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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1921)
6 A THE BEE: OMAHA, SUMDAY. APRIL 24, 1921. Wireless Telegraph Annihilated Space and Defied Enemy Interference Bringing A. E. F. Into Quick Touch With U. S. Says Daniels U Ik Grnnari hift cut wwy fM coaM ptill htr Hiked to Cump Ntrr'i wlrelet frrfrmm tnnltuUttd no and defied mvnj lnirfrnrfr Mol powerful radio plant In world ennttruriwl b O. S. ' twJti lot with In rrli How the ridlo cuipiM, wr UiTmtlon, lint loit thlrw tonHnt tt Ht liu been lobbed of 11 terror! Nlio mil eelebrai wonderi M4 - ' By jQSEPHUS DANIELS Formtr BMfPtiry el th Nivy CuyritM llll. ky l"n F. Dill. Copyright tiv Nillonal N.wimp.r larylct. Cogyrliht In rial BrlHH. Oaaatfa a throuthout Euros.. AM rlphti rtMrvad. IneludlM trantlatlnn Into turpi, lt(M, iKludltif, Ih 8cndlnilpn. Unauthorlied rtprlnlln, (or any purpose InrMddan. The miracle of wireless made it possible for the United States to fight a war on the other side of the world without losing contact with her soldiers and ships for longer than three hours out of any twenty four. Measuring distance in terms of space, Washington was seperated by 3.000 miles of water from the fighting forces of the United States in France. But measuring distance in terms of time,. Washington vas in closer touch with its army of the Meuse-Argonne.in 1917-18 than it was with the army of the Potomac in 1861-65. From one room in the Navy de partment the transocean room, we railed "it we could communicate with almost any country in west ern Europe. This room had direct connection with the high-power sending sta tions at Annapolis, Sayville, L. I., and New Brunswick and -Tucker-ton, N. J. Messages flung from these stations were picked up in Trance and speeded on over a net work of land wires and telephones to any point where it was possible to place a receiving instrument from the rear areas to the trenches. What Might Have Happened? ' The tremendous advantage af forded by this means of communica tion may be tlie better appreciated by postulating two "fs" If the submarine telegraph had been the only method of immediate communication and If the Germans had cut the cables What might have happened? Nobody can say what might have happened. U would have bee a potentially dangerous situation, a.,d one of sore trial for Washington and the American people. Things moved so quickly and complete transformations occurred with such amazing suddenness, that telegraphic isolation from Europe for 24 hours - might have been fraught with most serious consequences.- There were occasions when critical questions came up, and prompt decisions were required. It was of supreme importance then that there should be direct, instan taneous and uninterrupted communi cation between Washington and London or Paris or Chaumont, or any other of the vital centers of control and direction. As a matter of fact the Germans did cut some of the cables, but that was the least of t our worries once we had developed a complete system of wireless communication. Marvelous System Perfected. Had the war run into the year 1919 we would have had in opera tion the most marvelous instrumen tality for gathering and disseminat ing intelligence that human genius has yet conceived. Planned in 1917 iliis greatest of wireless plants was approaching completion when hostilities ended. Work was then discontinued, but later was resumed and completed last year. The United States navy undertook the erection of the wireless station and structure at Crouc d'Hins, near Bordeaux, and named the completed plant the La Fayette. f It is today, and is likely to be for years to come, the most powerful radio system in existence. When it was put into operation the following radiogram, addressed to me, came vibrating into the transocean room of the Navy department . "This is the first wireless message to be heard around the world, and marks a milestone on the road tof scientific achievement.