The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-09-19
BY ROBERT RUARK Waterbury Democrat Washington
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 Waterbury Democrat Washington
 Correspondent The largest single switchboard in the world 8 private exchange big enough to service a city of 12S ,000- has been hooked up in the new, Army Pentagon Buildings in Airing ton, Va, thus providing opportunity for enough wrong numbers to make Alexander Graham Bell toss in his tomb.
 There's never been anything quite like Army's new call board. It is the child of months of research by the Bell Company, and the finished pro- duct will occupy some 32,0OO square feet of space. Have few statis- tics:
 The exchange will require some 300 operators and supervisors, and will serve upwards of 16,000 main telephone stations. A hundred and twenty five operators will be plug ging in calls simultaneously, and the 145 switchboard positions will re- quire 370 incoming trunk lines. 200 outgoing lines, $40 direct tie lines to other government departments, 100 inter- departments tie lines, and 200 long distance loops. Whewl Army's got phones that jingle, ajngle, jim gle
 It takes a hardy girl to hold down any governmental switchboard these days. and Arny's about the toughest of them all. The old Army board, about one-fourth as large, handled daily average of 95 900 in- coming calls, 100000 outgoing calls, 125, ,O00 branch-to-branch calls and something like 1000 long distances which is mess of conversation, If anyone should ask you. -
 GIRLS PAID
 BETTER
 Keeping the requisite number of telephone operators hired is one of the heaviest administrational prob lens in Washington today. Army's girls are paid much better than operators in most private industry; starting pay is $120 a month, as against SIS. or $50 on the outside. Even so, the job is nerve-wracking to a point where high turnover is continuous.
 To give you some idea of the immense engineering job required for the installation of the new board, 12 submarine cables, weigh ing over 250 tons, were laid across the Potomac River from Washing ton to Arlington. The Pentagon building itself houses 68,oo0 miles count 'ern = of connecting wire.
 The telephone industry, like everything else, has travelled far piece since the last war.
 LABOR SHORTAGE
 SERIOUS
 The man-power shortage, espe- cially in the west, seems to be get ting more and more serious. Paul McNutt, chairman of the War Man. f power Commission, has declared 12 western states critical labor area" the first to be established in this country. In this area-Washington, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming - workers em- ployed in the non-ferrous and lum- Der industries may not switch em- ployment without first obtaining separation certificate from the U. S. Employment Service. No em- ployer in the area, whether or not engaged in essential production, may hire workers in any of the de- signated critical occupations except upon presentation of the certificate. To meet an emergency in the California sugar-beet harvest, Mc- Mutt has authorized importation of 500 Mexicans. Transportation, sub- sistence and medical care is to be provided by Farm Security Admin istration, and a minimum wage of 30 cents an hour has been estab- nshed.
 The nations capial itself is feeling a deep labor shortage. Hordes of eager youngsters no longer flock here with the same yen for $12o and $130 8 month jobs.
 War Department is going nuts trying to hire several thousand new $1440 clerks, and most of the other agencies are equally frantic. Civil Service is practically on its knees. begging people to come here to work.
 This unwillingness to plunge in- to the Washington turmoil has caused Civil Service to revise its | junior clerical tests, following a new, sirnplified form, and the bu- reau is pleading with people who live within 50 miles of the city to come to work as their part of the war effort.