which can be traversed only by particies of less than 1 mm. This powder is introduced into a microphone, arranged as follows:

A movable electrode constituted by a carbon plate of the same thickness as the particles, is connected to one of the terminals of the telephone line, while the other electrode is formed of a carbon block in the neighborhood of which the particles are placed. This electrode is arranged on a thin carbon plate to which the other wire of the line is connected. The distance separating the electrodes is just one-tenth of a mm., the whole being solidly fixed in an ebonite box.

The following advantages are claimed for this new device.

On account of the great number of contracts between the plane and light particles used, the apparatus is highly sensitive. The vibrating surface is diminished as compared with other types of microphone, and there are no insulating bodies retarding the vibrations between the two electrodes, such as felt, wool, etc. There are further no polarization phenomena and the apparatus will not give rise to the production of electric arcs. It will finally be possible, according to the new system, to construct microphones of smaller weight, smaller dimensions, and at the same time of a sensitiveness at least identical with that of other types of apparatus. When connecting to this microphone a small receiver, the terminal of which is introduced into the hearing circuit, a complete microtelephonic apparatus of the minimal weight of 27 grms. is obtained, susceptible of being fixed to the ear by means of a spring.

A. G.

Gould Has a Plan-In His Mind.

"Within five years the Western Union Telegraph Company will own practically all of the Independent telephone exchanges and lines in this country,' said Ernest T. Bigler, of Aurora, Ill., to a representative of the Des Moines, Iowa, Register-Leader, recently.

"I have reason to believe that every detail of the plan has been worked out by Gould.

"It is a matter of common knowledge among business men interested in mat

ters akin to the telegraph and telephone. business that the Bell company recently tried to sell out to the Western Union when it was charged up by the Western Union with several several million dollars'; worth of service over the telegraph company's wires. Geo. Gould is known to have answered in substance that it would seem folly to pay hundreds of millions for the Bell lines and business when the Western Union is already equipped for long distance business and with not to exceed $30,000,000 could equip exchanges in every city which it touches.

"And when you stop to think of the fact that it reaches about 25,000 points in this country you see the extent to which this scheme might be carried.

"I confidently expect to see the Western Union doing the long distance telephone business of the country within five years. No other concern in the world has the extent of wire lines constructed that it has. Proper equipment would mean instantly a long distance telephone line from San Francisco to New York, without a dollar spent in wire construction.

"It is marvelous-this project; one of the big things of the business world to-day, in my judgment. I astonish my friend Senator Henry Evans at Aurora, who is extensively engaged in the telephone business, by predicting this outcome of it. He refuses to admit it, but he is getting into Chicago now with his country lines through the tunnel company, which is nothing more nor less than the Gould or Western Union property. Evans, by the way, owns the telephone exchange at Oskaloosa.

"Senator Evans knows a great many people in Iowa, and on account of his long connection with Illinois politics I suppose that many Iowa people know him."

A private telephone wire 1,000 miles long is being strung along the New York Central railroad system from New York to Chicago. This will be the longest private telephone system in the world. A No. 8 copper wire is used, and it will touch every important city on the lines of the new York Central system.

The British Government and the National Telephone Co.

The interest which has been taken in the intentions of the British government with regard to the National Telephone Company, Limited, and the future of the telephone service now carried on by the company, has been shown by the many questions on the subject which have lately been put to the postmaster general in the House of Commons. Most of the replies given were disappointing, as they contained no further information than that negotiations on the subject were passing between the postoffice and the telephone company. On June 16 the postmaster general gave a more definite reply to one inquiry. It was to the effect that after careful consideration he had come to the conclusion that it would not be in the public interests to exercise the power of compulsory purchase. He would, therefore, not give notice to the company. He was unable to say whether or not the negotiations which were in progress would lead to a satisfactory result.

A further question was asked by Mr. T. G. Bowles, viz: whether there was to be competition between the postoffice and the national Telephone Company, or whether they were to go on with the existing arrangement?

The postmaster general replied that there was plenty of room for the use of the telephones of the postoffice and the National Telephone Company without their entering into direct competition. If the negotiations which were then in progress failed, the circumstances would.

GHG

he said, entirely change, and he would have to consider what action he would take as regards competition.

It has looked latterly as if the postmaster general were likely to be "bounced" into taking over the business, as we say in England. The reply given to Mr. Bowles showed that he had no intention of being so treated, and has left the matter in a slightly less uncertain state than before. There will be no compulsory purchase, and, according to the postmaster general's statement, it is doubtful whether there will be a voluntary sale and purchase.

Works, Office and House Telephones.

The large scope for the employment of the telephone which warehouses, factories and private residences in the United Kingdom afford, to which I have alluded in earlier notes, is gradually being realized. A considerable business in providing private or department tele. phones is now being done.