- "La Fayette Radio Station." Only One in the 'World. The message is no empty boast. It states a simple fact, but a fact of which every American may be proud. The La Fayette Radio sta tion is the only radio station in the world that can belt the globe with its electrified ether waves. An. inscription has been placed upon the main building of the plant, the exact words of which I will give you presently, but I sometimes think a briefer inscription (might have been better. For example: "I have annihilated distarfce. T have made the remotest corner of the world my next door neighbor."' There is no spot anywhere on the earth's surface where, if a high power station existed, a message sent from the La Fayette would not be instantly received.. France gave America the immortal work of Bartholdi "Liberty En lightening the World!" America has given France, through the genius and enterprise of her navy, a fin de siecle variation on the same theme. When the tidings' of ' human LprogYess, of commerce and industry and science and politics Mash from La Fayette to the high power sta tion's of two hemispheres, in a very real and significant sense it is "Lib erty Enlightening the World!" Towers 832 Feet High. La Fayette station consists of eight lofty towers, on immense con crete foundations, arranged in two rows,- 1,320 feet apart. Each tower rises to a height of 832 feet, nearly 300 feet higher than the Washington monument. The system affords an antenna area of 5,227,200 square feet, far larger than that of any other radio station. The longitudinal antenna wires ate bronze 'cables, supported by what the wireless people call triatics. The latter stretch across the aisle formed by the two rows or tcwers. The antenna wires are 690 feet above the ground. Signals- received from LaFayette at Cavite, San Francisco, the Pan ama conal zone and Washington during the tests proved to be three to eight times as strong as those of other high power stations at like, dis tances. - - , When the plant was finished and the tests had demonstrated the suc cess of what we had set 'out to do. we prepared a tablet and placed it on the main building, with the fol lowing inscription: "Conceived for the purpose of in suring adequate and uninterrupted transatlantic communication facili ties between the American expedi tionary forces engaged in the world war and the government of the United States of America. "Erected by the United States navy in conjunction with and for the government of France." Robs Sea of Loneliness. One of the great achievements of wireless has been to rob the sea of its loneliness, and of much of its old-time peril. Before Marconi worked his miracle a ship that had been driven from traveled ocean lanes by storm, whose propeller shaft had broken, or whose engine had gone out of business, might lie for days unseen and unable to com municate with any source of help. Helpless to steer a course, and at the mercy of wave and wind, it might be wrecked and sunk and none left to tell the story. Such things have not been infrequent in the an nals of the sea. Only those who have been to sei know the sense of loneliness, of ut ter isolation, of remoteness from any source of help which one feels when, standing on deck or bridge and looking around the full circle of the unbroken horizon, one sees nothing, absolutely nothing, but water a vast monotony of undulating water. And the remoteness was as hope less and as helpless as i felt until wireless came. Now, if a ship gets into difficulty and needs help it splutters its S. O. S. from its wireless, confident that it will be heard and answered. Talked With All Ships. During the war we talked to all our ships, anywhere, whenever we had anything to say; and they talked to one another. We sent them sub marine warnings and routings and all kinds of information and order. Often we would send, simultane ously, as many as 50 or 60 messages to all kinds of vessels, and they would be picked up by them without difficulty. ' - At the same time, we were send ing, our stations along the coast were intercepting every word or signal sent out by ships at sea. Sometimes "the air was full of then," as the operators said. The wireless operator inhis little room had ears for the world, and all the world spoke to him. There came to him its cries, its warnings, its appeals, sometimes its curses, antl sometimes even its laughter. Many a secret he heard and kept. But the message which never failed to send a thrill through his soul was "Alio! Alio. S. O. S." That call vibrating through the ether meant that somewhere an American or allied vessel was being attacked by a U-boat. Every naval vessel which heard it went hurrying at once to the scene of its origin. Air Full of Distress Cries. Sometimes in the war zone the air seemed full of "Alios." Nearing the European coast a ship could catch the wireless for hundreds of miles. One moment it might hear a distress signal from some vessel off Ireland, and the next from soni-. craft being attacked in the Bay of Biscay. Morale was stimulated and helped tremendously by wireless. Our wireless news service was greatly appreciated by the men at sea. It kept them almost as well informed as to what was happening at home, and as to the vital happenings in other parts of the world, as if tliey had been able to get the last edi tion of the home