Life — September 15, 1921 — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Are You a Life: Liner? OOD greeting! Beginning with and including the first issue in September, every three months thereafter we will award a prize of one hundred dollars for the best Life Line published within that period. The members of the staff of Lire are of course barred out of this contest. That is to say, every three months until further notice, beginning next December (the announcement to be made a little later than the first issue in the month) we will award a prize of one hundred dollars to the author of the !.ife Line published during the previous three months, the award to be made by the Editorial staff of Lire. A check will follow immediately. In the meantime, Life Lines accepted will be paid for at the rate of five dollars each, on acceptance. Try your luck. Study the Life Lines page in this issue, and you will get a good idea of the kind of material to submit. Our motto, “A Laugh in Every Life Line.” Hands Off! he engaged in legislative es against smoking by women, Representative Johnson of Mississippi little dreamed what he was_ bring- ing down upon his defenceless head. Innocent in his intention, but mis- guide in his instincts, this unhappy gentleman may have been subconsciously influenced by one of Dr. Straton’s ser- mons, or guided by the old Castilian proverb: “A woman, a spaniel and a walnut tree; The more you beat them, the better they be.” Smoking among women, like the trim- ming of eyebrows, the bobbing of hair or the elevation of the skirt, is a de- batable matter, which may involve fierce and often hideous discussions on both sides. But self-determination among American women has now been going on for some time in the main tent. Any man is privileged, as an American citi- zen, to denounce the activities and al- leged pernicious tendencies of women, Proviled he is far enough away from his wife, and is generally amusing enough to afford diversion. But right there his authority stops. If there is going to be any regulating of women done, the women will do it themselves. When activi Line’s Busy Ix Japan when the subscriber rings up, the operator may be expected to ask, “What number does the honorable son of the moon- and stars desire?” “Tlohi, two-three.” Silence. Then the exchange resumes: “Will the honorable person graciously forgive the inadequacy of the insignifi- cant service and permit this humble slave of the wire to inform him that the never-to-be-sufficiently-censured line is busy?” : Accuracy From the simplest test of memory to the most elaborate specifications, whenever an order is to be given it is the cus- tom of the vast majority of people to put it in writing. This constant writing of or- ders is for the purpose of insur- ing accuracy. People are afraid to trust the ability of the one receiving the order to get it correctly, unless that order is put on paper. What a tribute to exceptional skill and training, then, is the record of the Bell telephone system. Last year more than eleven billion telephone con- versations were held over the lines of this system. Each of these billions of con- versations required the giving of an order to a telephone em- ployee. Not one of these or- ders could be put in writing. Some of them were given in loud voices, some spoken in murmurs, some clearly stated, some rapidly shot out. Yet so remarkable a standard of accu- racy exists in the service of the Bell System that more than ninety-nine per cent. of all such orders were correctly received and executed. No other business is sub- jected to such a test as this. The record of the average of service of the Bell System for the last few months is proof that the telephone has returned to its pre-war standard of practice. “ BELL SYSTEM” AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES One Policy, One System, Universal Service, and all directed toward Better Service I Ask You— Wuo makes the neckties, collars, striped silk shirts and white ooze belts that moving picture heroes wear on the | tennis court? Who takes care of the poison ivy ex- hibit in the botanical gardens? Who holds the watch on the dishes marked “15 minutes” on the menu? Who ‘started making scissors with two blades instead of one? Where do telephone operators go just after they cut you off? How do they get there so quickly? comicbooks.com