Wiirtemberg 42 1 



nection with the Wiirtemberg trunk service some subscribers have 

 sand-glasses timed to run out in five minutes attached to their 

 instruments. This assists them to regulate their talk and to 

 check the accounts rendered. 



5. International trunk communication. This already exists 

 with Baden, Bavaria, Austria, and Switzerland, but the intercourse 

 is not unrestricted, and is subject to seemingly strange limitations 

 and variations, especially with Austria and Switzerland. All 

 subscribers in Wiirtemberg may be connected with those in 

 Pforzheim and Mannheim (Baden), and in Augsburg, Munich, and 

 Lindau (Bavaria). The subscribers in Heilbronn may also talk 

 to Heidelberg. Stuttgart and Ulm may alone speak with Stamberg, 

 Tutzing, and Feldafing (suburbs of Munich). Again, only the 

 subscribers in Ravensburg, Friedrichshafen, and Langenargen 

 may converse over the Swiss frontier to St. Gallen, Romanshorn, 

 &c. These restrictions are understood to be due to the Imperial 

 Political Bureau at Berlin, and no doubt are justified by excellent, 

 if inscrutable, reasons. The time unit with Baden and Bavaria 

 is five minutes, except with Heidelberg and Mannheim, where it 

 is only three. Three minutes is also the unit with Austria and 

 Switzerland. The rates are uniform, being is. per unit to Baden, 

 Bavaria, and Austria, and is. zd. to Switzerland. With Baden all 

 talks that are asked for are charged, whether had or not, unless 

 the line or apparatus is at fault. Thus a subscriber at Stuttgart 

 asking for one at Pforzheim who does not answer when called has 

 to pay the fee all the same. He is also mulcted if, after asking, 

 he leaves his instrument and the connection is made in his absence. 

 The first rule is calculated to discourage the use of the trunks, 

 since it fines the caller, who is not to blame ; it would be better 

 for the State to take the risk of the occasional absence of a called 

 subscriber. But the second is quite justifiable, and its enforce- 

 ment tends to foster that spirit of attention and intelligence 

 amongst the subscribers which is so helpful towards a satisfactory 

 service. A stupid or careless person who either cannot or will not 

 (and there are plenty such) learn the rules for using his telephone 

 is an abomination, and more to be dreaded than half a dozen 

 busier men who know exactly what they are about. The author 

 has known several directors of telephone companies who did not 



