Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1920-02-28
New York's Hello
Trouble

J NoW IoIk, FED Zb.--W hen ono on tn
! 1000 900 people in New York City reach
e. out these days through that marvelou
/ modern network which makes up tn
| telephone system of the metropolis an,
tries to tag another particular individual ii
the great mass for bit OF talk, he IL likcl,
TO have trouble. The infinitely complicat
ed task Of putting the people Of America
mighty mart IN telephone communication
- all gimmed up and not working proper
", and, despite his stoicism, Fathe
hnickerbooker Is getting filssy about IL
New York is an extraordinarily good
natured city. Or, perhaps. il is merely
apathetic after long years Of wareing adj
versity. Anyway, it bears with Spartan
fortitude the burdens of civic inef-
ficicncy which would not be tolerated by
most American communities.
Even Arctic explorers must have felt an
overwhelming gust Of pity for the citys
recent plight when it suddenly beee :
covered with hnlf foot of snow, which.
fused to melt, but New Workers endured
the catastrophe with their usual stoical
calm. Apparently, they thought il was
only natural that a storm, the traces Of
which would have been quickly cleared
away by less lethargic municipality,
should completely paralyze the trauspo
tation facilities of Manhattan for whole
week; cut off food supplies, and make
walking 10 work as risky an adventure as
winter-climbing in the Alps. The news
| papers said some unkind things about the
| mayor, but for the most part, New York
| bore the loss of its motor cars, its horses,
| its time and it's balance, without whimp-
er.
TAKES pooBY PRIZE.
In like manner, the CITY has for the
past six months nobly endured the strain
of telephone service, which is not only
worse than any encountered In most rural
America. but which has taken the BOBBY
prize away from Europe. Telephoning IN
New York these days has several well-de-
fined and painful stages like pneumonis.
Ii proceeds like this:
Upon calling numbers IN the first
place, YOU are invariably told that the
line liz busy. Then, If central cannot get
rid Of you this way, the next time you are
told that the number does not answer.
Protesting this, you are next connected
with the wrong number. Eventually, after
waiting anywhere from 20 TO so minutes,
you get the right number and about 10 de-
liver an important message 70 the person
at the other end Of the wire when, Of
course, YOU are cut off--for the first time.
After that, you are cut off 30 frequently,
with such logged persistence on the part
Of the operator, that your conversation
never Rots beyond the stage Of desperate
"hellos" II IL does, central Immediately
puts someone else on the same line, so
that, after q fierce, unintelhglble battle,
you are usually compelled 20 hang up the
receiver and sink, weeping and exhausted,
to the floor
But If, by any chance, you are weary
and decide TO retire early, after day OF
hard toll, or il there happens 20 be illness
in your family, why then you are literally |
overwhelmed by tho alertness and et- /
ficiency Of the telephone service. In fact, /
the whole department will concentrate on 4
your line to show YOU how well it works. /
1t will call you up to ask you If the service /
has improved, and after that it will call /
you frequently and loudly Just 70 beg /
your pardon or 20 tell YOU that someone
else had been trying TO get you, but had
become discouraged.
For months, As has been said, New York
has stood this sort Of thing with dignity
md tolerance. IL has ioked about u, and
il has even tried TO pretend that waiting
for telephone calls was good for II. Cheer
Tul attention was directed TO the beneficial
-epose to be gained from sitting with
,ne 9 eyes closed while waiting for call
IN telephone booth, while, not long ago,
L was pointed out by some jolly soul that
standing in a correct position while at the
phone was q splendid form OF exercise.
There is great hunt on for hobbies with
which one may fill III these waits. The ad-
,ocates of systems of mental cslisthenics
hat will corrugate the cereoeliun are
Gaping q consequent harvest.
Apparently the telephone company IS
,ot oh IN. az naNfnSFs 3
act that, by plugging a call properly the
inst time, that call can be handled more
than by making 1t necessary
hat il should be repeated.
PEOPLE GETTING MAD.
Within the last couple OF weeks, how
yer, New York has at last begun to
the well-known fact that
he worm will turn. II has turned on the
Jew York Telephone Company the full
orce of late but ponderous disapproval.
he city Is humming like beehive with
roposed remedies for the present abom-
nable service, as well as threats of what
ill happen If 1t ism t improved. Most en- .
of these is the plan OF q New :
'ork assemblyman, Louis A. CuvIher, of /
/ MANHATTAN, TO introduce into the legls-
iture a bill making the telephone COM
any liable for damages for inefficient
ervice. |
Supreme Court Justice Russell Bene-
let, another prominent New Yorker who Il
lifting up his voice against the telephone Il
,rvice says that if the telephone COM
any will not adopt relief measures of its
sn volition, il should be compelled TO II
turn to its subscribers some part at Il
asst, of the yearly service charge. He II
IN see no reason why, if a subscriber calls
number and can get no response in from
re to 20 minutes, his time thus wasted II
ould not be paid for by the company, in
lrt at least. III
All of this agitation, so unusual on the /
Irt of the habitually placid New Yorker, /
IS precipitated by three important oc- II
rrenees: First, the publishing of re- II
rt by the Public Service Commission II
ION the incompeteney OF the telephone II
-vice, which showed, among other things, l
at there are upward of $4,000 apphca- =
ms for telephones now untitled in New -