Evening Star Newspaper, November 28, 1930, Page 35

N - ) operators have to han calls AUTUMATIE H{nNES“M - 'i: ' o, Similarly new system in the Com- merce Building, in which all activities T0 UNITE OFFICES Standards Bureau Plan to Link All Federal Services in District. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. ‘Under a plan being developed by the Bureau of Standards the whole Govern- ment service in Washington will be tied together in an automatic telephone system, with five switching centers, to enable the user of any one phone in the whole system to complete a call automatically to any other Government phor;: in any department or establish- men Efficiency Is Sought. At the present time dial branch ex- changes are in uce in the Capitol, ‘Treasury, Veterans' Bureau and Post Office Department, with & new one to be installed in the Department of Com- merce, but their use will be greatly ex- tended when the whole system is put into use. In calling other departments from these three private branch ex- changes now it is still necessary to get connections through a switchboard operated by girls, but when the new goes into effect, it will be pos- ble to dial all the way through to the * destination phone, automatically. ‘The new plan aims at both efficiency and economy and will take advantage of the Federal building program to in- stall the co-ordinated system. It will be put into effect gradually as new bulldings are constructed and tele- phones installed. Co-operation to Be Effected. The plan does not mean that the ‘Government is going into the telephone business for its own plant, because the equipment is leased from the Chesa- e & Potomac Telephone Co. but Government has grown to be such @ large business establishment in the Capital City, with its telephone service jounting to one-tenth of the entire for the telephone company, that it has been found extremely desirable to look after its own requirements and fi:fl out the best way of meeting them. telephone company is co-operating. This big job of engineering a tele- phone system for Uncle Sam's entire workshop has been intrusted to the Bureau of Standards and the progress thus far made and the completed sys- tem as projected are described exclu- sively to The Star by Dr. F. A. Wolff, chief of the telephone section, Bureau of Standards, who has been in direct charge of the project. Large Saving Is Expected. Already a saving of $75,000 a year has been effected but this is only a fraction of the eventual saving. Since the formation of the Budget Bureau, the Bureau of Standards has been de- voting much time to surveys of the Government's telephone requirements, not only in Washington but in other cities in which there are Pederal build- ings. By carefully studying the situa- tion, which is different in each par- ticular case, it has been possible to make certain changes which in the ag- have resulted in the saving of rge sums without any detriment to the service, but rather increased effi- clency. ‘The Federal Govemm‘:‘x;t 'ILS 12 de- partmeints and many lependent, es- tablishments has previously been allow- ing each unit to run on its own, each setting up its own switchboard. The ‘World War conditions in Wuhlngwn changed that somewhat, and an effort was made to carry forward the co- ordination work, but the engineers of the Bureau of Standards ran into a barricade because there was no con- solidated housing program. Federal System Being Planned. ‘That barricade is now being bat- tered down in the Federal and munici- pal group building_program. The en- gineers under Dr. Wolff’s direction are now engaged in creating a closely co- ordinated telephone system for all Fed- eral and municipal activities. Two units of the consolidated system al- ready have been installed. The Treas- ury Department's activities are very large and scattered in three principal locations—(1) the Treasury Depart- ment and the Treasury Annex, directly north across Pennsylvania avenue; (2) the Internal Revenue Building, several blocks away, between Tenth and ‘Twelfth, B and C streets, and (3) the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Liberty Loan Building, to the south, which are on Fourteenth street south of the Mall and Washington Monument grounds. One exchange for the whole department has now been set up in the Treasury Department Building, with dial switching equipment to all other stations and so that they can dial for outside calls. So now within the ‘Treasury Department they can dial all within department calls, all outside calls, to all other departments and in- dependent establishments within the Government. The only calls that the llyg-l"e-le Towels and Toilet Tissues Prevent Contaglous Diseases Spread- in Schools, Factories and Homes eal Estate | (D. C. Property Only) No Commission Charged You can take 12 years to pay off your loans without the expense of renewi $1,000 for $10 per month, including interest and principal. Larger or smaller loans at proportion- ate rates. Association Established 1881 Largest in Washington Assets Over $23,000,000 Cor. 11th and E N.W. L' of the Department of Commerce, with the single exception of the Bureau of Standards, will be housed, has been ordered to be ready for service on oce cupancy of that building early next year. These are but two of a number of stations which will eventually be linked together. By act of Congress the su- pervising architect is now charged with the operation of joint service private branch* exchanges in Federal buildings under his control outside of Washing- ton. The Bureau of Standards’ tele- phone section hkas been called on in nu- merous cases to determine the most economical method of meeting service requirements in existing buildings and to map out the probable prospective requirements in new buildings under