The later operations of the National company have included the installing of private telephones for the Lambeth Board of Guardians (London), and for different trading enterprises, and of 73 metaphones at St. James' Court. Buckingham Gate. These metaphones are in connection with the passenger lifts.

A London firm making a specialty of private telephone work recently completed an interesting telephone service at Castle Carey, Somerset. In this case a local-country service has been equipped, extending for some miles from the center, pole suspension being adopt

ed on the country roads. The equipment comprises six installations. The firm in question has also extended the telephone service to the Wandsworth and Clapham Union and has carried out an extensive works' installation for Price's Patent Candle Company, Limited. The company's works and departments at Battersea, South London, which form one of the most extensive concerns of the kind in the United Kingdom, have been completely provided with inter-office and departmental telephones. This private installation field is the widest and most promising field of employment for the telephone in the United Kingdom at the present time. The advantage of connecting the different departments of large mercantile or manufacturing concerns by telephones privately is being more widely recognized every week, and orders for installations of the kind are being placed. The value of this class. of work from the point of view of the telephone engineer is considerable. The installations yield much work for electricians.

The companies making telephones for intercommunication are now vigorously pushing their instruments. Much attention has lately been given to wall and desk transmitters and receivers, in order to produce instruments compact and attractive in design and convenient to use, and a large production of these goods is now in progress. With so much activity in the field of private telephony, and with the movement for the more general use of public telephones steadily gaining strength, the prospects of telephony in the United Kingdom are brighter at the present moment than they have ever been.

Municipal Telephones.

Advocates of municipal telephones in the United Kingdom are elated by the results of the working of the municipal telephones at Portsmouth. The accounts for the last year of the telephone department have been issued. They show that the income was £6570 12s 5d and the expenditure £3890 7s 7d, leaving a balance of net revenue, of £2680 4s 10d. On March 31, 1904, there were 1,384 subscribers' lines and 1,659 telephones

in use. The capital outlay on the system has been £31,895.

There are 6 exchanges; 2 underground cables, 7 distributors; 5661⁄4 miles of overhead metallic circuit wires and 1,224 miles of underground wires. The royalty payable to the Post Office which is 10 per cent on the exchange rentals; and the local tolls, absorbed £567 19s 10d of the revenue, and trunk and telegram fees which were paid to the Postmaster General, £587 14s Id. For terminal charges the National Telephone Company received £126 7s id from the Portsmouth Telephone Department, and the department received £54 11s 2d from the company. In the last year, the number of subscribers increased by 642. The cost works out at a capital expenditure of £23 Is per subscriber's line or £19 5s per telephone.

Of the net revenue £1464 8s 3d, equal to 4.6 per cent of the total capital, was set aside for interest and repayments. No allowance was, however, made on account of depreciation, that much debated subject of telephone finance in the United Kingdom. Apart from this, the result of the year's working at Portsmouth is regarded as very satisfactory and has given the advocates of Independent telephony a fresh illustration of what may be done with Independent services and municipal control.

At Brighton the result has not been so encouraging. A deficit of £1,878 is reported on the year's working after charging £1,430 as general expenses but without allowing for depreciation. This is, however, one of the youngest municipal services in the United Kingdom, and will, no doubt, greatly improve on the working of the past year.

United River Plate Telephone Co.

Mr. J. Irving Courtenay preached at a meeting of the above named company in London, on June 21, and spoke in gratifying terms of the progress of the business. Argentina, he said, was prespering in every direction, and the company naturally expected to share in the prosperity. To do so they had been preparing to a certain extent for future business. Central office properties had been acquired and there had been expenditure on underground plant, live ex

tensions and new exchanges. The subscribers had increased by 800 during the year which ended with March last. The receipts at the River Plate showed the substantial increase of £10,350. The final position was an available sum of £7,600 more than a year ago.

A resolution increasing the capital of the company from £500,000 to £1,000,000 by the creation of 100,000 new shares of £5 each, was passed unanimously.

"Wayleaves."

The National Telephone Company has à trouble which might soften the heart of its most obdurate critics. That trouble is "wayleaves."

"We live in an atmosphere of wayleave difficulty," said a departmental chief of the National Telephone Company. "Our difficulties are extensive and various.

"The most preposterous claim I ever knew was that of a land owner outside London who had a meadow along the edge of which we wanted to erect a few póles. He calmly suggested that in exchange for the privilege of putting up the poles the company should build him a house.

"In another case in London where we wanted to put up a standard on a roof the owner asked £300 a year. As a dozen or more supports might have been needed on this batch of lines, you can see on what a scale we should have had to pay.

"Prejudice is another difficulty we have to fight against. A well-known and influential London solicitor has stated that wherever possible he will prevent the telephone service from spreading. As he is interested in a lot of property he has practically isolated his neighborhood from the telephone.

