HEN the present "Alarms and Excursions" are a thing of the past and "Mars" transfers his warlike attentions from Shanghai and its environs, the time will come for the historian to record the vicissitudes of this stricken city. What part in this history will the telephone occupy The answer is realized by trying to imagine how Shanghai would have fared during the present hostilities without it.
Communications are of vital importance in times of emergency. Ask any military man and he will tell you that the communication system is to an army as nerves to the human body, without which it cannot function efficiently. How was the telephone able to meet the enormous demands, especially in the first few days of the fighting, when the S.V.C. and the various military and naval forces were clamouring for immediate service and practically the whole of the population of Shanghai was.eager for News! News! News! and metaphorically "burning up" the wires with the enormous load placed on the telephone facilities?
From inquiries made and information obtained the conclusion reached is that this was mainly due to the devotion to duty of the foreign and Chinese personnel operating this vital utility, Moe every telephone employee can tell thrilling stories of "hair breadth scapes mid flood and field" but a half hour spent in the company of those whose duty kept "hair breadth scapes mid flood and Wayside telephone areas would produce evidence of the hazardous conditions under which these gallant men carried on,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.