xii AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
THE TELEPHONE 
5 oe ar 
On November 3 the universal usefulness of the Bell 
System was shown as never before. 
It was an inti- 
mate, integral part of the election machinery. And 
by the time old Trinity Steeple chimed midnight the 
Bell Service had reliably informed farmers and house- 
holders throughout the nation that Mr. Taft was elected. 
from election district to election district in 
Erie County, New York, indicated by a 
rule the politicians follow that Taft had 
carried the State of New York. 
By eight o’clock the crowds in front of the news- 
paper offices knew it. 
By eleven the approximate size of the majority in 
Ohio was known. 
In the newspaper offices of the single city of 
Philadelphia, between 200 and 300 Bell telephone 
operators were announcing the bulletins to every 
subscriber who “‘rang up.”’ 
In thousands of newspaper offices over the coun- 
try, tens of thousands of operators were doing the 
same thing. 
In what other country could it have happened ? 
Comparison is futile. Yet as a telephone achieve- 
ment it only marks the passing point of progress 
reached by a service which set out in the beginning 
to occupy the wole field of telephony. 
The apparatus, the operators, the lines—the 
whole equipment of the service simply measured up 
to the busiest hour capacity of the Bell Companies. 
But it is an object lesson to those who are really 
interested in the development of the telephone to 
its point of greatest public utility. 
It emphasizes the value of federation in national 
telephone work—the necessity of co-operation, of 
a common investment which provides an equipment, 
on a business basis, capable of carrying the country’s 
telephone traffic at the buszest hour of the busiest day. 
This cardinal principle which guided the original 
Bell Telephone Company remains the guiding in- 
fluence in the affairs of the associated Bell Com- 
panies, 
se returns telephoned by seven o'clock 
There is an investment in the equipment of these 
companies to-day of about $600,000,000. The 
wonderful development which has resulted from 
this unexampled investment, which is being in- 
creased at the rate of over $50,000,000 a year, has 
given America the leadership of the world. 
The press of other countries hold up the Bell 
Telephone System as an example of what the 
telephone systems in their own countries might 
become under proper management. 
The press of Paris has been agitated for some 
months over a ‘“‘telephone crisis,’’ brought about 
by the “‘extreme inefficiency’’ of the service, which 
is conducted by the Post Office Department. 
After much debate a programme has been an- 
nounced, calling for five new telephone exchanges 
in Paris to cost $6,000,000, and cable work estimated 
at another $6,000,000, a period of four years being 
allowed for the execution of this work. 
An English telephone expert examined the work- 
ing of the Bell Telephone System during the present 
year, as compared with the system of England. 
“*‘T venture to say,’’ he wrote in The London 
Times of August 12, 1908, “‘that ninety-nine out 
of one hundred business men in Great Britain 
would gladly pay ¢zurce the rates they now pay for 
trunk telephone calls if they could be assured of a 
service approaching the efficiency of the American 
service. 
Every subscriber to the Bell service becomes a 
member of a great, national telephone federation 
whose watchword is promptness; a brotherhood of 
quick communication which is the life of American 
civilization. 
American Telephone & Telegraph Company 
JUST PUBLISHED 
XXVIII. Rules, Tables and Useful Information. 
Practical Steam and == 
Hot Water Heating and Ventilation 
By ALFRED G. KING 
402 Pages. 
An original and exhaustive treatise, prepared for the use of all engaged 
in the business of Steam, Hot Water Heating and Ventilation 
HE standard and latest book published. Tells how to get heating contracts, 
how to install heating and ventilating apparatus. Describes all of the prin- 
cipal systems of steam, hot water, vacuum, vapor and vacuum-vapor heating, 
together with the new accellerated systems of hot water circulation, including 
chapters on up-to-date methods of ventilation; fan or blower system of heating 
and ventilation; rules and data for estimating radiation and cost, and such other 
tables and information as make it an indispensable work for heating contractors, 
journeymen steam fitters, steam fitters’ apprentices, architects and builders. 
This work represents the best practice of the present day and is exhaustive in 
text, diagrams and illustrations. 
IN’ I. Introduction. II. Heat. 11]. Evolution of Artificial Heating Ap- 
CONTAINING CHAPTERS ON paratus. IV. Boiler Surface and Settings. V. The Chimney Flue. 
