Click image to open full size in new tab
Article Text
Mrs. R. L. Johnson Has Completed Long Service
Night Operator at Local Telephone Exchange For Past Thirty-five Years Retires on Pension After Long Service to Jonesboro. Many Interesting incidents During Long. Career. Plans to Visit Relatives For Some Time During Vacation. Miss Cecilia Carnes Promoted.
It is three o'clock in the morning of November 11. 1918. A night operator ot the telephone exchange keeps lonely vigil Since midnight her nimble fingers have been at rest. The switchboard dozes. Jonesboro sleeps. The operator's thought turn to the muddy shot-torn battlefields of France. A son she has offered to the service of her country is over there. He too is keeping a lonely vigil. Will he be spared until the mighty conflict is ended? A tiny white light flashes on the switchboard. Deftly she inserts jack, completing the connection. She listens. Out of the night come words which the world has anxiously awaited and prayed for. The Armistice! Such news is too good to keep. The operator thinks of other Jonesboro mothers whose sons are at the fingers are busy at the switchboard, Insistent ringing of the telephone arouses a score of soundly sleeping citizens. "This is Mrs. Johnson war is over!' Their voices choked with happy sobs, Jónesboro mothers blessed Mrs. Johnson as a song of thanksgiving surged through hearts torn with anxiety and fear for the safety of their boys
The incident alone if enough to endear Mrs. R. L. Johnson, night operator of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, to Jonesboro telephone users. It is typical of her thoughtfulness of others and the desire to be of service which has dominated her thirty-five years of duty in the telephone exchange It is with sincere regret local subscribers learn she is being retired with a pension, having reached the age limit at which telephone employees are retired. On the other hand, they are glad she can now enjoy the leisure well earned by buys and happy life devoted to helping others. "Mrs. Johnson is an institution in the telephone history of Jonesboro. and we are indeed sorry she is leaving the switchboard,' H. J. Kimbro, district manager, said. Mrs. Johnson is a Tennesseean by birth. When her husband died about thirty-five years ago she brought her three children to Jonesboro, where her brother was part owner of the telephone exchange She became an operator. "At that time I was the day opcrator and Miss Launa Morelock the night operator.' she recalls "Three of our early subscribers, whose telephone numbers today remain unchanged, were the Stonefield Grocery, C. A. Stuck and Son, and the Johnson Berger Company "We had fewer than 100 city subscribers. The only long distance facilities available was the circuit between Jonesboro and Lake City. It has been extremely interesting to be to play a part in the marvelous development of the telephone here. Today we serve more than 1900 customrs through the exchange] We have 34 long distance circuits. Jonesboro's communication with the outside world is not limited to Lake City. Any Jonesboro subscriber can lift his receiver and reach almost anybody, anywhere. with almost the same ease he can call his next door neighbor He can talk to most of the cities of Europe. to South America. to be continent of Africa, to Australia, to point within the Arctic Circle, or to ships enroute across the Atlantic Ocean. Most of Mrs. Johnson's long career has been spent as a night operator. While Jonesboro citizens slumbered she kept the lonely night watches, ever alert to arouse them in case of fire or other emergency.
Before the exchange reached the size where the operators are kept busy completing calls, she performed many many little services not ordinarily within the scope of the operator's duties. For years subscribers called Mrs. Johnson to ascertain the correct time when their clocks ran down. She could tell you the whereabouts of the doctor if he was needed in an emergency If you were at tending a sick person, she would call you several times during the night to remind you it was time for the patient thereceive his medicine. Trainmen who must pile ou of bed in the middle or the night to go on duty never felt any apprehension they might over sleep. ring the telephone until they were aroused. She would cheerfully tell you what time the next train ar. rived or departed. who won the election, or the best recipe for baking a cake. The average person, when informed that his home is burning, will drop everything and try to beat the fire department to the scene of the blaze. But not Mrs. Johnson She was on duty when her home burned to the ground. Despite the trying situation she handled the emergency in the same salm. efficient manner which experience had taught her, remaining on duty until relieved. "This instance helps me to recall the loyalty of the telephone company to its employees when they meet misfortune, she said. "I would have been discouraged without the prompt and encouraging assistance o fthe company and my fellow-workers at that time Another time, when was confin d to a hospital bed for two months as the result of an automobile accident my salary for the entire period was delivered to me reg. ularly." Mrs. Johnson plans to take immediate advantage of her (irst long vacation by doing exactly what she has long wished to do. Her hobby is painting, and the looks forward with pleasure to having an uninterrupted sojourn with her beloved brushes, paints and canvas. Also, she intends to do considerable traveling and visit friends and relatives living in other states. She hopes to see her daughter, Mrs. Jenna Chism of Beverly Hills, California; her son, Hal, of Phoenix, Arizona; and two brothers. W. T. Young of Jackson, Tennessee, and A. M. Young of Indianapolis, Ind. Miss Cecilia Carns will take Johnson's place at the telephone switchboard. She has been an onployee of the company for a number of years.
