Evening star., 1930-05-23
SENATORIAL PHONE
|. SCORN BURDENS e
Capitol Switchboard Is Load.
ed to Capacity, With No
Room for others.

switchboard service cannot be expanded
on the operators by the refusal of the
Senators to do their own dialing, for
the simple reason that there Is no place
to put extra operators. The board will
seat II and no more.
Mrs. Daley today explained that If the
Representatives follow the lead of the
Senators In banning the dial telephones,
great many more $130-a-month opera
tors and a much larger switchboard
will be needed to take care OF the work.
Representative Abernethy of North
Carolina yesterday introduced resolu-
ton to. remove the system from the
House side. -
Since the dial telephones were in
stalled, most Of the Senators have re-
fused to touch the dials, and the opera
tors have been forced to do it for the
lawmakers. Mrs. Daley said that the
Senators made q few attempts at the
dials and then gave up. the job.
AS result Of this dialing experience,
Mrs. Daley declared she has a good
idea Of the amount of work entailed in
doing the dialing for members of both
houses. She explains that with the
dialing; Job on the operators hands,
only one call at time can be handled.
whereas under the old system several
calls could be handled at the same
time by the operators. For the brief
time the Senator'S did their own dialing,
the operators work was not nearly so
heavy as 1t is now. she said.
Now, she said, Senators are waiting as
long as minutes on some calls, when
the dialed calls have to be switched to
the manual exchanges. Downtown calls
go through faster, she said, but about
four minutes is the minimum wait on
the dialed calls to manual exchanges.
Some help has come from the office
forces of the Senators. They have not
shown the same impatience with the
dials that their chiefs have evinced, and
are doing their best to tighten the
operators burdens.
Mrs. Daley also explained that before
Capitol she had asked Congress for two
additional telephone operators to tighten
the burden of her staff.
"We1n make the best of the situation
until Congress adjourns," she declared.
This is our busiest time of the whole
session, just before adjournment, and
we'll keep all the facilities we have
working that's all we can do"
During recess Mrs. Daley hopes the
switchboard will be enlarged and her
star so expanded that all the dialing
can be done without delay for the
Senate.
Larger quarters for the operators are
assured In the plans for the new House
ONCE Building, where the operators
will be housed when that building Is
completed.
Senator Carter Glass of Virginia
brought about the Senate's revolt
against the dial telephone. His reso-
luton calling for the return to the old
system Of operation was passed without
q record vote yesterday.
Shortly after the Senate took action
on the matter, Representative Aber-
nethy introduced in the House o reso-
luton fashioned along the lines Of Sen
ator Glass to have to dials removed
from the telephones in the House Once
Building and from the House side Of
the Capitol. He said he intended to
press the resolution for early action In
the House. s2s, s.
To the denunciation Of the dials con-
tanned in the Glass resolution. Repre-
sentative Abernethy added: Telephone
companies are putting in dials for the
purpose Of doing away with operators,
tending thereby to increase unemploy-
mept."
Promptly after Representative AberA
nethy introduced his resolution, tele-
phone company omcials conferred with
him to convince him that he should
not press the matter. He says, though.
, he Is still determined to do 80. and
declares that even II he withdraws the
resolution there are many of his coll
leagues who would unite to get the
legislation passed by the House.
In the face Of the congressional OUT
burst against the dials, the telephone
company officials are speechless. They
had hoped, after the Senate outburst,
that the matter was confined to the
Senate, but after Representative Aber-
nethy took action they declined to COM
ment.
President Hoover has refused to have
dials installed on the telephones at the
White House.