VI. Pipe and Fittings. VII. Valves, Various Kinds. VII]. Forms of Radiating Surfaces. IX. Locating of 
Radiating Surfaces. X. Estimating Radiation. XI. Steam-Heating Apparatus. XII. Exhaust-Steam Heat. 
ing. XIII. Hot-Water Heating. XIV. Pressure Systems of Hot-Water Work. XV. Hot-Water Appliances. 
XVI. Greenhouse Heating. XVII. Vacuum Vapor and Vacuum Exhaust Heating. XVIII. Miscellaneous 
Heating. XIX. Radiator and Pipe Connections. XX. Ventilation. XXI. Mechanical Ventilation and Hot- 
Blast Heating. XXII. Steam Appliances XXIII. District Heating. XXIV. Pipe and Boiler Covering. 
XXV. Temperature Regulation and Heat Control. XXVI. Business Methods. XXVII. Miscellaneous. 
Valuable Data and Tables Used for Estimating, Installing and Testing of Steam and Hot-W/ater and Ventilating Apparatus are Given 
MUNN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, 361 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CiTY 
Containing 304 Illustrations 
Price $3.00 
January, 1909 
ESTIMATING WHAT YOUR 
HOUSE WILL COST 
By George F. Walsh 
HAT architects call “a snap estimate” 
will often be made for prospective 
clients who indicate a preference for 
a certain style of house. Such an estimate can 
only be regarded of particular value as a guide 
and not as a guarantee, and it holds only so 
far as the house builder lives up to the rough 
specifications furnished. A slight increase in 
the size, an addition of a few exterior extras, 
such as porches, pergolas and conservatories, 
and the adoption of more expensive systems 
of plumbing, heating and lighting, necessarily 
invalidates the “snap estimate” and makes a 
new one imperative. 
A detailed knowledge of the methods em- 
ployed by architects in reaching their “snap 
estimate” is often of great practical value to 
the prospective house owner. It should serve 
as a guide in deciding upon the kind of a house 
needed, and materially help where the ser- 
vices of an overseeing architect are not ob- 
tained. Plans of houses are drawn up by 
many architects, and, with the specifications, 
sold to builders in all parts of the country. 
Unless the intending builder understands some 
of the fundamental principles which govern 
the cost of house construction such plans may 
prove misleading and in the end very un- 
satisfactory. 
Again, one contemplating the erection of 
a home makes a study of houses in different 
parts of the country, and from these many 
observations arrives at what he considers an 
ideal plan. He combines in his own home 
all the good points of several houses which 
appeal to him. What will it cost to erect a 
-house according to certain rough sketches 
which he may be able to draw on paper? It 
is an interesting and fascinating work, this 
study of your neighbors’ houses and the evo- 
lution of your own through a process of 
elimination and selection. 
Architects generally make their “‘snap esti- 
mate” both by the cubical contents and by 
the square foot, with such special considera- 
tions of interior finish and equipment as the 
style of house naturally calls for. Even after 
a detailed study and estimate of the problem, 
the architect does not guarantee absolutely the 
price. The submission of the plans and speci- 
fications to a contracting builder must be the 
final test, and the owner gets his guarantee 
from the latter. The builder makes even a 
closer and more minute estimate than the 
architect, and then accepts the risk of sign- 
ing the contract on the strength of his own 
figures. 
The estimate made by the square foot 
should coincide with the figures reached by 
the estimate according to the cubic foot. Thus 
one checks off the other, and makes the esti- 
mate more reliable. ‘The first essential is to 
draw on paper as accurately as possible the 
ground plan of the house, giving each room 
and closet its exact size in feet and inches. 
It should be understood at the outset that a 
square building is easier to design than one 
with many curves and angles, and also that it 
is cheaper to construct and gives more useful 
space inside. So far as possible the design 
should, therefore, be drawn in a square or a 
rectangle. Of course, it may be impossible 
to follow either of these figures absolutely, for 
the style of house may not admit of it, nor the 
shape of the lot on which the house is to stand 
prove suitable. Both of these considerations 
must not be overlooked. 
The next point is to take up the location 
of the chimney, furnace and kitchen range, 
and the plumbing system. An extra chimney 
and fireplace add considerably to the cost of 
the house. If the dining-room, library, and 