FACING ADVERSITY WITH CALM Jonesboro and Craighead county citizens today face the greatest test that has confronted them for years American Trust Company has closed its doors. There is perhaps nothing in the index of human experinence and calamities so conducive to panic as a bank failure involving the funds of hundreds of citizens. Men of calm judgement, under ordinary conditions, feell themselves swept into the stream of common confusion in the face of such dire calamity. What varied comments from the small groups of citizens gathered upon street corners this morning, their only thought the closing of the bank. Doubt, fear, and misgiving combined to produce a situation liable to result in almost anything. But through it all the calm business acumen of Jonesboro's men was evident. They swayed the turbulent crowd from rash action, pointed out the proper course of action to the unschooled in business methods. Already plans are on foot for reorganizing the bank. Indications this morning were that the closing of the institution was brought about to prevent a run on the bank in the face of poor conditions that prevailed. Under ordinary conditions that would have meant the usual large fall deposits in the bank, it is likely that no such crisis would have arisen. An inventory must be taken and a thorough investigation of prevailing conditions made before definite can be taken.
In the meanwhile business interests of Jonesboro will be served by a sterling business institution, longestablished and in stable financial condition at the present time, the Bank of Jonesboro. The Bank of Jonesboro has served this community for the past forty years and it is stronger now than ever before during that period of time. The large percentáge of the bank's funds is invested in bonds and cash securities. The officials of the bank always have been conservative in their investments and have never taken over any interest in other banks. Statements of the Bank always have shown a high percentage of funds invested in cash and high grade conservative securities. The bank is at present in the finest condition in its history and will continue to be able to care for all the banking needs of the community. The present situation is one which will truly test the real spirit of Jonesboro and Craighead county. Conditions have been poor for severall months and to just what extent the failure of the American Trust Company will effect those condition depends largely upon the manner in which Jonesboro and Craighead County citizens respond to the demands of the situation. There is no reason for further fear regarding Jonesboro's banking institutions. No run on the Bank of Jonesboro is expected or feared, but bank official have announced that they are ready for any contingencies that may arise. A calm consideration of the situation-not hot-headed by industrious action along the proper lines will go far toward returning conditions to normalcy.
DIRECTORS STATEMENT The following statement was issued for publication today by the Board of Directors of the American Trust Company: "The Board of Directors of the American Trust Company, decided at a called meeting to close the bank and ask the State Banking Department to take charge. This action was taken in the interests of the depositors, The bank hasn't been able to collect on the collateral on its loans sufficient to meet the regular daily withdrawal and keep on hand the cash reserve required. General depression in business throughout the whole year and a short crop of cotton at an extremely low price has prevented those owing the bank from meeting their obligations when due. The board could see no way to continue under these conditions. If affairs at the bank are handled properly and economically the depositors should be paid in full as there are sufficient assets to do this. The board realizes the position this places the depositors in in tying up their funds but we did the best thing for their interests. No one feels more keen regret at seeing the bank close than the directors but that this all could do under the circumstances. The Board of Directors: M. P. Welsh, President Eugene Sloan, Gordon Matthews, G. G. Brooks, R. H. Willett. R. E. Robertsen, R. E. Townsend, W. H. Lohnes, James Clair, S. Rosenfield, and Amos Hall.
