The sun., 1919-04-25
SERVICE POOR HERE,
PHONE co. ADMITS
No Telling When Faults
Which Hamper Public Will
Be Remedied.
3 YEARS OF TRIALS SEEN
Lack Of Employees Due to
War and insufficient Equip
ment Blamed.

II Is at least even money that If one
phones for 3194-St Nicholas, one will
get 634s-Broad--arter waiting any
where from three to fifteen precious and
profane minutes. After pathetic, then
peremptory then inarticulate appeals
to the operator. one may get the num-
Der one is after: but It is gambling
with destiny. and few business men
have the time for that sort OF arf,use-
ment
1t is the common experience An New
York that report OF Busy" or
Doesn't answer" is made to callers,
when the phone asked for is free and
open and in perfect working order.
Delays, wrongly translated calls, aloof-
ness and inattention on the part of the
apparently uninterested Misses operating
the Exchange switchboards, have been
the daily experience OF newspapers,
business houses and private individuals.
Tho situation is so bad indeed. that, af-
ter the habit of Americans 1t has be-
come a sort of bitter Jest in any com
rany when an afflicted telephone sub
scriber happens to mention his woes
In war time, the let-down in a service
winch used to be the pride OF the city,
which used to be one OF the boasts of
New Workers when they met less-fa-
vofed persons from other cities, was I'M
deistood and patiently tolerated. The
fact that the Government withdrew
thousands of highly trained operators
10 l.
needs and mechanics tire fact that in
creased business in war time had to be
hanoied by reduced and insutficiently
trained new staff. the fact that 1t was
imnossiole In war time to install new
central offices and new exchanges-all
thesc matters were comprehended and
an.ably put up with. But what people
nave been complaining about recently,
out or sore experience, Is that the serv-
ics offered by the New York Telephone
Company to-day. more than five months
AFTER the signing of the armistice. re-
mains as unsatisfactory as it was FIVE
months before the war ended. And
everybody has been asking: What is
me trouble why has the service not
been improved?
Service Below Standard.
IN an attempt to get an answer to
this question THE SUN, after a silent
endurance of months Of troubles OF its
own. went to the New York Company
yesterday for an explanation The
Ienerai Manager. J. A. Stewart. was
inaccessible. but subordinates who spoke
sor him attempted to explain. In the
nrst place. they admitted frankly
enough that the service was below
standard. There was no argument
about that They denied. however. that
II was as bad as general report insists
ihey insisted that improvement was be-
Ing made constantly. Here Is the ex-
PLANTATION which comes from the big
main Office OF the company at 10 Dey
street:
THE business of the telephone COM
pany has increased tremendously-!s
increasing tremendously every week.
we are trying to meet all demands with
insufficient facilities and an insufficient
number OF operators. We are now at
work installing the necessary new
equipment and recruiting for our operat-
ing stan. but that takes time and we
have not had enough time since the war
ended to solve this vast problem
When Will 1t be solved? We simply
don't know. We hope 1t will be soon.
but that depends on many factors. 1t
has not been possible to overcome in a
few months OF this period OF RECONSTRUCT
ton the handicaps imposed by almost
two years of restricted construction
New buildings and completed switch.
boards such as we must have to meet
New fork's hunger for phones cannot
be improvised nor can large numbers OF
additional employees be trained to the
highest point of efficiency In so short a
period OF time. Therefore we have not
yet been able to bring your telephone
service back to the same high stand
ards that characterized il in pre-war
days. But our policy of striving to give
TO the biggest city In the world the best
telephone service in the world still ex-
lists and to-day our efforts are centered
in the work OF supplying the most effi-
Client service that the present unsettled
conditions permit.
I'VE hope the public will remember
that thousands OF highly trained tele-
phone men and women who were called
upon to leave our service and enter that
Of the Government have not yet been
returned to US. That is a big factor in
the present reduced service. These are
in France. in Washington and In other
centres of Government activity. When
the Government will return these ex-
perts to US we simply don't know. That
Is what makes the problem OF restor-
ing satisfactory conditions so difficult
| TO solve.
Needs OF Company.
I've need six new central office
buildings. additions TO eleven existing
central office buildings, seventeen new
central office switchboards and additions
TO thirty-six existing central Office
switchboards. 1t requires a year 10
erect a new central Office building, n
year to manufacture the complete
| equipment for a new central Office build
ing and nearly another year to install
1t. But we have our plans made for
| improvements In a big construction pro-
gramme covering two years and We are
already at work on these plans.
I'VE don't say that It is going to
| takH two years TO restore perfectly sat
| lsfactory service. We hope to do much
better than that. But II will take abe ut
| two years to construct tho new central
| offices and equip them and improve the
existing central offices and their equip
ment in the way that will satisfy us.
New Yorks telephone system was
| we'll prepared for every emergency OF
peace but II was not designed and built