"Two ladies once ordered the removal of wires passing over their garden, alleging that their nephew, who thought he was entitled to their money, sent ghost messages by the wires, and the messages pervaded the house.

"The owners of a henhouse sought compensation because after telephone wires had been laid across the top of the house the hens laid fewer eggs. An irate property owner recently tied a group of

offending telephone wires to a dog kennel containing a large dog, and then invited the telephone men to remove them.

"Another owner came out with his gun and threatened to shoot men at work upon the wires. They descended at once."

The telephone men sometimes rise to the occasion. Here is the official report of one of them on a difficult case:

"The wayleave officer was threatened by the owner that he would kick him out of the place. The officer asked if he could get the wayleave after the kicking. The owner said yes. The wayleave officer prepared to be kicked, but the position struck the owner as being humorous, and the wayleave was obtained."

Boys In Pole Holes.

A special to the Chicago Tribune from Northfield, Minn., is as follows:

Small boys placed in telephone postholes have proved proof against the lodgment of posts in holes. Agents of the Northfield city council adopted a unique device to circumvent the activity of the telephone company, which had been denied the right to enter town.

The telephone company, however, continued to excavate for its poles and the city put men at work filling up the holes. The telephone company had a larger force at work than the city could press into service and gained upon the city.

Then Mayor Hilton's clever scheme to forestall the telephone company and prevent it from establishing prior rights before an injunction could issue was adopted. Getting together several dozen small boys, they were distributed along the proposed line, and one was dropped into each excavation. The telephone company could not well place its poles in the same holes with the boys, and the people of the town would not see their sons maltreated. The result was that the telephone company was stopped long enough to secure an injunction restraining it from further operations in North

field.

Bees have been making honey and trouble at Iowa City, Iowa. A swarm of them nested in a telephone cable box and short circuited the entire system.

It is so easy to abuse the telephone operator to vent spite and bitterness on the unseen, unknown "central," too busy or too well-trained to "sass back" -that this uncalled for and discourteous practice is sometimes indulged in by persons who would be thoroughly ashamed of their conduct, if only they realized how grave is the discourtesy that they are guilty of, says the New York Commercial,

Bad habits are not easily eradicated. But this habit of unjustly "sassing central" is one that any reasonable person can readily cure with the simple remedy of observing the second hands on a watch or clock and counting the number of seconds that elapse from the time the receiver is lifted off the hook until "central" answers the signal. This remedy is an old and well-tried one, familiar to all telephone officials, but the record. will prove surprising to many who experiment for the first time.

Occasionally the telephone receiver is scarcely placed to the ear before the query comes: "Number?" On the other hand, now and then a delay of 30 or even 40 seconds may occur before "central" answers. But if the seconds are carefully registered each time the telephone is used during one week it will soon be seen that "central" answers all calls within an average person of from seven to ten seconds each.

And once she or he learns the caller's needs the trained "central" supplies the desired local connection in less than three seconds. That is, "central" connects the circuit of the calling subscriber through the switchboard to the circuit of the called subscriber and rings the bell on the latter's telephone, all in from two to three seconds. Of course if the called subscriber is slow in answering the ring at his telephone door the consequent delay should not be charged to "central"

Are customers waited on more promptly in any other line of business? Count the number of minutes-not secondsthat the watch records while waiting to

be served in restaurant or in store, or standing on the corner waiting for the street car, or at the station possessing your soul in patience while awaiting the delayed suburban express. And what about the time lost in big department stores, so often referred to by the jokesmiths? Certainly, rapid service may justly be expected in an establishment where complete segregation of each line. of goods to its own section is systematically followed out as in the modern department store. Still, how rarely these expectations are realized!

Even the butcher and the baker, the grocer and the clothier keep customers waiting minutes rather than seconds before asking: "What can I do for you?" Yet how rarely a customer thinks of "sassing" a store clerk for being dilatory or negligent or stupid, even though the indifference or the stupidity or the arro gance shown is exasperating! Why this distinction? Is it because the clerk is a living entity whose resentment will be emphatic and visible, while "central" is unseen, in a sense intangible, and because her or his reproof can be cut off by hanging up the receiver?

"Central" easily takes care of five or six or seven customers a minute. Did butcher or baker or grocer ever equal one-sixth so good a record. During the rush hour "central" has easily supplied 360 connections in 60 minutes, and under stress of intense public excitement "central" has a record of answering 15 calls per minute for several minutes in succession, or at the rate of 900 an hour.

And "central," facing a complex functional machine must serve customers with alacrity over copper threads that are often swayed hither and thither in the passing breeze, or robbed of current by the wet trees; and must select out the proper switch or jack from among thousands in a multiple board, and each of these thousands of exits measure only a half-inch in diameter. In one board where more than 3,000 exits face each operator, the diameter is re