It telephones the news over one wire to ten or twelve newspapers at one time.

In ten minutes a thousand words can in this way be flung out to a dozen towns, as quickly as by telegraph and much cheaper.
But it is in a dangerous crisis, when safety seems to hang upon a second, that the telephone is at its best.

It is the instrument of emergencies, a sort of ubiquitous watchman.

When the girl operator in the exchange hears a cry for help--"Quick! The hospital!" "The fire department!" "The police!" she seldom waits to hear the number.

She knows it.