Life, 1916-02-17 · page 40 of 52
Life — February 17, 1916 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines corporate advocacy with satirical commentary typical of Life magazine's format. **"The Picked Army of the Telephone"** is a promotional article for AT&T/Bell System, illustrated with four photographs labeled Operator, Installer, Lineman, and Clark. The text celebrates telephone workers as loyal, well-trained, and well-compensated employees—a straightforward advertisement emphasizing the company's progressive labor practices, pension funds, and worker welfare during an era when such corporate benevolence was noteworthy (and newsworthy propaganda). **"Let Us Diplomatize"** satirizes railroad baggage agents' procedures for assessing passenger luggage value. The satire warns against angering railroad employees, humorously imagining retaliatory absurdities: if passengers annoy them, railroads might demand passengers assess *their own* bodies' monetary value for liability purposes, with comically low payouts for lost limbs. **"Dangerous Learning"** is a brief philosophical essay advocating moderation in education, warning that excessive learning creates social isolation. The page reflects early 20th-century concerns: corporate labor relations, railroad travel frustrations, and intellectual pretension—all delivered through Life's characteristic mix of earnest advocacy and gentle ridicule.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Picked ‘Army of the Telephone The whole telephone-using publicis interested in the army of telephoneem- ployees—what kind of peopleare they, how are they selected and trained, how are they housed and equipped, and are they well paid and loyal. Ten billion messages a year are handled by the organization of the Bell System, and the task is entrusted to an army of 160,000 loyal men and women. No one of these messages can be put through by an individual employee. In every case there must be the com- plete telephone machine or system in working order, with every manager, engineer, clerk, operator, lineman and installer co-operating with one another and with the public. The Bell System has attracted the brightest, most capable people for each branch of work. The training is thorough and the worker must be specially fitted for his position. Workrooms are healthful and at- tractive, every possible mechanical device being provided to promote efficiency, speed and comfort. Good wages, an opportunity for advancement and prompt recognition of merit are the rule throughout the Bell System. An ample reserve fund is set aside for pensions, accidentand sick benefits and insurance for employees, both men and women. “Few if any indus- tries,” reports the Department of Com- |. merce and Labor, “present so much or such widely distributed, intelligent care for the health and welfare of their women workers as is found among the telephone companies.” These are some of the reasons why Bell telephone service is the best in the world. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES One System Universal Service Dangerous Learning A LITTLE learning is a dangerous thing, but a little too much learn- ing is still more dangerous. To have too much learning sets you so far above your fellow-mortals and fills you with such contempt for them that you can not be comfortable in their presence, ner they in yours. Beyond a certain point learning ceases to be of use and becomes a burden, because nobody can comprchend what you are talking about. Thus it happens that men are so learned sometimes that the only way society can live with them is to shut them away in some asylum. So, then, follow Pope's advice: “Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring,” but don’t drink too deep. Which is much the same as saying that a happy medium in the matter of learning is just as happy as any other bappy medium. Let Us Diplomatize ET us not show too testy a dispo- sition when the more or less genial, impertinent and destructive baggage agents of the railroads both- er us about the value of the goods and chattels they are checking for us. Let us rather pause and reflect how the railroads could make it still harder for us if we goaded them to a spirit of retaliation. They might take to asking us the value of ourselves and print on their tickets that they were not liable for more than $4.98 in case of loss of life and for lesser sums ranging from ten cents up in case of loss of arms, legs, eyes, ears or other relatively useless portions of the body. In such an unpleasant event as that, it would be the duty of some neatly uniformed attendant to intercept us as we were hurrying for the train and make us divulge our innermost ego- istic secrets, requiring us to take an oath that our bodies, jointly and sev- erally, in whole and in part, would only bring so much if thrown ruth- lessly on the market. If there were something about us to arouse the sus- picion of the attendant, he might make us go back to get our wives or our ministers or other trustworthy persons to back up our statements. Conciliation is much the best policy. Although the railroads may put us into uncomfortable frying pans, we should never forget that they may have a fire or two up their sleeves. Five of the Finest Fordhook Vegetables For 25e we will ofthe following famous Ford~ hock Vegetabl RPEE'S GOLDEN BaNTane Swarr Conn, the eurlit and D TTUCE, the earliest ety; CRALK'S EARLY JEWEL To- MATO, earliest Br garden; Buarge- collection a regular 10¢ Asters, Burress Annual for 1916 Edition, 1 one Sere Tete wasted tree. We pablication,