France 151 



practically non-existent. Such powers exist only in France, and 

 what do we find? That the French telephone rates are the lowest 

 in Europe ? Not at all. On the contrary, with the sole exception, 

 and that only a partial one, of Russia, the French rates (bearing 

 in mind that the subscribers have in the first place to pay for their 

 wires and instruments) are the dearest. 



SWITCHING ARRANGEMENTS 



Transition is the present state of these. In Paris there are 

 ten switch-rooms within the fortifications, which serve (January 

 1895) about 12,500 subscribers. The chief room is at the Rue 

 Gutenberg, and is situated in a special building of ample pro- 

 portions, made fire-proof throughout. The basement contains 

 the access to the sewers, in which, with the exception of a few 

 junction routes between the switch-rooms, practically all the 

 Parisian telephone lines are laid. The cable wires, after being 

 opened out, pass through test and cross-connection boards, and are 

 carried to the switching department upstairs. Here, in a lofty, 

 well-ventilated and well-lighted room, is a Western Electric 

 Company's double-cord, series multiple table for 6,000 metallic 

 circuits, of which some 5,500 are already connected, together with 

 a junction line section of 1,000 lines and a long-distance trunk 

 switching section communicating with the trunk-line switch-rooms 

 on another floor, where are located fifty-four long-distance and 

 ninety-four suburban and short-distance trunks divided between 

 twenty tables. At the Rue Gutenberg more than half the con- 

 nections asked for have to be got through over trunks or junctions. 

 There is nothing special in the construction of the table, the test 

 arrangement only being slightly modified to permit of the use 

 of single- instead of double-wound receivers for the operators. 

 There are three girls to each table of 240 subscribers. A sub- 

 scriber requiring a trunk notifies his operator, who has a service 

 jack to each of the long-distance operators. As each long- 

 distance girl has only one indicator from all the local ones, the 

 service jacks being multipled along the board, the local operator,, 

 before calling, must test. The trunk wanted being free, the long- 

 distance operator asks the trunk switching section of the local 



