Thursday, March 1, 2018

Our Past Is Present March 1, 2018


March 1, 2018

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
            Today’s story is about an interesting day at telephone central.  In 1914 and for some time later, “Central” was the term for the operator (who was almost always a lady).  She answered to serve telephone customers, who wanted to place a call.  There was no instant dialing and there was no “face-time” as we have on our phones today.  Calls had to go through a central location.  I also remember that there were “party lines” in which people shared a phone line and could easily, but also inappropriately,  listen in on the conversations of their neighbors until one or both parties realized there were others listening to a conversation that were not invited.  Anyway, here is the rest of today’s story from February of 1914. 
            The “Daily Union” newspaper reported that the young ladies at the telephone central station had one of the most interesting times of the year, the day before.  It seems that a number of people came into the office to talk long distance on the new line.  When they found out the cost to use the new line, they took up to an hour of “Centrals” time trying to beat down the price.  This happened several times during the day and the young ladies were exasperated over it.  One of them suggested that they might in the future have a telephone sale and knock one cent off the price in order to satisfy those who want to telephone for less.  The date of the sale could be announced after the dry goods sales in town had finished.  When the sale was scheduled to occur, a carload of operators could be brought in to wait on the bargain hunters.  The cut rate would be five cents to Kansas City and nine cents to Abilene.”
            Well… this makes me wonder why it would cost less to call Kansas City than Abilene when Kansas City is further away?  I also wonder if such a sale ever occurred?
            Well, that’s our story today on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.




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