Arguments Against Automatic Idea. Naturally there has been a bitter fight against the automatic. Those who have opposed it have contended:
First: that it is too complicated and, therefore, could be neither reliable or economical.
Second: that it is too expensive, and that the necessary first cost could not be justified.
Third: that it is too inflexible and could not adapt itself to special kinds of service.
Fourth: that it is all wrong from the subscribers' point of view as the public will not tolerate "doing its own operating."
Complexity. This first objection as to complexity, and consequent alleged unreliability and lack of economy should be carefully analyzed. It too often happens that a new invention is cast into outer darkness by those whose opinions carry weight by such words as "it cannot work; it is too complicated." Fortunately for the world, the patience and fortitude which men must possess before they can produce meritorious, though intricate inventions, are usually sufficient to prevent their being crushed by any such offhand condemnation, and the test of time and service is allowed to become the real criterion.
It would be difficult to find an art that has gone forward as rapidly as telephony. Within its short life of a little over thirty years it has grown from the phase of trifling with a mere toy to an affair of momentous importance to civilization. There has been a tendency, particularly marked during recent years, toward greater complexity; and probably every complicated new system or piece of apparatus has been roundly condemned, by those versed in the art as it was, as being unable to survive on account of its complication.
To illustrate: A prominent telephone man, in arguing against the nickel-in-the-slot method of charging for telephone service once said, partly in jest, "The Lord never intended telephone service to be given in that way." This, while a little off the point, is akin to the sweeping aside of new telephone systems on the sole ground that they are complicated. These are not real reasons, but rather convenient ways of disposing of vexing problems with a minimum amount of labor. Important questions lying at the very root of the development of a great industry may not be put aside permanently in this offhand way. The Lord has never, so far as we know, indicated just what his intentions were in the matter of nickel service; and no one has ever shown yet just what degree of complexity will prevent a telephone system from working.
It is safe to say that, if other things are equal, the simpler a machine is, the better; but simplicity, though desirable, is not all-important. Complexity is warranted if it can show enough advantages.