The operator is allowed to respond in certain set phrases such as "Number please," "Excuse it please," etc. She may not "talk back" no matter how much she is being abused by a subscriber, and any abuse which the subscriber may heap on the operator only delays her operations and clogs her switch board.

Rest Periods.

The policy of the New York Telephone Company requires a 15 minute break during the first half of the day's service and another 15 minutes during the second. During the year 1919, because of the shortage of labor, this policy has not been universally practiced. In some New York City exchanges and in the exchanges of the up-state cities it has been possible to adhere to this rule, but in far too great a number of the exchanges the rest periods have been entirely eliminated or only one period of rest given during the entire working day.

Telephone operating, entailing as it does such physical and nervous strain, shows imperative need of establishing 15 minute rest periods in each half of the shift. That four hours operating without any cessation from work or any let-down is too long, is the testimony of the medical authorities of Toronto on the study of telephone operating made by the Royal Commission. The strict observance of rest periods would materially benefit the efficiency of the telephone service|

The records of the Medical Department are considered by the Company as strictly confidential and very little information can be obtained about the girls reporting disabilities of various kinds and seeking medical treatment. Certain it is that the Medical Department should play a very important part in determining standards of any sort in the telephone industry. The operators are subjected to peculiar conditions because of the nature of the occupation. They are employed at an age when they are particularly sensitive to strain and nervous exhaustion. The telephone industry imposes upon the girls conditions which subject them te eye strain, ear strain, and nervous tension. Rest periods have been found essential from the point of view of service. The Medical Department of such an industry has a peculiar responsibility in adding constantly to the scientific knowledge now available on the relation of working conditions to health. This knowledge at the present time is all too meager and is largely composed of the opinions of medical men rather than carefully worked out studies covering periods of time long enough to make the results of great value.

Dr. Richardson, of the New England Telephone Company, found in examining the Benefit Fund records of the New York Telephone Company for 1917 that there had been 631 cases of nervous disability, including neuralgia and neurasthenia. Among the employees of the Company this was a rate of 55.8 per 1,000 employees per annum eligible for sickness disability. The rate for the total Bell system was only 33.4 per 1,000. The need is very obvious for special study of fatigue in an industry in which nervous tension is so omnipresent.

At the present time in the New York Bell Telephone Company the Medical Department is made up of 27 physicians, each of whom is on duty for three hours a day, and 15 graduate nurses, who are on duty for full time. The doctors and nurses are centered in New York, Brooklyn, Newark and Mt. Vernon, one to ten doctors in each district, and from one to seven nurses.

In the parts of the State where no regular Company physicians are employed arrangements are made by the Directors of the

Medical Department with practising physicians in the different districts. These physicians are then on call for the necessary emergency work in connection with accidents and examinations of Telephone Company employees. Outside New York City and its outlying districts the Company's medical service has not been extensively developed.

The Medical Department in New York City has compiete equipment for making blood tests, taking X-rays, etc., and where examinations of this sort prove to be needed, the Company makes them. In special cases, also, the Company supplies needed medical care from outside specialists when the employee is unable to afford such care.

The cost of these special cases is not included in the budget of the Medical Department. In 1918 this budget amounted to ap proximately $93,000.00. $75,000.00 of this went into salaries and wages, $3,000.00 was spent for equipment, and $15,000.00 was charged to miscellaneous items such as printing, house charges, etc.

The Medical Department has complete supervision of the health of employees. Every employee of the Company is eligible to medical service and a medical examination is one of the requirements of employment. These physical examinations are given tor the operators in connection with the training school by women physicians. If the applicant for a position is employed at the time of her application, she is given a physical examination before she enters the training school, so that she will not have left her other work while there is a chance that her physical condition will bar her from employment with the Telephone Company. If she is not employed at the time of her application, however, she enters the training school immediately and some time during her training course an appointment is made for her physical examination. The examination is short and of necessity superficial, lasting usually about 15 minutes and rarely more than 30 minutes. A brief medical history of the girl and of her family is made out by the nurse before she is examined by the doctor. Particular emphasis is placed on heart and lung conditions and ear and eve trouble. An eye test is always given either by the interviewer in the Employment Department or by the physician examining her.