town paper. At 10 o'clock each night ships "cleared" for the Navy Press, and we ' gave out a complete summary .or the news of America. Perhaps one of the most interest ing and useful things we did with wireless was to establish radio com pass stations, which, by listening to the direction from which a wave length came, with greatest force, could determine, a ship's position at sea. Great Help to Ships. These stations of course were orig inally erected as a means of locating submarines, and in this work they proved so successful that the U boats hardly dared use their wireless off our coast. Since they finished their U-boat job, however, they have proved of the greatest value to navi gation. There are some 70 of them on the Atlantic, Pacific and gulf coasts, and any ship that becomes lost in fog, or otherwise confused as to its reckoning, can obtain by wireless from the radio compass its exact position. If it is in danger ous waters it will be given sailing directions which will enable it to steer safely into port. . Think of what this would have meant to Columbus, or Magellan, or Captain Cook! Not a few inventions which were designed specifically for war use are now proving of applicable value to the ways and needs of peace, but I doubt if any of them will do more for the saving of life and the fa cilitating of human intercourse and traffic than the radio compass. Sometimes I think the achieve ments of wireless and its still unde veloped possibilities mark the "far thest north" of human adventure in the realm of experinirnt and research. Assuredly it is a long road the race has traveled since the days when the tribesmen of Great Britain sig nalled to each other bv hilltop fires and the aboriginal, 1(H) per cent American conmiutiicated with those who acknowledged the same totem by means of a code written in wav ering columns of smoke. The iiew of victory at Marathon was carried back to Athens by Phei dippides, who, running with sustained speed the 26 miles from battlefield to capital, fell dead from exhaustion with the cry on his lipe, "Rejoice, we conqucrl" When Wellington defeated Na poleon at Waterloo it was nearly 36 hours before' London heard the glad tidings. When the armistice was signed in 1918 Washington had the news in a few minutes. Poems have been written about the famous ride of Paul Revere and the carrying of the good news from Ghent. Elbert Hubbard immortalized the youth who took a message to Garcia. It will take a combination of Long fellow and Browning and Elbert Hubbard to pay a just tribute to wireless and its heroes. (Another article by forme 8rrelar7 Daniels will be published tomorrow.) Argentina to Ask Restoration Of Dominican Independence Buenos Aires, April 23. The Ar gentine government is preparing to use its friendly offices in Washington in favor of the speediest possible restoration of Dominican independ ence, it was learned at the foreign office today. President Yrigoyen, it is understood, has given assurances to this eifect to the representatives of Santo Domingo, who have been visiting all capitals of South Amer ica to plead their cause before gov ernments and peoples. Nomination of Edwards As Brigadier General Opposed by Democrats Washington, April 23. Strong op position on the part of democrats was voiced at a meeting of the senate military committee to confirmation of the nomination of Brig. Gen. Clarence R. Edwards, first com mander overseas of the 26th (New England National Guard) division, to be a major general. The subject was discussed at a conference with Secretary Weeks, who urged con firmation of the officers recently nominated by President Harding. The opposition to promotion of General Edwards was said to have been based upon his military record, although Secretary Weeks said the War department files contained no unfavorable evidence in connection with his release from the command of the division some time before the armistice. A more complete investi gation of the records, it was said, was suggested, however, and the secretary was requested to supple ment information given the commit tee. Meanwhile, action on all the nominations was deferred. Boy Scouts to Aid During Forest Protection Week New York, April 23. The aid ot 500,000 boy scouts during forest pro tection week, proclaimed by Presi dent Harding for May 22 to 28, has been pledged governors and foresters of each state, it was announced at the headquarters of the Roy Scouts of America. Every scout will be urged to plant a tree during the week, to guard against forest fires and fight them when they occur. Bee want ads little, but mighty. roMTICAI. 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