Evening star., 1939-04-23
Telephone System Is
Held Efficient .
By Frederic J. Haskin,

query Is, Of course, wholly rhetorical, but
1t doubtless does seem to persons Of i'm
patient temperament that the American
telephone system specializes in wrong
numbers. Quite the reverse Is the fact
The cold, official fact is that the Amer
lean people get more than 81 900 900 right
telephone numbers every day in the year.
As there are telephone installations fofN
only about one-sixth of the American
population, this means that about four
and one-half right numbers are obtained
each day by every subscriber. While no
official record is made of the wrong
numbers, it seems obvious that there
would not be time on the wires for many
with all these correct numbers rung.
The Bureau Of the Census shows that
the American people are making at the
rate Of 33,618,333,00O telephone calls q.
year. and, in view of the fact that the
United States has more telephones than
all the rest of the world combined, that
means lot of talking.
Some of the statistics gathered by Un-
Gle Sam concerning the telephone system
are amazing. 1t is noted that there are
90,787,OO0 miles of single telephone wire.
One has to look to astronomy or Treas
ury debt figures to find a comparison.
There are some 10000 central Offices.
Exponents Of the advertising type Of
painting like to depict the typical Amer
ican business man as a half-strained,
half-eupeptic individual seated at a city
desk and surrounded by telephones,
shouting first into one and then gasping
into another telephone and thus making I.
the world Of hustling business go around.
Perhaps some individuals do get busi.
ness done that way, but the cool, statis-
tlcal fact is that residence telephones
outnumber business telephones almost
two to one. The Census Bureau shows
that there are 7,0743O0 business tele- !
phones in the United States, but that
there are 12,350,0O0 residence phones.
There are no official figures on the :
number of calls originating at business
instruments and at home instruments =
Such compilation would be difficult; !
that is, 1t would be difficult to classify
what Is a business call and what Of an
other type. For instance, here we have d
call originating at business phone, but :
reaching home phone with message.
mayhap, that the caller will be detained
late at the Office. Again, there is thes
call from home to Office wanting to knows
what time the businessman is coming
home and will he stop by the drug store
and get couple Of bridge decks.
Even though there are only about half =
as many business telephones as residence
ones it probably, almost certainly. is true
that each business telephone has many
calls over it every day while at times
whole days will elapse without q single
call either coming from or going to
residence telephone. Here. again, no
very definite conclusion may be drawn.
A great deal Of business telephoning is
done to home phones. Much canvassing
and selling, much ordering and buying
are done between home and business in ;
struments in these times. :.
And in the rural districts how can onel
classify the use Of the telephone! In
rural communities, in small towns, what
every one is doing is every one else's
business. and, with so many party lines,
remarkable percentage of the popula--
ton can be estimated as being at the
telephone attending to that business
But where are these billions Of tele-
phone calls being made? The Bureau
OF the Census cannot give us statistics
OF the brisk, snappy telephone conversa-
tlons OF lawyers. brokers and other busi-
nessmen, nor of the long-winded con-
versations Of the good ladies whose words
pour over the wires in torrents like the,
waters come down at Lodore But the
bureau can tell us in a geographical.
sense who is doing the talking. Il
AS might be expected, New York State j.
leads the country, with an annual total
for the last recorded full year Of 4,22e,-r
100000. Those billions Of calls are, for
the most part, local within New York
City, but the rest of the State accounts
Tor a great number, and, of course. an
enormous number are ng-distance calls
reaching not only all over this country.
but to half the world. Almost anybody's
snap guess would probably place Illinois
IN second place, with such pulsing heart
- ~A>S' "a SAAASo6O Wlllllll lJS UOIOcTS,
but that guess would be wrong. Cali
fornia takes second place with 2,632, 49,
600 calls, while Illinois comes third with
2,3S8,33O,OO0 The combined population
OF California's cities would be only about
equal to the single Illinois city of Chi
cago. This is an interesting commen-,
tary on the volume Of small town and
rural telephoning in some regions.
Pennsylvania comes next with 2.1o7-
100000 calls and hard following is Ohio
with 1886, 100000. And here, too. Is a
strong indication Of volume of rural tele-
phoning. for, 1t must be remembered 8
Pennsylvania has the two great metropo-,,
Hses OF Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
which far outweigh Cleveland and Gin
cinnati. While Texas is rightly proud
OF such cities as Houston and Fort Worth.
they scarcely rank with the vastly great ,
er congregations Of the North and East, =
and yet Texas ranks next in telephones
with 1,730, ,146,000. Texas is the largest =
State, to be sure, but there are vast
stretches OF 1t where not a dwelling 4
stands. not even lonely ranch house, ,
much less town. And yet Texas ranks :
sixth among the States In number of p
telephone calls.
Massachusetts shows l,406, 100 900 ?
AEisso,,rd 4 nm mn mn