Affiche Telefoneer met Nederlandsch-Indië

Technological inventions rapidly improved communication between the Netherlands and colonial Indonesia. Telephone calls could be made via a direct connection from 1929. This poster is an advertisement for this service. A three-minute call to Java cost 33 guilders (more than a week’s salary for a skilled worker). At the left is typical Dutch imagery, and at the right a shadow puppet, an equally cliché representation of the Dutch East Indies.