The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-04-15
BY V. Z. BUNDY.

I IIIEESaEES
wishes, by telegraph, on Easter, New
Years Day. Mothers Day and other
/ holidays has been growing in popu-
larity among all classes OF people.
| So general has the practice become
that the telegraph company is now
using special blanks on which the
| congratulatory messages are written
and delivered. The Easter blanks are
decorated with appropriate floral de-
signs. in pleasing colors, and with
special envelopes.
Peak Load Days.
Easter Saturday and the other
| holidays mark the peak load days
of the year for the telegraph office"
says w. c. Fox. manager of the local
office of the Western Union.
''In general with the exception of
| these peak days, the telegraph bust
ness closely reflects the general bust
ness transacted in Topeka. When
Topeka merchants and other busine ss
men are busy. we are busy. There
are few comparatively sharp peaks in
our load Telegraph messages are
evenly distributed, for the most part,
thru the days. weeks and months.
I'VE have a little more business
during the summer months-July and
August-than thru the other months
of the year. This is true also in the
merchandising field, particularly In
grain trading, which gives US a large
share of our business"
buSIneSS IS SUGuuy.
In comparing the various hours of
the day, telegraph business is fairly
steady, tho there is a noticeable
fluctuation in business messages. After
business men get to their offices and
open the first mail of the day-usual-
ly along toward IL business
begins to pick up in the telegraph
office as kilograms are sent in an
swer to letters arriving early or in
quest OF letters which should have
arrived on the first mail.
One of the peaks of the day comes
just before noon, and is rather hard
to explain, unless the business mems
stenographers and clerks hold up the
mornings run of wires dictated, and
take them to the telegraph office on
their way to lunch
There is another peak in the days
business just before the offices close
in the afternoon. and the. last minute
business of the day is transacted over
the wires.
Business Brisk in Afternoon.
A few minutes before the closing
of the stock exchanges and markets
in Kansas City and Chicago, there is
a slight increase in business, as buy
and sell orders are transmitted to-
their floors.
'aThe western Union office in To
peka couldn't possibly be swamped, l
think" Fox declared. our system is
so elastic, and capable of so much
expansion. that I can't conceive Of
any circumstances under which We
would be called upon to handle the
$4,000 messages a day which is about
our capacity. Telegraph facilities
now have reached the stage at which
several messages can be sent stimuli
taneously. and in opposite directions.
over the same wire There IS almost
no limit TO the number of sending in
struments We could plug in on our
various circuits.
Easy To Get Operators.
ALSO it is easy to get operators
here in Topeka We have branch Of
fices at each of the railroad stations
and an independent branch office.
work in the main offices, who are
always available in case we need
them, to pick up a little overtime
Two Automatic Machines.
In the Western Union office on
Kansas avenue there are two auto
matte telegraph machines which are
capable of handling some 400 mes
sages an hour-just as rapidly as they
can be typed. The machine, which IS
highly complicated affair, may be
a typewriter and a telegraph instru-
ment. At one end OF the line the
operator types the message. At the
other, with no human hand to guide
1t. the automatic typewriter hammers
out the message with weird, uncanny
facility At the receiving end the
operator sits quiet, while the words
and sentences appear as IL by the
blacklist of black magic, upon the
blanks.
It is no use for the layman to try
to understand the mechanism-suffi-
cient to say that lit works. The ma
chine will transmit telegraphic mes
sages at four times the speed Of the
average Morse operator.
To Meet Business Needs.
The Topeka plant of the Western
Union was designed to meet the needs |
OF the city for some years to come,
and there Is reserve equipment there
to deal with more business than To-
peka could possibly produce at the
present time. A peak load" there
fore. doesn't mean much in the full |
lives of the staff there.
1t Couldn't Be Done.
There is an old story current of a |
suspicious but unsophisticated woman |
who went to the telegraph office to |
send her first telegram.
She was handed blank form, on 1
winch she wrote her message. Then |
she asked for an envelope and sealed |
the message in it. The operator tried |
TO explain that it was necessary for |
MIN to read the message in order to |
CONSERVATION and indignation, fatty |
refused to let him read her private |
correspondence. and left the office.
AS a matter of fact" says Fox, |
IAN operator who handled forty, fifty /
or hundred messages an hour. prob |
or the contents OF any OF them when |
he quits work.
"Of course, the messages which are |
handed to us for transmission are re-
Garded as sacredly confidential Any
operator who dfVulged information