It is difficult to realize that only the other day an effort
was made in Paris to replace the old magneto signaling system,
with its little crank at the right of the telephone which has
not been seen in large cities in this country for many years,
by the much more convenient automatic signaling system. But
the Paris correspondent of the New York _Times_ says that
such was the case. And, more curious still, the effort to
introduce this improvement met with disfavor! The correspondent
explains: “Hitherto excitable Frenchmen whiled away the time
while awaiting ‘Central’ to answer, by grinding furiously at
the crank bell-call. The new system denied them this form of
relief. The result was that their pent-up feelings found outlet
in imprecations and wild gesticulations. In many cases the
telephones were damaged by poundings and shakings and had to be
removed. It is said that the French Minister of Telephones was
forced to admit that the imported system was a complete failure.
‘The new system may be good enough for the highly-trained
Americans,’ he is quoted as saying, ‘but I am convinced that my
excitable countrymen need the safety-valve of the old-fashioned
bell.’”--_The Western Electrician._
(2819)
=Sagacity=--See RETREAT DISCOURAGED.
=Sagacity in Evil=--See IMPUDENCE, BRAZEN.