Thursday, April 17, 1913.]
THE CABOLINA UNION FAEMER
Page Five
I
The Telephone and the Flood
The telephone has become to such
an extent an integral part of our
business and social life that we
sometimes lose sight of the fact that
it is also our greatest aid in times of
emergency.
Attention was forcibly called to
this fact during the recent disastrous
floods in the Ohio Valley. That there
were not more lives lost was due to
the fact that the telephone messages
of warning were swifter than the
onrushing waters. With the vast net
work of telephone wires connecting
practically every outlying district and
farm of the Ohio and contributary
valleys, warning messages were sent
in time to enable the people to es
cape to the hills.
Here was evidence that the tele
phone has a wider and more general
application than its forerunner—the
telegraph. Anyone who can talk and
hear can send and receive telephone
messages. When the floods were at
their heights, the telephone provided
practically the only means of keeping
the stricken districts in touch with
the outside world and facilitating the
work of rescue and relief. Daily pa
pers everywhere brought out such
headlines as “Governor Cox Talks to
Dayton Officials Over Telephone,”
“Wire Chief Sticks to Post and Tele
phones Details of Disaster,” and
“Telephone Directs Rescue Parties
to Danger Points.”
Column after column in the news
papers. bore witness to the tele
phone’s value in the emergency which
has arisen. Prom the very first the
telephone brought a comforting
sense of the nearness of relief to
those in the rural districts and cities
isolated by the floods.
The Bell Telephone System, which
handles the bulk of the regular tele
phone messages of the country, also
bore the brunt of the work of keep
ing the lines of communication open
during this emergency. A vast army of
repair men, known by the picturesque
term of “trouble shooters,” is always
on hand, but such opportunities
for their activities are fortunately
rare. Upon the very first Intimation
from the Weather Bureau of impend
ing floods these repair men were
gathered together at the strategic
telephone centers, with their equip
ment in working order, ready to re
spond to any calls that might come
in.
At the distributing houses and pole
yards of the Western Electric Com
pany, which supplies the bulk of the
material for the telephone compa
nies of the country, are immense
stocks of supplies, comprising poles,
cross-arms, cable and wire, which
are constantly kept in readiness for
just such crises. These houses are
located at the principal cities and
thus serve as centers of distribution
to the surrounding districts. Upon
them and the immense factory of the
company at Hawthorne, on the out
skirts of Chicago, the telephone ser
vice of the country depends largely
for its material.
The test of an organization comes
in such an emergency. The ,rise and
overflow of the Ohio River made it
impossible to draw to any great ex
tent on the stocks held in reserve at
Cincinnati; but the other ware
houses and store yards responded to
the call and shipments were started
forward toward the center of the
stricken districts. Two hundred and
fifty thousand pounds of telephone
cable were shipped from New York
City by express. A whole train-load
of poles was shipped from the com
pany’s yards in Michigan. The large
stock at the central warehouse at
Hawthorne was drawn on for an
enomous amount of cable and other
material. Shipments being made by
express, practically every train car
ried its quota of telephone material.
The immense factories of the com
pany were put on a twenty-four hour
schedule and the vast army of em
ployes worked with a willing spirit
to replenish the stocks that had been
reduced by the emergency calls.
Increasing familiarity with the
telephone on the farm, in the home
and in the office, has made us blind
to the intricate workings of the vast
machine that 'keeps the telephone
system working, and it is only dur
ing these emergencies that attention
is drawn to the never-ending war
fare that the telephone people are
waging with the elements. At these
times the telephone is practically the
only public utility that continues
business. Electric lights cease to il
luminate streets . and buildings; as
locomotives cannot swim, railroads
give up the attempt to run trains;
and boats take the place of street
cars. But the telephone people keep
their lines working. When the wires
are broken at one point, they are
promptly strung at another. Men in
boats string cables along a bridge,
one span of which is destroyed. They
no sooner finish the work than the
rest of the bridge comes down with
a crash, taking the telephone wire
with it. Thereupon improvised poles
are erected, one on each side of the
river, and Avires are stretched be
tween them. Service over these Avires
is maintained until cables can be
strung across the piling of the ruin
ed bridge. This task of keeping the
main lines of communication open
was not the only one that kept the
telephone people busy night and day.
When the ‘man whose office upon the
first floor of his establishment was
under Avater, began to do business in
the second story, the telephone peo
ple came to put in a new telephone.
The young Avomen who sat before
the switchboard in many of the cen
tral offices, Avere carried to and from
their work in row boats. They Avill-
ingly Avorked long hours under a
greatly increased strain, for in times
like these the telephone is called up
on to do double and triple duty.
The repair men in the Ohio and
Indiana districts able to cope Avith
the ordinary troubles, incident to
maintaining telephone serAdce needed
help of course in this almost nation
al catastrophe, and hundreds of men
were rushed to the scene from New
York, Philadelphia, and many other
cities. Motor boats were provisioned
for extended trips into the stricken
districts.
