The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-12-01
Telephone Exhibits Centers
OF Interest AT ExpositiOns
From 1876 To Present Time
Bells First Instrument Shown
At Philadelphia; Today's
Fairs Feature "VOder"

"My God-it talksl" was the
exclamation not of profanity but of
wonder and amazement with which
Emperor Pedro of Brazil greeted a
demonstration of the newly invented
telephone at the Centennial EXPOSE
ton in Philadelphia in 1875. The
intimate and personal nature of tele-
phone service has been the quality
that has attracted exposition crowds
to the exhibits at which the telephone
and telephone service have been fea-
tured. In competition with far more
elaborate and spectacular exhibits, the
telephone has always proved draw
ing card, because exposition crowds
could not only see it in use, but use it.
Sixty-three years later, machine
which does actually talk - which
creates speech sounds and forms them
into words and sentences-is being
demonstrated at this years Worlds
Fairs at New York and San Fran
cisco. Called the "Voder," it il q
product of the Bell Telephone Labora-
tories, research arm .sf the Bell Sys-
tenn, and is made almost entirely Of
equipment used in the furnishing Of
everyday telephone service.
From a marvellous machine which
could transmit spoken words . few
hundred feet in 1875 to one which can
manufacture speech In 1899 is some
indication Of the progress Of the re-
search which has made telephone serv-
ice commonplace convenience today.
The first international exposition at
which the Bell System-though It was
not known as such at the time-had
an exhibit was the Exposition Uni
verselle, at Paris, in 1889. This ex-
hibit was provided by the American
Bell Telephone Company and the
Western Electric Manufacturing Com
pany. Emphasis was placed on the
development Of long distance service,
in which, as at all times since the In
vention of the telephone, the United
States then held commanding posi-
ton.
The American Bell Telephone Com
pany's exhibit at the great Columbian
Exposition in Chicago in 1893 was to
afford proof that it sometimes pays to
dream. By then the thousand mile
telephone call was an accomplished
fact. The switchboard and the long
distance booth were distinctly the most
popular of all the remarkable things
the Bell System had on view, for they
most clearly demonstrated the actual
application of research and expert
mentation to the practical needs Of
everyday life.
A switchboard at the Pan-American
Exposition at Buffalo in 1901 was
destined to play an important role in
drama Of nationwide Importance.
President Mckinley, while attending
a public reception at the exposition,
had been shot by an assassin. What
had been an almost commonplace piece
of equipment became, in an instant,
the communication center of nation
facing crisis.
The first transcontinental telephone
line was formally put in service on
January 25, 1915, about month be.
fore the opening Of the Panama.
Pacific Exposition at San Francisco.
The Bell System exhibit at this ex-
position was housed in its own build
ing.
The Philadelphia Sesquicentennial
Exposition Of 1926 celebrated half
century of another form of freedom
the emancipation Of the human voice
from the bonds Of time and distance.
Oscar, the dummy with the micro.
phonic ears, amused and mystified
visitors at the Century Of Progress
Exposition in Chicago, in 1888, as the
Voder does today at New York and