CHAPTER XXII 

 THE TELEPHONE 



How does the telephone differ from the tele- 

 graph ? 



Of all the remarkable inventions of the last century, per- 

 haps none quite equals the telephone. Probably none has 

 become so directly interwoven with the daily life of so many 

 people. In 1917 there were in this country about 10,000,000 

 telephones, or one to every ten inhabitants, or one to every 

 two families. In ten years the number has more than trebled. 

 In 1915 there were in this country 670,000 miles of pole lines 

 and 19,000,000 miles of wire. It has been estimated that 

 about forty million conversations take place every day over 

 the telephone, that is, about thirteen billion yearly, or an 

 average of 130 to every person in the United States. The 

 telephone has revolutionized our way of living and doing 

 business. 



In New York City alone there were in 1917, 682,000 tele- 

 phones. This city maintains 52 exchanges, employing 5000 

 girls. Between the hours of five and six in the morning, 

 two thousand people are using the telephone, between seven 

 and eight, 25,000 people, and by eleven o'clock, 180,000 

 calls per hour are being answered. Long distance con- 

 versations too are common. In 1909, 18,000 conversations 

 were held between New York and Chicago, or an average 

 of 50 per day. 



Uses of the telephone. The telephone finds use in almost 

 every walk of life where the human voice is used, and makes 



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