f)ow tbc ftelepbone tfalfes. 153 



this operator was no worse in that respect than 

 some of his superiors. One of the heads of the 

 Cleveland office at one time in the early days 

 wanted to give some directions to the office at 

 Buffalo. He told the operator at the key to 

 tell Buffalo so and so, when the operator re- 

 plied: "I can't do it; Buffalo has his key 

 open." The official immediately said with se- 

 verity : " Tell him to close it." He forgot that 

 it would be as difficult for him to tell him to 

 close it, as it would have been to have sent the 

 original message. 



But let us go back to the telephone. While 

 it is possible to send a message from New 

 York to San Francisco by telegraph, it is not 

 possible to telephone that distance, because as 

 yet no one has been able to devise a repeater 

 that will transfer spoken words from one line 

 to another satisfactorily. But unless the 

 printer and publisher bestir themselves some 

 one may accomplish the feat before this little 

 book reaches the reader. If this proves to be 

 true, let the writer be the first to congratulate 

 the successful inventor. 



