348 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



Further development work on phantom transposition systems and im- 

 provements in the balance of phantom repeating coils added to the ad- 

 vantages of phantom working on non-loaded open-wire lines. 



To indicate the range and variety of the work done by Jewett's group, a 

 copy of his report to Mr. Warren for the year 1906 is given in AppendLx II. 



1907 Reorganization 



Early 1907 saw a serious reaction following the business boom which 

 reached its climax in 1906. Difficulty had been experienced by the Ameri- 

 can Company in disposing of a large issue of bonds and "the financial sky 

 was filled with the scudding clouds that foretold the impending storm. A 

 period of retrenchment and doubt had begun." This situation resulted in 

 the retirement of Mr. Fish as president and the election of Theodore N. 

 Vail on May 1, and was followed by a quick drastic reorganization of the 

 telephone organization under \^ail's careful planning. 



To carry out his broad plans on engineering, development, and research, 

 Vail selected as the new Chief Engineer for the American Company John J. 

 Carty, who at the time was Chief Engineer of the New York Telephone 

 Company. Carty's reorganization activities during the summer of 1907 

 resulted in a consolidation of the development laboratories of the Bell System 

 in the Engineering Department of the Western Electric Company at New 

 York. This new organization included a substantial portion of the Chicago 

 group of development engineers, and several members of the American Com- 

 pany's Boston group. The amalgamated organization expanded almost 

 from its inception, and nearly two decades later became the Bell Telephone 

 Laboratories, Inc. 



The 1907 reorganization also resulted in the Western Electric Company's 

 taking over all of the inspection activities that previously had been carried 

 on by units of the American Company's Engineering Department. The 

 Engineering Department itself was drastically reduced in size and in Septem- 

 ber 1907 moved to New York along with executive departments. Charts 

 dated June 1907 and December 26, 1907, pages 400 and 401 respectively, 

 show the organization set-up prior to and after the reorganization. 



The late spring threats of drastic reorganization had been quite disturb- 

 ing to the Boston engineers, especially to those who had only recently 

 started their telephone careers. Several of them, including Jewett, began 

 to wonder whether they might not have made a mistake in joining the 

 Telephone Company. A number of attractive college teaching offers 

 which reached Jewett at about that time inclined him towards a resumption 

 of his academic career broken in 1904, but the temptation was thrust aside 

 after he had made a special visit to New York to interview the new Chief 

 Engineer relative to the prospects for future advancement in the Telephone 

 Company. 



