Some newspapers have protested against the high cost of telephones. I have read such comments and have shrugged my shoulders dismissively.
“It seems,” I said to myself, “that journalistic affairs are not as abundant as in other times.” Fortunately, not all of us who write for the public are carried away by first impressions. For example, I like to meditate for a long time on the topics that current events propose to me and turn them over and stir them under the beams of light of my reason before deciding to express a judgment.
This phone issue is not one-sided. No, certainly. And those who have judged it so haphazardly will regret their levity when they finish reading these lines.
The phone has two main aspects. Two, my gentlemen. Nothing prevents us from considering it as a public utility service. But anyone who denies its status as a scientific advance, as a conquest of civilization, would be lying like a scoundrel. The telephone can be studied as a service, and should be appreciated as a preview. The individual’s situation regarding these two aspects depends on his or her idiosyncrasy. A practical, positive, vulgar man may be attracted to the former. An idealistic, romantic, sensitive man will prefer the infinite suggestions of the second.
In Spain we are rather romantic. Spain stood in front of the phone from the beginning in an idealistic position. I think we can boast of it, as we boast of other similar national characteristics.
The telephone is only useful when every citizen has one and this allows us to communicate with as many people as we want.
If we consider the telephone as so many millions of people around the world consider it, it is clear that the ideal is for there to be a device in every house, on every floor, in every room. The telephone, as a public service, is only perfectly useful when every citizen has one and this allows us to communicate with as many people as we want. Naturally, to achieve this, cheapness is highly recommended. Cheapness essentially influences diffusion, and diffusion, while increasing the usefulness of the service, favors the company’s profit.
But if we appreciate the telephone as a conquest of civilization, things change, and not only is it essential that we have it, but, examining the issue carefully, it detracts a lot of merit by vulgarizing it. It is enough for us to make this conquest our own, to bring it to the national territory, as we have done with the hippopotamus at the Menagerie or with the large telescope at the Astronomical Observatory. Not all of us are going to look through the telescope. We know it is there, and we would be very ashamed if it were not there. This is all. If there were no telephone in Spain, we would feel unworthy of being among civilized nations. There is a telephone. And there is an excellent automatic telephone. The last word in telephone science. Well. For what else?
For what else? -some object-. It’s just that we want to use it. That’s another thing that has nothing to do with the phone. Even if no one uses it, the telephone is still a scientific advance, and to maintain its character it does not need Juan to call Pedro and start talking to him; maybe to talk nonsense. In Spain, the telephone is a luxury; Its sumptuous nature is so recognized that, as a lawyer has told me, anyone who has one of these devices in their home cannot sue as a poor person. In truth, 30 or 33 pesetas a month cannot be paid by all citizens. I myself am not capable of sustaining that expense; Thanks to an economic effort, I came to possess something…, a part; but not the entire device; I just have the phone book. When I want to communicate with anyone, I open the directory, look for the address of that person’s house (if they are among the subscribers), and I run out to visit them. Isn’t it comfortable? It is not as comfortable as having the complete device. No. But it is a little cheaper.
I will never censure the deep respect that in Spain is granted to the conquests of civilization, raising the prices of them until they are not vulgarized or passed beyond a circle of chosen people. That ours is a nation that does not manufacture, for example, cheap automobiles, within the reach of any poor person, has always satisfied me as proof of exquisiteness. The behavior of France, Italy, and North America, putting standard strollers in the hands of simple workers, seems immoral to me. This is how science is lost in esteem. Even in the case of our phones, it occurs to me that we could tighten the pins more. I would reduce the service even, to increase the consideration of such a plausible conquest of knowledge. I would make each subscription pay 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 pesetas per month. So much so, in short, that whoever had one of those devices would list it on their cards among their titles and announce themselves saying: “So-and-so, the one with the number-one phone.”
And it would be better to have only one device; establish a large company, bring in the best American engineers and assemble a unique telephone in the very large room of a building built for that purpose. Despite the entrance fee – with a slight discount for military personnel and physics students – it could be a good deal. If someone wanted to talk, they would be out of luck; After a heavy exaction, he would communicate with the director of the company the necessary time to change a greeting.
-Good afternoon, Mr. Director.
“Good afternoon,” the formidable invisible character would reply. I am very pleased to respond to your call and to show you this wonderful achievement of science, which we have imported into Spain without paying any sacrifices.
The Pesetero public would surround the experimenter to ask him:
-Do you hear well?
-Divinely. It seems like a miracle.
And we journalists would rush to write: «The overflow of post-war luxury floods Spain. The times of simple life are far behind us. There is that prodigy of the automatic telephone, within the reach of whoever wants to see it, regardless of sex or age. To a great-grandfather of ours it would seem impossible…”, etc., etc.
#respectable #achievement #science
