Each important step forward was the result of the cooperation of many minds, and the prodding necessities of a growing traffic.
By 1896, when the Common Battery system created a new era, the telephone engineer had pretty well mastered his simpler troubles.

He was able to handle his wires, no matter how many.

By this time, too, the public was ready for the telephone.

A new generation had grown up, without the prejudices of its fathers.

People had grown away from the telegraphic habit of thought, which was that wire communications were expensive luxuries for the few.