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LEE CALHOUN
Kansas City, Mo.
Charles O'Conor, nominee of the "Straight Out" or "Bourbon" Democrats, was indeed a Catholic. But the major candidates in 1872 were Ulysses Simpson Grant (Republican—3,597,132 votes) and Horace Greeley (supported by Democrats and Liberal Republicans—2,834,125 votes). Count received by Candidate O'Conor: 29,489.—ED.
Telephone Cats
Sirs:
In your June 7 issue, you publish a letter from Mr. Arthur Tuckerman, of Gstaad, Switzerland, about a master-ratsman dog Bippo, referring to Standard Oil's cat Minnie (TIME, April 12). As the subject appears to possess so much public interest, may I not contribute the following additional information re animal rat-slayers on corporate payrolls:
For many years—nine, to my personal knowledge—the United River Plate Telephone Co., Argentine operating associate company of the International Telephone & Telegraph Corp., has maintained a staff of cats on its payroll in Buenos Aires. I don't know just how many there now are, but there are 36 telephone exchanges in Buenos Aires, and there are a few feline employes around the Stores Department.
Then there is Tomas, a big pot-bellied black fellow at headquarters, who is a sort of chief operator, or section chief. Officially Tomas belongs to the Avenida automatic exchange, quartered in the same building; but through seniority and an especially winning personality which he has, he really works his daylight shift in the public business office. Can't say how he spends his nights, but there's a night club next door. Tomas sometimes sits in the doorway to the Commercial office, facing the elevators; other times, he perches on the counter under the sign reading "Complaints." When an irate subscriber comes up to the counter to raise the devil about something, Tomas arches his back and rubs up against the fellow's shoulder, purring amiably. He knows by experience that it goes far to take the edge off the subscriber's mad. . . .
Cats used to get 50 centavos a day "liver money." When the late Depression—remember the Depression ?—was at its worst, a reduction was ordered in the foreign technical staff, and salary cuts for those that remained. Now, cats are foreign staff, in that they do not come under any of the Argentine labor laws or the contract with the labor federation. And if a cat's a good mouser, he sure has to be a technician. It was unanimously decided not to fire any of the feline personnel, but they did have to stand a salary cut. . . .
Stables? Yes, horses still have a hoof in the telephone business. Especially in the transoceanic radio-telephone service. . . . Automobiles are not allowed within a mile of the Platanos receiving station antenna, lest the magnetos might cause interference. So the technical staff who live all the time at the radio station have horses to bring in supplies and to get in and out to the highway themselves. . . . Horses cause no radio interference. . . . The most profitable aspect of transatlantic telephony for the I. T. & T. up to now has been the sale of the children of these horses. . . .
KENNETH McKIM
Assistant Vice President
International Telephone &Telegraph Corp.
New York City
Real Shock
Sirs: