File:Bell telephone magazine (1922) (14733690226).jpg

Identifier: belltelephonemag19amerrich (find matches)
Title: Bell telephone magazine
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: American Telephone and Telegraph Company American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Information Dept
Subjects: Telephone
Publisher: (New York, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., etc.)
Contributing Library: Prelinger Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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is still true thatour common carriers transport farmore freight than passengers. It iscertainly true that, as to long distanceservice in particular, the great bulk oftelephone traffic is made up of con-versations in regard to business. Ex-cept at holiday times, most telegramsare sent from and to business houses.America has her nation-wide commu-nication systems because the needs ofcommerce and industry, as well asneeds that are social and political intheir nature, demand such systems,and can be met with nothing less. In the present article let us considerthe process of evolution by whichthese needs have arisen, and the paral-lel process of evolution by which com-munication facilities have, in turn,been brought into being to meet them.We must confine our discussion to or-ganized systems of communication,excluding more than a brief referenceto such exploits as that of Lewis andClark, and the overland journeys ofthe parties sent to the Pacific by the 19^0 The Conquest of a Continent 201
Text Appearing After Image:
THE STEAMSHIP CALIFORNIA This was the first mail steamer to reach the Pacific coast, sailing from New York on October 6,18U8, by way of Cape Horn and arriving at San Francisco on February 28, 18^9. Sheand two other vessels of the Pacifiic Mail Steamship Company carried mail on the Panama-San Francisco-Astoria route. From The Pioneer Steamer California, by Victor M. Berthold shrewd Astor, which were not pri-marily intended as communicationprojects. It has been difficult for most writerson the history of communication inAmerica to resist the temptation toelaborate on that which has been col-orful and romantic. They havethought in terms of ceremony ratherthan of service; of the driving ofgolden spikes, rather than of the car-rying of mails, passengers, and freightas a matter of daily routine. Theyhave pictured the drama of Pony Ex-press riders, thundering across theplains, amidst showers of Indian ar-rows, and too often overlooked theneed which the rides of these daunt-less couriers were

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