kily the remedy was
simple and easily applied.

In a well-designed busy-test system there should be complete silence
when the test is made of an idle line, and always a well-defined click
when the test is made of a busy line. The test on busy lines should
result in a uniform click regardless of length of lines or the condition
of the apparatus. It does not suffice to have a little click for an idle
line and a big click for a busy line, as practice has shown that this
results in frequent errors on the part of the operators.

Good operating requires that the tip of the calling plug be tapped
against the test thimble several times in order to make sure of the
state of the called line.

In some multiple switchboards the arrangement has been such that the
jacks of a line would test busy as soon as the subscriber on that line
removed his receiver from its hook to make a call, as well as while any
plug was in any jack of that line. The advocates of this added feature,
in connection with the busy test, have claimed that the receiver, when
removed from its hook in making a call, should make the line test busy
and that a line should not be connected with when the subscriber's
receiver was off its hook any more than it should be when it was already
connected with at some other section of the switchboard. While it is
true that a line may be properly termed busy when the subscriber has
removed his receiver in order to make a call, it is not true that there
is any real necessity for guarding against a connection with it while he
is waiting for the operator to answer. Leaving the line unguarded for
this brief period may result in the subscriber, who intended to make the
call, having to defer his call until he has conversed with the party who
is trying to reach him. This cannot be said to be a detriment to the
service, however, since the second party gets the connection he desires
much sooner than he otherwise would, and the first party may still make
his first intended call as soon as he has disposed of the party who
reached him while he was waiting for his own operator to answer. It may
be said, therefore, in connection with this matter of making the line
test busy as soon as a subscriber has removed his receiver from the
hook, that it is not considered an essential, and in case of those
switchboard systems which naturally work out that way it is not
considered a disadvantage.

=Field of Each Operator.= It was stated earlier in t