ors' meeting of The Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company during his stay.

The new central office building of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company at Cottage Grove is rapidly nearing completion. It will be ready for occupancy by April 1 and the Pacific Company will proceed to install a new central office equip

ment.

A word of praise is due the Lincoln County Land and Investment Company for its assistance in developing Lincoln County and the Coast resorts at Toledo and Newport by the construction of the telephone lines from the Pacific Ocean to Blodgett, Benton County, Oregon, connecting at that point with The Pacific Telephone Company. They have a creditable subscription list and a good patronage from the people in Lincoln County, who are thus getting into closer communication with the outside world.

Mr. William Logus has resumed his position as Long Distance Chief Operator on

the Portland Exchange, after six weeks' absence on account of illness. His associates are glad to welcome Mr. Logus back.

The exchange at Eugene, now numbering 1520 subscribers, has shown a remarkable growth since January 1, 1907. On that date there were connected at our Central Exchange at Eugene 770 subscribers. This shows that the exchange has practically doubled in numbers in thirteen months. This is the result in a large degree of the very praiseworthy work of our manager at that exchange-Mr. Emry Heaton. Mr. Heaton has shown himself an energetic and capable manager and has won not only the commendation of his employers for good work in all departments, but has at the same time won the good will and coöperation of his exchange force and the patrons of the company in his territory.

Mr. W. L. Hembree, Manager at McMinnville, Oregon, was quite seriously hurt in the wreck on the Southern Pacific near Forest Grove on the evening of February 11.

An interesting convention of the Wire Chiefs of the San Joaquin Division was held at the Division Headquarters at Fresno on January 27.

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a. m. by Division Wire Chief, Mr. R. W. Stanford, there being present Division Superintendent J. P. Noble, Division Wire Chief R. W. Stanford, Division Chief Operator C. N. Robinson, and the following Wire Chiefs of the Division: E. A. Keith, Bakersfield; A. S. Woodard, Stockton; Fred Henderson, Hanford; B. H. Maxon, Porterville; Louis Lumbard, Visalia; J. A. Thunen, Fresno; E. W. Greathead, Modesto; J. A. Clingenpeel, Merced.

After a few preliminary remarks from Mr. Stanford regarding the object of the meeting, the following papers were read by the assembled Wire Chiefs upon the several topics in their order of presentation:

"The Record of Material from Time Received Until Used and Reported On, A1159." by Mr. Keith of Bakersfield; "Manager's Order, A1157; How Handled and Where Used," Mr. Woodard of Stockton; "Outside Plant Records; Battery Route and Pole and Aerial Cable Record," by Mr. Henderson of Hanford; "The Cable Record in Small Exchanges," by Mr. Maxon of Porterville; "Daily Classified Time Report, Form G749," by Mr. Lumbard of Visalia; "Care and Operation of a Storage Battery Plant," by Mr. Greathead of Modesto; "Office Records of Subscribers' Stations from Receipt of Order Until Completed and Returned to the Manager," by Mr. Thunen of Fresno; "Keystone of Success in the Wire Chief's Office," by Mr. R. W. Stanford, Division Wire Chief.

Each paper after its reading was fully discussed, as were also the points brought up at the recent convention of Chief Ope

rators.

Superintendent Noble addressed the assembled Wire Chiefs to considerable length on various matters, impressing upon them the necessity of the Wire Chief being at all times so posted with the various duties and affairs of the Exchange that he constitute himself in reality an Assistant Manager.

The Wire Chiefs were urged to keep their lines filled up that the low class subscriber would at all times receive the exact class of service for which he was paying, which would largely help in the crusade toward the securing of higher class service.

Mr. Noble further urged that all expenses be kept down to the minimum and that the strictest economy be exercised in the Supply Department.

Construction Notes.

D. P. Fullerton, General Superintendent of Construction, left San Francisco February 15 for a two weeks' journey through the northwestern territory.

The work of numbering transposition poles between San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles has been completed, and men are now in the field transposing the lines to establish new phantom circuits between those points.

Rapid progress is being made in numbering transposition poles between San Francisco and San Luis Obispo and San Francisco and Santa Cruz, and the actual transposing of the lines to establish phantom circuits will soon be started.

Construction work in the new West Office District, Spokane, is progressing rapidly, and the equipment will soon be ready to put into service.

Work will be started shortly on the conversion of East Office, Portland, from Express to Common Battery.

Twelve hundred additional multiple is to be installed at Salem, Oregon, shortly to provide additional facilities and care for farmer line service.

The district of the Construction Department heretofore known as the Stockton District was abolished March 1, 1908. That portion of the former Stockton District in Kern County has been made part of the Los Angeles District, as has that portion of the San Francisco District situated in the County of San Luis Obispo. The remainder of the Stockton District has been inIcluded in the San Francisco District.

Telephone System on Board Train.

A complete telephone system on board. train was a feature which did much to make the recent Spokane and Walla Walla Inland Empire trip to California especially enjoyable. The excellence of the service rendered won The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company praise from all the tourists, who were among the most prominent business and professional men of the Inland Empire.

The eight sleepers, baggage and observation car arrived at the Oakland Mole at 5:10 p. m. February 10. The party left the train and went to the St. Francis Hotel for dinner. Next morning at 9:45 they left for a visit to Mt. Tamalpais. During their absence the train was ferried across to the Third and Townsend Depot, arriving about 2 p. m.

The telephone equipment on board consisted of a Private Branch Exchange with two trunk lines to central and a telephone in each car. The telephone sets were hand telephones-a combination receiver and transmitter in one piece. Two lines to the Kearny Central Office were connected up to the train at 4:45 p. m. and from that time until the next morning at 8 o'clock they had continuous exchange service. Several calls were made to Oakland and the transmission was good and the service satisfactory in every way.

