigantic tele-
phone system now being built IN
France to knit together all the units
of the American expeditionary forces,
is being recruited by the Army SlSnal
Corps Already 100 women have vol
unteered, but the recruiting service
has called for hundreds more, ana IL
is pointed out that the women and
girls who go into the service Will 40
n much to help win the war as the
Il I in khaki who go over the top
applicants must be Americans, anu
they must be able to speak the french
language fluently, because the tele-
phone system links up with the sys-
tenn of the French Army. knowledge
of the French language is more essen
tial than knowledge of the handling
of a. switchboard, the recruiting Off
GERS say, because the switchboard can
be learned easily, while every opera
tor must be able to understand per-
fectly what a French General wants
when he calls the American at the
height of battle when perfect un-
Outstanding of orders may mean vic
tory or defeat.
The demands of the service and the
conditions of the work have been CIV
en-. in an official notice sent out by the
Chief Signal Officer in Washington.
I'm every respect these young wo-
men will be soldiers, coming under
military restrictions at all times" it
says. 1.-THE pay. will be $50 q month
for operators, $72 for supervisors, and
$125 for chief operators, in addition
| to which allowances will also be made
for rations and quarters when these
things are not provided by the army.
Every member of the organization
must wear standard uniform that
has been specified by the War College.
This uniform must be worn at all
times and civilian clothing cannot be
worn and will be of no use to these
young women soldiers over there
The different ranks will be distin-
guished by different insignia on the
white brassard worn on the left arm.
| Operators will wear a white brassard
with a black telephone transmitter.
Supervisors brassards will have a gilt
| laurel wreath underneath the trans
mitter. The brassards of the chief
operators will have the two symbols
mentioned, surmounted by the gilt
lightning belts used as insignia by the
corps.
THE Signal Corps seeks leve1-head-
led young women who are resourceful
able to exercise good judgment in
emergencies, and willing to work hard
and, even endure hardships if neces-
lsary. At the same time they point
/ cut that. everything possible will b.
done to insure the comfort and we'll
being of these young women in the
lservice.
Nearly a hundred young womer
have already been selected, and judg.
ing from them this unit will meet al
those requirements and be one of the
most democratic and representative
american forces sent abroad. Its per.
sonnet is being selected from appli
cants from all parts of the country
who, as fast as they are chosen, re
ceive such training either in theil
home town or city or at some training
centre to which they are sent for fl
nal preparation, and from which the.
will be ordered to a port of embarka
: ton for outfitting as different group
become ready to SAIL
: Information and enlistment blank
: may be obtained from the Chief Sig
l nal Officer, Room S26, Mills Building
: Annex, Washington, D. c., or iron
l the chief operator i'm any telephon
office. .-.