Evening star., 1936-12-26

and when too many "hard" tele.
phones come into one position Mrs.
Daley distributes the activity accord.
ingly. Thus, this year she has taken
care of congested areas on the board
by the addition of the two new posi-
tions.
There are % positions on the Cap.
itol switchboard. with SIS incoming
lines TO the Capitol and 10 outgoing
lines from the Capitol. Likewise, there
are ''tie-lines" to every Department.
of the Government, incoming and out.
going. In addition to these tie-lines,
there are Is outgoing lines known as
Government lines" and IL incoming
Government lines" That Is, these
represent lines that go through the
regular city exchange and they are
used when a department called can.
not be reached over the tie-line be-
cause of being busy or for any other
reason.
''If some Senator wants to get q
certain Government department i'm
mediately, and all lines over that
switchboard are busy" Mrs. Daley ex-
plains. "he does not need to wait. We
go right in on one of these outside
Government lines and he gets the
connection through the downtown ex-
change" There Is special Govern.
ment" board at the local telephone Of
flee that takes care of this excess
Government call work.
During the session, each operator
on the Capitol switchboard will handle
from $50 to 800 calls an hour, on
every one Of the % positions Of the
board. The peak last year, in one
days work, recorded by Mrs. Daley
from every position, was more than
$4,000 telephone calls-a record that
some small cities cannot equal.
WORKING on the Capitol SWITCH
board Is different from telephone
work anywhere else in the world For
one thing, there is periodic and COM
plete change of personnel. With Rep
resentatives in and out of office every
two years. 1t behooves every operator
to keep abreast of the changes in
names, Offices and locations of new
members. She must do the same with
respect to Senators, and this change,
occurring as it does every six years,
presents an additional problem in
keeping abreast Of political moods az
reflected in the legislative membership
Besides these changes, there are
presidential years to be considered,
when a complete change in cabinet
members names. location or numbers
may be looked for. as well as familiar
ity with the names Of administrative
officers who have been retained.
AS If this were not enough to com.
plicate the life of the most alert and
intelligent operator alive, there are such
matters as committees, new Govern.
ment department officials. and resig.
nations or requirements. For the op-
orator is not only called upon to have
a thorough knowledge of the personnel
directly using the switchboard from
the Hill, she is expected as well to
know those with whom the Senator or
Representative would connect at the
other end of the line. And, in view
Of the frequent newcomers to the Hill.
her knowledge is essential. for legisla-
tors green" at the ropes depend upon
her to put through their calls prop
erly.
There Is another feature Of tele-
phone service on the Hill which dis
tinguishes 1t from service anywhere
else. Very few numbers are used over
the Capitol switchboard. You, In your
private home. cannot pick up your
telephone and say, I'D like to speak
to Mrs. Jones'" or els Frank Smith
home tonight?" But Representatives
and Senators can do things like this.
In fact. they ask for practically every
connection made, by name instead Of
number.
"I'd like to speak to the Vice Presi-
dent" says a senatorial secretary.
That's easy. But when another sec
retary picks UP the phone and says,
I'D like to speak to the chairman OF
the Foreign Relations Committee" or,
when the chairman Of the Appro-
priations Committee comes out Of the
(Continifed an pace Roy