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Charles Sanders, a capitalist from Spokane, Washington, one of the party, was a paralytic, and depended entirely upon the telephone for communication with friends and relatives in San Francisco and Berkeley. He has relatives living in Berkeley and was not able to communicate with their home until the service was installed on the train.

The electrician in charge of the P. B. X. was Mr. Reynolds, Division Foreman, of Spokane. He also acted as operator while the train was on the road, and at night, and gave the party all night service. He stated that the service was very popular during the day while the train was in motion. Exchange service was furnished the party at all places where they stopped for any length. of time. While at Portland the members

of the party made a great many long distance calls to Spokane and Walla Walla.

About ten minutes before the train left the Third and Townsend Depot, San Francisco, Ed. Murphy, a merchant of Spokane, succeeded in reaching over the telephone from his car a business friend whom he had been unable to find on the previous day. He was particularly pleased with the telephone service from the train and thought it was a fine arrangement.

Pacific Wins at Palouse.

PALOUSE, Wash., Feb. 7.-After a stant struggle of three years The Pacific Telephone Company has completely vanquished the Interstate Coöperative Telephone Company, and has undisputed possession of the field. The last of the eight farmers' lines which centre here was cut in to the Pacific switchboard yesterday, and this morning the Interstate people are vacating their office in the Security State Bank building and storing their equipment.

The Interstate Coöperative Company had its inception in Moscow and opened an office here about three years ago. The antimonopoly talk of the company's representatives made a "hit" with the farmers and at one time practically all the rural lines were connected with the Palouse switchboard. The city business, however, never exceeded a dozen phones, and the farmers gradually grew tired of the limited service. In the meantime the Pacific people were busy, and gradually won the rural companies over. They have had a representative at this point for more than three months past working on the deal which finally brought all the rural lines to their switchboard. yearly contract is made, the price being $3 a year for each phone. This gives the owner of the phone free switching privileges in Palouse or on any of the eight rural lines. The centralizing of the business is especially agreeable to the business men, as it enables them to talk with any of their farmer customers at any time from their stores or offices without the expense and annoyance of keeping two phones.-Spokane Spokesman-Review.

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Oakland Managers Meet.

A meeting of Managers in the Oakland Division was held at Division Headquarters, Oakland, on Saturday, February 8, the following being present:

H. E. Smith, Ukiah; E. O. Hussey, Healdsburg; A. J. Lafranchi, Petaluma; William De Carteret, Napa; James W. Brophy, Vallejo; E. A. Franquelin, San Rafael; L. Kreider, Mill Valley; O. I. Crites, Sausalito; H. Goss, Richmond; R. B. Borland, Martinez; C. P. Reeves, Suisun; E. M. Snodderly, Vacaville; A. Smith, Antioch, Cal.; A. F. Hanna, Concord; F. C. Mitchell, Haywards; L. T. Parker, Livermore; John Kearns, Division Superintendent; James P. Dunphy, Division Wire Chief: C. P. McGuire, Acting Division Chief Operator; A. Terkel, Division Chief Clerk; O. O. Heydenfeldt, Division Contract Agent; E. A. Stevenson.

Manager Hanna of Concord brought up the question of farmer line collections and explained the difficulty he had in making collection from some of the farmer line subscribers in so far as small amounts due for tolls were concerned, the difficulty being due not to any unwillingness of the subscribers to pay, but because, the amounts being small, they did not feel like bothering with them for some months, until they were ready to come to town.

Manager De Carteret explained his method of handling these subscribers. By his plan the farmers form a society, elect officers, and each subscriber deposits a sum with the treasurer, each month, which is expected to be sufficient to cover their switching. In this way, the manager has to make collection from one man instead of a dozen or more on each line.

Mr. Dunphy brought up various subjects. relating to his department, calling particular attention to the necessity for keeping proper record of daily trouble, subscribers' lines, cables, etc.

Mr. McGuire spoke in regard to the various traffic forms required monthly, explaining the use of them, reasons why they were required, and method of filling out.

Division Contract Agent Heydenfeldt took up the subject of contracts, canvassing,

and other matters relating to his end of the business.

Mr. Terkel called attention to the necessity for prompt replies to all correspondents, and Mr. Stevenson spoke in regard to requisitions, supplies, return of old material, etc.

Altogether an enjoyable and instructive time was had.

Extension Work in the South.

The Young Women's Christian Association is exerting a constantly increasing influence for good wherever active work has been undertaken. In several Eastern cities the work of the association among telephone operators has attracted much favorable comment. In Los Angeles, Division Superintendent Seeley has found the association a great help, and that the relations between the telephone management and the Christian workers has been mutually enjoyable and pofitable is attested by the following communication:

Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 14, 1907. Mr. C. M. Seeley,

Los Angeles, Cal.

Dear Sir: As we look back over the past two and a half years it gives us a feeling of satisfaction to note the growth of the work for self-development among your operators.

The Pacific Telephone Company was the first Telephone Company to open its doors to the Young Women's Christian Association, and from the first the true spirit of cooperation of company, operators, and association has existed.

As a result of the four hundred and fortyfive (445) Noon Meetings, conducted by the Extension Secretaries, and the enthusiastic efforts of the chief and other operators, five of the local offices own circulating libraries and two of them have organized tennis clubs.

We have reason to expect large things for the coming year, for we, as an Association equipped to meet the needs of all women, stand ready to work with, not for your people. Sincerely yours,

NEVA A. CHAPPELL,
Extension Secretary.