Eerie Voice

Walter Sherman Gifford, President American Telephone & Telegraph Co., picked up a telephone receiver in the directors' room of his company, in Manhattan, heard a sharp feminine voice say, "Hello, London? Sir Evelyn." A sharper feminine voice replied, "London ready." Said he into his transmitter, "Good morning, Sir. This is Mr. Gifford in New York." Sir George Evelyn Pemberton Murray, Secretary of the General Postoffice of Great Britain, in London, replied, "Good morning, Mr. Gifford. Yes, I can hear you perfectly. Can you hear me?" Reassured, Sir Evelyn said, "Splendid!" Mr. Gifford read a formal statement. There had been a hot race among U. S. bank presidents, actresses, businessmen, newspapers to be first to talk to London. Who competed and who won, his company refused to say, regarding such information as confidential despite newsgatherers' arguments that the distinction of talking to London on the first day would be "a great ad" for anyone. It became known through other sources, however, that President Coolidge and King George did not converse. Publisher Ochs of the New York Times let it be known that he was first private speaker, with Editor Geoffrey Dawson of the London Times. Mayor Walker of New York said he talked to Lord Mayor Sir Rowland Blades of London. There was little enough secrecy about the service, at that According to the London Daily Mail clever radio engineers, amateur and professional, were able to listen in upon the talks as far away as South Africa. Complete privacy is being striven for by engineers. . . . Mr. Gifford's conversation with Sir Evelyn began at 8:40 a. m. (1:40 p. m. London time), only slightly delayed and never interrupted by static. Then there was a rush of calls. Shortly after 10 a. m. the Associated Press put a call through to its London office, announcing another visit of Edward of Wales to the U. S. and Canada next summer. The New York A. P. man took down the dictated item on a noiseless typewriter. . . . The transatlantic service begins daily at 8:30 a. m., Eastern Standard Time, ending at 1:30 p. m. Rates: $25 per min.; minimum, three min., maximum twelve min. (though on the second day a Manhattan woman was allowed to chatter along for 28 min., costing $700). The equipment involved cost five millions. The route: New York to Rocky Point, L. I. (land wire), to Wroughton, England (radio), to London (land wire), to Rugby (land wire), to Houlton, Me. (radio), to New York (land wire).