The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1921-01-20
connected when through with con-

LnelE pTaSe OF the long distance tele-
phone service here.
Mr.. J. M. Wiesner brought out the
matter of being unable to get private
lines; that new phones being put in
were being put in two or more on a
line and mentioned the inconvenience
of this.
Another complaint that was made
was the annoying habit of Central of
butting into conversation every few
seconds with waiting, waiting and
that there should be some other way
for her to know that the conversation
is ended.
The time being up for discussion,
President Tholen called upon Addison
for reply. Mr.. Addison said: ''I
always have to start out with a little
story, of course. A certain fellowwas
in his house when a burglar came in
and ordered him to hold up his hands
and tell him where the money was.
Said he to the burglar, IF you think
there is any around here, I'll help you
hunt it but for Gods sake dom.
shoot
First, l want to- say that 1 am aw-
fully pleased to hear this discussion.
It is a very frank discussion of the
service rendered by the Hays Ex-
change. l am very much disappoint-
ed, however, with the size of the
crowd. The quality is excellent, we
have the representative business men,
the representative farmers and the
representative citizens, but this room
should have been packed for this dis
cussion today and I wish it had been.
First, l want to give our friend,
Bert Reed, credit for a lot of real,
good, sound sense in his presentation
of this matter. He has got the thing
right by the ear now. All that a tele-
phone company has to give is service
and the way they can give service
that is reasonably efficient is by con-
structive. criticism and also by CO.
operative action and that is what we
are getting today That is what we
want, what the telephone company
desires, that is what the citizens are
here to give and I am awfully pleased
that nobody has lost his head, got mad
and thrown the telephone out be-
cause telephone service is the greatest
factor within your city limits. 800
| of all business is performed through
the telephone-bank business, groc-
cry business, industrial business all
are transacted over the telephone.
Nobody walks today but everybody
talks Very few ride, but everybody
talks and believe you will grant that
the telephone today is the mos essen
tial and potent factor in transactine
business that we have within oul
midst
Now, the policy of the United Tele.
phone Co. is progressive in the ex.
IRENE. If the service is insufficient
if it is inadequate either by reason OF
its equipment or its management OF
personnel generally, they want to
correct it." Here Mr.. Addison
called upon number OF
men present asking them il
they knew. how many operator;
were employed at the Central Office
He asked Mr.. Maxwell, Mr.. Gu!
Riedel, Mr.. Lewis and none of then
had any idea. During the last twelve
months" he resumed, ''the total mum
Der of operators employed in our of
flee was "A. During the months OF
June and July we had 26 operator.
on our payroll trying in some way tt
deliver service to this community. A
this present moment we have 10. We
find out of these Al operators, 5 OF
them remained II months, 2 ter
months, eight months, six months
q five months, z four months, three
months, 6 two months, 10 one month
We find from our experience of some
fifteen years, that it takes no
less than three months tt
qualify an operator to de-
anything at all so as to render
anything like efficient service. De
spite this tremendous turnover, com
parison shows that the Hays operat
ors are superior to those in the large
towns, such as Kansas City, anc
other places, due in large degree tina
: we are an educational center anC
can pick our operators from this com
munity where education is the rule
Five Of our 10 operators are Higl
School graduates and we seldom tax,
on an operator unless she has passed
the sixth, seventh or eighth grade, 81
that she can. intelligently serve tn,
public. 1 am not condemning tn.
operators because we have, 1 think
the best bunch of operators on tn,
United Telephone System.
The plant and equipment has beer
largely dwelt upon by previous speak
ers. This plant was rebuilt in 1903
9. At that time there were only fou
4 operators and Mrs. Addison was on
s of them and we knew everybody
D knew everybody's wife and daughter
2 and prompt and efficient service wa
comparatively easy to give. But tn