Free Love

Last week the 75th anniversary of the opening of the first transcontinental telegraph line in the U. S. was dutifully observed by Western Union Telegraph Co. While replicas of the old Morse instruments clacked before a microphone, while historians recounted the wire-stringing from Sacramento to Omaha that finally joined East and West in 1861, Western

Union announced a sentimental addition to its service. To keep the word "telegraphically alive," LOVE may henceforth be added free to any of Western Union's 554 ready-written messages.

Like most other Western Union epistolary innovations in the past quarter century, free love was originated by Vice President John Calvin Willever. Now 71, Mr. Willever has been with Western Union longer than any man now in active service. The name J. C. Willever has appeared on every Western Union blank since 1916-more than 5,000,000,000 times. In 1910, when the late Theodore N. Vail blazed into Western Union for a brief term as president, Mr. Willever al ready had the longest service record of any major executive. For years he had been trying io sell the Night Letter to his company. Mr. Vail let him have his way, added the Day Letter himself. The service was a great success. Since then Mr.

Willever has had a much freer hand.

Convinced that telegrams were adapt able to all social nuances, Mr. Willever first created special holly-leaved blanks for Christmas messages in 1914. He next observed that the mental strain involved in composing social telegrams plunged many a pencil-chewing patron into despondency. So Mr. Willever encouraged managers in branch offices to keep scrapbooks of sentiments they thought were neatly turned. From these collections Mr. Willever culled and issued in 1915 a grey booklet of "suggestions" for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Birthday, Wedding, Birth, Death, Congratulation messages.

By 1924 all occasional messages were keyed so that Western Union could send them by merely dispatching the code number of the message with the addressee's name, the sender's signature. But Mr. Willever had not yet applied a special rate to the pre-fabricated telegram. It remained for the second summer of the Chicago World's Fair in 1934 to provide that wrinkle. To the throng of sightseers Mr. Willever offered form telegrams of greeting to be delivered for 25-c- anywhere in the U. S. So successful was this stunt that this year all Western Union "fixed texts" were put on a fixed rate basis.

Meantime Mr. Willever added the following categories: Father's Day. Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Bon Voyage, Yom. Kippur. There are various kinds of congratulatory Western Union telegrams: on Engagement, Promotion, Election, Success of Artist, Making a Speech, Wedding Anniversary, Opening a New Store. Form telegrams can be sent upon ascending Pike's Peak. Mr. Willever is preparing similar ones for Niagara Falls and Atlantic City. Brand new are Western Union "Kiddiegrams," to be sent to children. Samples from this variegated service:

P: Another milepost along life's highway, and with it my wish for a happy birthday.

P: I'm only a little tot, just starting out in life; and sending best of wishes to my dear daddy's wife.

P: If you were seven and I were nine, I'd say "Please be my Valentine."

P: Cannot tell you how much we appreciated the weekend. I thank you, my wife thanks you, my wife's little daughter thanks you. Cheerio!

P: May the solemnity and spirituality of Yom Kippur strengthen all friendship.

P: That was certainly a wonderful party. We had the time of our lives. When is the next one?

P: At miles between us we can laugh, our hearts entwined by telegraph.

P: Brush your teeth, comb your hair, hurry to bed, say your prayer, and before you know it I will be there. This year "Tourate" telegrams have been introduced, which grant a low wordage charge on messages containing strictly travel information. Postal Telegraph in most cases has duplicated Western Union's special message arrangements, but last week had no intention of trying to match Western Union's football service. Parents, friends and rooters may have delivered to any locker room in the country any of the following inspiring sentiments:

P:Alma mater's thousands are in the stands fighting with you for another victory. Best of luck.

P: Can't you hear us cheering? The crowd is with you.

P:We are proud of you. Make us doubly proud today by a victorious game.

P: Fight with everything you have, boys, and bring back a victory.

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