The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1926-07-30
THE TELEPHONE IN STRANGE
LANDS
LANDS

LANDS
The telephone, younster of 81
years with considerable accomplish
ments to it's credit in the new world
is looking for other worlds tC
conquer. Just recently it has start
ed it's march of progress through
strange lands in the old world
where communications have been
carried by message bearers almost
since the beginning of time.
Last summer, for instance, ac-
cording to Long Lines, employees
magazine of the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company, New York
the telephone visited Egypt and the
Holy Land and decided to remain
there indefinitely. Consequently, the
next time you are in. Alexandria
your dragoman or guide may be
expected to beam with civic pride in
announcing that from booth right
here in his home town you may now
make reservations with the hote1
clerk in Jerusalem, 800 miles away
AS if determined to keep your
interest focused upon communication
opics he may next point out small
sland in the harbor where once
stood the Pharos of Egypt. This, he
explains, was a great tower whence
prearranged signals were sent by
means of smoke by day, and fire by
night. 1t was the most famous OF
ancient communication devices, built
Turing the conquests OF Alexander
he Great in the Third Century
3. c., and regarded as one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World.
Cairo, City of Many Tongues, ;
farther down the Nile, is also proud
If the fact that electrical science has
Joined with history in linking it with
he Holy Land. Any one seeking
proof of the historical connection
will gladly be shown, in the
suburbs of Cairo, the exact spot
where the infant Moses was found
lmong the bulrushes along the
Nile. Had long distance" existed
those days as now, Pharaoh's
curt reporters in Cairo might have
dictated the story to their home
>fices in Alexandria, Port Said and
Ioly Land cities in time to appear
n the late news editions.
The Holy City, conquered and re
conquered through the dusty cen.
uries. has become a cosmopolitan
patriarch which shelters many races
Ind religions, freedom of worship
being assured for them all. English
Hebrew and Arabic are the of.
icial languages. Naturally the YER
'atile modern telephone speaks
hem fluently and often.
The real test of its linguistic
utility is apparently met in India
according to some authorities there
re within it's boundaries about
orty-tive races, speaking ITO more
VI less different languages an6
lialects. The country is rapidly
Weakening to the possibilities OF
ong distance telephony. AS an ex.
mple of this an important line
vas completed last summer between
Delhi, the capital city, and Bombay
Just north of tropical India 3
ong distance line has made it's ways
O Lhasa, the Forbidden City, deer
\ the heart of Tibet.
For hundred years no white
nan set foot within the city gates
If Lhasa. In this mysterious lane
he telephone has gone native, ;
Nr it is said that one purpose OF
he new long distance line will bc
o spread the news of approaching
INVADERS so that they may be halted
t seems rather paradoxical that thu
modern telephone is admitted int
Tibet partly for the purpose of keep
ng modernism out.
Within the past twelve months :
)ole liue has threaded the jungl
rowth of equatorial Africa and as
ended to the rarar atmosphere a.
Addie Ababa, capital of Abyssinia
In so doing, the telephone agar
proves that it is an intrepid
raveler.
Thus, like fancy free young
emigrart from the New World, the
'ong distance telephone has rolled
Up considerable mileage in it's ex
,ursions through foreign lands.