The Marietta journal and courier., 1918-01-11
TELEPHONE SERVICE I'm TIME
OF. WAR.

and industry, including the telephone
companies, are working to prepare
our nation for the big drive, are now
heo;nn;ng to be reflected IN your
telephone service. =
When war was announced the Bel
system, including the Southern Ben
and Cumberland Companies, placed
it's facilities and services unreserved-
w at the disposal of the government
IN whatever extent the government
needs might require in the glgantlc
task of building a war macnine'
In the territory in which the South
err Re,I and Cumberland Companies
onerate. there are new sixteen tram
ing camps in operation and an add
t;onaI number in contemplation. we
have installed and are operating
complete telephone system for the
e.ox,orrr,ent at each of these training
camps. and army officials at the camps
now have adequate and efficient 10
cal and long distance telephone SER
vice. All governmental requirements
for either local or long distance SER
vice are being given precedence.
This was a big job given without
time for careful preparation, or Tor
the preliminaries that such undertaK-
ipos usually require. The nation was
at war: the Bell System had placed
itself unreservedly at the disposal OF
the government and when these
camps were located we were there
with men and material to provide the
facilities for service as fast as the
government needs required.
In this connection the management
of the Southern Bell made the follow
ing statement:
'Tn this we did only our duty, but
it is a matter of pride that we were
able to gather material and equip
ment from the four corners OF the
country, and practically every case
have service waiting for the govern
ment officials when they were ready
for it,
"Tbe Government indicated its
need of experienced, efficient tele-
phone men for the Reserve Signal
Corps. and from the ranks of the
Bell system $500 such men, each a
specialist in his line, were selected
from a very much larger number OF
volunteers. This Reserve Signal
was headed by Mr.. Jno. j. Carly,
chief engineer of the Bell System.
''From the forces Of our companies
one battalion was organized, consist
ing of 118 men who were tagen from
the very cream of our technical
forces, and these men are now IN
active service. In addition to these,
lit from among the most efficient
men ia various branches Of the COM
pany's besiness, are now in active
service
"Then came the draft, which has
already taken large number of our
young men.
simultaneously there developed
an unprecedented increase in the
number Of local calls handled in
each exchange, and in the number
of long distance calls to various parts
of the country. In surprisingly
short time the traffic loads produced
by these calls were spread out in the
switchboerds until every position was
filled with an operator, and still the
increase continues. The long dis
tance circuits were crowded, in some
cases beyond their capacity, and the
delays were necessarily greater than
the public has heretofore expert.
enced.
"The company's plans for additions
and extensions to its facilities, both
for handling local calls and long dis
tanee service, which are carefully
made up each year in advance and
invole many millions of dollars of
additional capital each year to sup
ply, were made in the latter part OF
1916, and our program for the year
was scheduled upon that basis. Nc
one at that time dreamed that this
country would now be in war, and
the general situation affecting the
securing Of men, money and materi-
al, which is Incident to the war, has
completely upset and changed the
whole normal operation of our bust
ness.
Telephone equipment and supplies
are made out of the same raw materi.
ais, broadly speaking, which the gov
ernment requires for its purposes to
carry on the war, and obviously and
properly government needs must have
precedence.
"As consequence, there is serious
delay-in some cases an indefinite