construction or authorized under the present Federal building program. The program drafted by Dr. Wolff calls for five switching centers—(1) in the triangle south of Pennsylvania ave- nue to the Mall, (2) south of the Mall, (3) at the Caplitol, (4) in the new municipal center between Third and Sixth streets, Pennsylvania avenue, Louisiana avenue and Indiana avenue, and (5) west of Seventeenth street. Hospital System Also Planned. | When these flve switching centers have been established it will be possi- | ble eventually to dial anywhere within ! the Government service direct. | The Bureau of Standards’ telephone | engineers are also engaged on impor- tant special problems in connection with telephone service for the hospitals throughout the country operated by the United States Veterans’ Bureau. Dr,- Wolff calls attention that one of the most important lines of work car- ried out by the telephone section is that of dealing with the defense of the Government in suits involving tele- phony. One of these, involving an original claim of $256,000 by a tele- phone company, growing out of the | discontinuance of a large switchboard installed for a Government depart- ment in 1918, was won by the Govern- ment in the Court of Claims, and upon appeal to the United States Supreme Court the decision was affirmed. The second and more important case which might involve heavy damages has required a great deal of the tele- phone engineers’ time and will con- tinue to do s0 for a considerable period, he points out. This case grew out of the use of telephone repeaters employed in the American Army's communica- tion system in France, and which at the termination of the war were sold to the French Government as part of the “bulk sale,” thereby, the inventor infringing certain foreign AMERICAN LABOR IS URGED FOR DAM Reclamation Bureau Wotld Give Natives and_Ex-Service Men Preference. The Reclamation Bureau of the In- terior Department proposes, if possible, to follow a policy that will give former service men and native Americans pref- erence for work on the construction of the gigantic Boulder Dam on the Colo- rado River. Controller General J. R. McCarl has notified Commissioner Elwood Mead of the Reclamation Bureau that contracts may be drawn containing a clause bar- ring employment of alien labor. Under the ruling, aliens who have taken out first i)lpen for naturalization would be eligible. Commissioner Mead said yesterday that final decision on the policy will rest with the Federal Board of Con- tracts, which has power to insert the conditional clause. UR LAY is o Ky dreseloe i ase beca: THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28 1930. POWER BROADCAST SHOWDOWN NEARS Chief Examiner’s Report Due on 27 Applications for 50,000-Watt Stations. The eyes of the radio world are turned toward Washington as the time for a showdown on the question of high power for broadcasting approaches. Almost any day now the recong mendations of Chief Examiner Ellis | Yost on the applications of 27 of the | Nation's leading stations to boost their | power to the 50,000-watt maximum will be submitted to the Federal Radio | Commission. The commission must de- | cide whether it will permit all stations | on the 40 exclusive channels reserved | for high power to use 50,000 watts, or whether it will stick by its present re- striction, limiting the operations of | such' stations to only 20 of these channels. | Even as this all-important matter in broadcasting is being considered, radio’s leading exponent of high power, former Commissioner O. H. Caldwell of New York, prediets that the next step in broadcasting will be stations of a mil- lion watts power and charges the com- (‘61” Floor Varnish L]SE “61” Floor Varnish on your floors. Dries in 4 hcurs; no brush marks. Stain, clear and dull finishes, 607-609 C St. N.W. Telephone Metropolitan 0151 mission with blocking progress and depriving millions of listeners of bet- ter radio. Criticizing the commission for its fallure to act promptly on the 27 applications, the former commis- sioner declared that it apparently is afraid to make up its collective mind about granting the licenses. which all engineers recommend, “until it learns what its political masters in the Sen- ate want to do.” Mr. Yost's report will cover the hear- ings held before him over a five-week period which began in September, and during which time virtually all of the cleared-channel stations not now au- thorized to use the maximum power presented arguments in favor of their applications. Engineering opinion was overwhelmingly in favor of high power on all of the cleared channels, and it is indicated that the commission will rescind its former action. In any event there will be appeals to the courts by certain of the applicant stations should the commission decide to ref the status quo. = Mr. Caldwell said it is & “mrr{oxec- tacle” to have the commission blocking the radlo art's efforts toward better broadcasting, particularly for the mil- lions on farms and in small towns, by broadcasting concerns from all parts of the country which stand ready to invest $350,000 aplece, or a total of $10,- 000,000, in establishing 50,000-watt stations. ‘With only 96 wave lengths usable for broadcasting, out of which, omitting the 17 Canadian channels, only 79 are | available for exclusive use in this coun- y, it is .J’p'"m that the largest pos- sible broadcasting power must be used on each of them if the public is to be served with even a “fair quality” of service, stated Mr. Cald (Copyright. 1930, by the Consol Weatherstripping and Caulking Saves its entire cost in one season CAULKING There is a crack about, %% of an inch around 95 per cent of all win- dow and door frames that are set in masonry. 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