New-York tribune., 1920-06-01
n. 7. Co. Says
Phone Service
Has Improved
Vice President Reports
Progress Made Here in
the Face of Continued
and Growing Obstacles
Patience Asked of Public
Promises Within Year CITY
Will Have the s'Finest
Service i'm the World''
Progress in the improve ment of II

Progress in the improvement of the
telephone service in the city in the
face of continued growing obstacles
reported yesterday by J. S. McCulloh.
vice pres dent of the New York Tele-
phone Company. He declared that
since the first Of the year the com
pany has installed more new telephones
in New York City than in any previous
similar period in its history.
Mr.: McCulloh said that 35,41a new
telephones have been placed in the
service during the four months end
ing May /. He called this IAN ac-
complishment that stands out as
great achievement when viewed in the
light Of shortage Of raw and fabricated
mater ais, transportation difficulties
constant disturbances in the Industrial
world and all the other obstacles that
nave stood in the way Of production for
many months"
Despite the efforts Of the company,
however, to bring the service back to
the status it occupied before the war.
Mr.. McCulloh said, 64,834 applications
tor telephone service are still on the
waiting list To install the new teie-
phones, he asserted, meant the addi-
ton of thousands Of miles of wire to
the system, the manufacture, transpor-
tatlon and installation of many new
sections of switchboard, the construc-
ton of new bu ldingS and the enlarge
ment of existing structures and the
employment and training Of hundreds
Of new operators.
Tie cited this work as evidence that
the company is doing its best to i'm
prove the service and satisfy the de-
mands of the people
I'VE have not only been handling
g nf |
able magnitude, but at the same time
we have been endeavoring to supply d
demand for new facilities that is un-
precedented," said Mr. McCulloh. Our
task Is more than one Of expanding our
facilities and working organization to
take better care of the already tremen-
dous telephone traffic and to meet the
enormous demand for new service We
must replace at the earliest possible
date the reserve facilities that were
used up during the war period in meet
/ ing the needs OF the government and
war industries. That reserve was the
one big factor that enabled our COM
pany in normal times to meet without
delay new demands for service as they
arose
"N.' have increased our force of
operators from about $500 on January
l, 1919, to over $4,000 on May Is, 1920.
We have improved the quality of the
service rendered. Our operators answer
calls to-day in one half the time it took
TO answer them at the beginning Of the
year. We have added 100 900 miles Of
wire to our system and we have put in
138 new sections of switchboard.
The telephone organization in New
YORK City, numbering $4,000 men and
women, has been and is doing one Of
the finest jobs that any organization
can point to, but because the materials
we need In the telephone business can
not be secured as rapidly and in as
large quantities as required to even
keep pace with the increased demands
made upon the company. the telephone
situation in New York city is not as
bright as we had hoped it would be at
this time"
Mr.. McCulloh appealed to the public
for continued patience in its demand
for telephone service and promised
that with the execution of the com
pany's $32,000,00O improvement project
within the coming year New York will
again have "the finest telephone serv-
ice in the world, which it had before
the war"
"The improvement that we have
time that we have been handling j
greatly increased volume of telephone
traffic" said Mr.. McCulloh. "Service in
the city since the first of the year has
ranged around the 4,500 900 call mark
daily. The net increase in daily ira c
during the year 1919 is equal to the
total daily telephone traffic of q city Of
the size Of Philadelphia.
THE demand for new service has in
creased, and it continues to be neces-
sary to accept, subject to delay, appli-
cations for new service, and complete
them by giving precedence to those Of
an urgent nature, such as service for
doctors, nurses, hospitals, cases of
serious illness, fire and police, after
which serv CO that is required as a
I business necessity will receive atten-
ton, and then service that is a matter
Of convenience will be cared for when
ever possible.
"Ths classification provides for CIV
ing service as soon as possible to those
who need 1t most. Of the untitled ap-
plications for service on February 4,
29535 were for residence service and
about 16,848 were for business service.
OF the untitled applications to-day,
4O904 are for residence service and
23 $40 are for business service
Zone thing l would like to inpres SO
upon the public, and that is that the
men and women in the telephone or
ganization in New York City have done
and are doing a remarkable job. They
are putting their best efforts into that
task in way that merits the commen-
dation Of the public they serve"