Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-04

The Senate's troubles with the au-
| tomato phones are as nothing COM
! pared with the trials Of a man who
! can't get his own home because his
wife insists on talking so long with q
friend.
Such a gentleman is always willing
/ to swear that no woman in the world
can talk so long on the telephone. Per-
haps this is a SANDER on good woman
who, after all, is no more talkative than
the next.
One Washingtonian solved this prob
lem in a masterful manner. After he
had called his home several times, with
the unvarying reply that 1.-THE line is
busy" he decided to try headquarters.
Calling up the telephone company
| itself, he explained his dilemma and
asked that an interruption be made in
the talkfest in progress, and that his
wife be informed that her husband de-
| sired to talk with her on urgent bust-
ness.
This scheme, which worked out sue
cessfully, is recommended to all busy
executives who find themselves foiled
in this little domestic matter. The
telephone company is willing to please
| at all times.
When one stops to think of the null
| titudinous human relations involved in
the successful working of this modern
utility, he will be willing to admit that.
on the whole, that working is carried
out with great smoothneSs.
Just whether the dial phones will
add to or end the troubles of subscrib-
ers remains to be seen. Those who
have have had experience with them in
other cities declare that they are a
great improvement over the old manual
system.
At present there is a great deal Of
confusion in the minds of many tele-
phone users, owing to the fact that
! often they use a dial phone to talk to
some one who is still on the old-style
system. They do not realize that their
call does not go straight through, as
it will when the dials are in universal
use throughout the city, but that 1t
must go into a regular central and
then be completed by hand, as it were
One of the most exasperating things
about the dials, as some see them, Is
that the user has such a helpless feel
ing when the dialing does not work out
correctly. Especially is this true when
the call must be completed as above
outlined, and the "hello grip declares
that you have not dialed the numbers
correctly
But I know I didl" you assert with
some heat. The truth OFTEN Is that you
did not; that you have not yet got so
used to the dial that the instrument is
handled without mistake 1t must be
kept in mind that Figures never lie,"
and that If the dial numbers are done
correctly the call must be completed
correctly.
Many users do not seem to realize
that the dials are pure mathematics.
The letters on them, for instance, are
In reality numbers. Thus If one wants
to call National 5000, what he really
dials Is $4,000. Suppose it was a
party line, and had a ~" on the end
of it. In that event, what he would
dial in reality would be 62-5O00-5.
The greatest difficulty with the dials
is not with the manipulation, but with
the powers of memory, or their lack, of
the user. Perhaps 1t would be nearer
the truth to say that their use requires
a coordination of hand and mind
which approaches, in some slight de-
gree, the abilities Of good tennis play
er or golfer.
BY this we would not imply that
dialing is sport, either indoor or out,
but simply that the use Of the dial
phones does introduce totally new