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Show FRENCH SEE BOON" IX PURCHASING PUR-CHASING OF A. E. F. TELEPHONES THERE It's an ill wind which blows nobody no-body good. Even such an unmitigated unmitigat-ed evil as the great war is not without with-out its alleviations. Thus in France, one of the compensating com-pensating results is the purchase, by ihe Government, of the vast telephone tele-phone euipnient used by the American Amer-ican Expeditionary Forces. As is well known, the French Telephone System prior to war was in almost every respect one of the most backward back-ward in Europe. The total number of telephones in 1914 was 33,000 or less than 0.8 telephones per 100 inhabitants. in-habitants. Much of the equipment was either of. an obsolete type, or so badly maintained tha1. the service even over short distances was frequently fre-quently poor and very unreliable. The Signal Corps of the Expeditionary Expedi-tionary Forces, with characteristic American thoroughness, had constructed con-structed an elaborate systam behind the lines, which was gradually extended ex-tended to keep pace with the army's r.dvances. At the close of the war there were about 20,000 telephone insulators more than 1.000, ,000 line insulators, 12,000 private branch exchanges, ex-changes, 10,000 miles of lead sheath ed cable, thousands of miles cf copper cop-per and iron wire, and .".n enormous number of miscellaneous auxiliary supplies such as measuring instru-I instru-I ments, line repair tools, etc. All this equipment, absolutely up-to-date in every respect, and of the finest American quality, was acquired by the French government under most favorable terms and at a time when material of any kind was pr-ly pr-ly impossible to obtain. When it is jail utilized, it will materially improve im-prove the quality of the French Tele-, Tele-, phone System. But an incalcuable more bonefi-' bonefi-' cial reaction will be the educative in-! in-! fluence due to the superior service resulting from the use of such modern mod-ern equipment. It will open the eyes of the French telephone officials offici-als not only to the comparatively backward condition of their own systems, sys-tems, but also to the desirability of utilizing and maintaining American standards. |