The entire resources of the Bell
system stood back of the force of re
pair men and supplied the means to
do the work required. Its efforts
were croAvned with success and the
operation was pertinently described
by the man who said: “In order to
enable people to talk by telephone
during the flood, the telephone com
pany spent money like water.” The
value of the telephone was. appre
ciated, not only by those in the de
vastated regions to whom it brought
aid, but to the outside world to whom
it brought tidings and relief from
mental strain.
The telephone, at one time scoffed
at and derided as a scientific toy, has
become man’s greatest servant.
IN PORTO RICO.
Mr. Frank Parker Writes Interesting
ly of His Trip Through the Island.
The following letter from Mr.
Frank Parker Avill doubtless prove of
much interest to our readers for many
and various reasons. Mr. Parker is
known to a great many of the Union
Farmers on account of his work in
connection with the Boy’s Corn Clubs
in various parts of the State. The
following letter was written to his
father, Capt. T. B. Parker, of Raleigh,
director of the Farmers’ Institute of
the Department of Agriculture. It is
dated at Aibonito, February 27:
“At the time Ave left San Juan yes
terday it was quite warm, it being
just after noon. Our trip to here was
fifty miles and Ave rose to the altitude
of two thousand feet. Made the trip
in three hours with the automobile,
and the difference in the air was very
perceptible, the higher we rose until
it was quite cool. This is one of the
highest towns on the island. No great
distance to the south, near the fa
mous military road which passes here
from San Juan to Ponce, there is a
point from which both the Atlantic
ocean and the Carribean sea may be
seen. The view, like thousands of
others, makes one feel that no coun
try offers such grand views and
scenes. In taking this scene in, the
line of vision passes over many
ranges of mountains with valleys be
tween which' brings out distinctly
and beautifully the height that one
looks from. In the far distance the
blue oceans fade into the sky at a dis
tance many miles at sea. Of course
it is impossible to tell in words how
these things look. For as you know,
the vegetation, flora, people, vehicles
and even soil and mountains are quite
different from any you are familiar
with.
“The climate is so uniform that
one wishes it would get cold, if only
for once, that he may see if it is as
pleasant as one remembers it to be.
Only yesterday I was looking at a
climatological report of Puerto Rico
and this toAvn showed that during
seven years the temperature had not
been below 67 degrees nor over 86 de
grees. Every night in the year one
needs a blanket.
“The rainfall is very heavy here.
In fact, this is true all over the is
land, excepting the south side, where
they have a long drought season,
usually begining in November or De
cember and lasting until May or June.
The big planters, especially sugar
men, are now building extensive and
expensive irrigation plants or systems
for certain sections down there. The
water supply comes from up in the
mountains, where it rains almost
eA’’ery day. In fact, one place on the
island is reported as having had 350
days in which it rained during one
year, but this is on top of the highest
mountains.
“The Insular Fair is now in full
swing—imagine its being fair time in
February—and a very good one, too.
The principal exhibits are: fruits in
the agricultural hall, miscellaneous
but well arranged exhibits in the ma
chinery hall; good school work and
display^ in the educational buildings
and a full double midway. The
grandstand facing the race track also
has a grand position for looking out
over the rolling and roaring waves
as they break on the shore near by.
If one could but see far enough be
yond—why they could see Europe or
the United States, for there is no land
to interfere with the range. How
ever, it would be necessary to look
in a curved line.
“The papers have recently been full
of photographs and neAvs of the
four hundredth anniversary of the
founding of the first Christian church
in the new Avorld. I saw some time
ago this church. And at San German
the second oldest church still stands
and fit for use. It is claimed that the
original woodwork is still there. All
I know is that it is old and hand
heAved and the rest of the church is
very old.
“Speaking of old things. The forts
are the oldest in the neAV world—
started in 1,500 and built at a cost
of over $7,000,000 with prison labor.
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of
looking over two of them. We at
one time started down a small pas
sage way in which it was necessary to
stoop while walking. We went per
haps a hundred yards and at this
point three others joined it. Fol
lowed two different ones and the
turns,etc., became very confusing. We
were told that there Avere hidden cells
all about under these tremendous
walls which had no Avindows. There
are told terrible stories about them.
These forts are very strongly built
with cement and stone, many of the
walls tAventy feet thick but not suf
ficient to withstand modern projec
tiles. Sampson’s fleet demonstrated
that in 1898.
“So many people have the idea that
this is such a small place and it is
only one hundred miles long by forty
Avide, but the topography is such as to
make it seem larger. For instance. In
going from San Juan to Ponce, across
the island, it is eighty miles, due in
part to the very irregular formation
of mountain ranges of which the
whole island is made of. There is
very little level land excepting near
the coast lines.
Biddy, the hen, Avill stand consid
erable thoughtful attention. She has
a value to the American farmer equal
to that of his wheat fields, and every
day, as the sun sinks, there has been
added to the store of national wealth
nearly $2,000,000. This is in the
face of unsuitable housing and little
by way of proper care. May the
tribe of Biddy increase just as fast
as the farmer learns how to give her
the equare hen deal!—Farm, §tock,
and Home.
THE NEWCOMB COMMISSION COMPANY
Wholesale Produce : Live Stock Brokers
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References: National Bdnk of Petersburg, Chamber of Commerce. Southern Express Co. PROMPT RETURNS