334 SCIENCE OF HOME AND COMMUNITY 



it possible for all kinds of business to be done much more 

 quickly. Large hotels are equipped with a complete system 

 of telephones. Stores of all descriptions receive a large 

 share of orders by telephone. When Benjamin Franklin 

 was postmaster general at Philadelphia, it required at least 

 three weeks to send a letter by mail to Boston and receive 

 an answer. Now the two cities are connected by telephone, 

 and one may in less than five minutes transact business which 

 required three weeks, or 5000 times as long, a century ago. 



Factories and mines are equipped with telephones which 

 allow the work to be controlled from a central office. Some 

 railroads are now using it in place of the telegraph in dis- 

 patching trains. 



Many of the larger newspapers are equipped to gather 

 news by means of telephone instead of telegraph. For 

 every edition of the New York World there has been an 

 average of 750 telephone messages. The United Press has 

 devised -a method by means of which news is telephoned at 

 one time over one wire to ten or twelve newspapers situated 

 in as many different towns. 



In emergencies the telephone is of special value, as in 

 cases of sickness, fire, or burglary. In our large cities it is 

 possible to reach the entire police force by use of a system 

 of telephones. In times of war a string of telephone wires 

 enables the generals to control the actions of their soldiers. 



The telephones on farms. There has been a great in- 

 crease of the use of the telephone on farms, and it is doing 

 much to lessen the isolation of farm life. In 1910 there were 

 2,000,000 telephones in farmhouses. Every fourth farmer 

 has a telephone which puts him in touch with his neighbors 

 and markets. The telephone is of great aid to the farmer 

 in marketing his produce, especially his perishable crops. 

 It is of special value also in case of emergency in calling for 

 help. For example, in 1909 a three million dollar fruit crop 

 was saved in Colorado by use of the telephones. One spring 



