the speech to far away place a speaking possible however great the distance many of them provide direct wires for communication between busy center as modern substitutes for switching interruptions of an older day by connection a quarter of a million miles of these specially equipped circuits are underground and the lines above the ground are so expensive that no man has ever seen them all a million poles parade across the landscape bearing the graceful drapery of but long distance means more than wires it also means waves waves that are tossed by antennas through the invisible ether so that the voice of america may leap over the seas to six continents and two ships at sea while other wire fingers reach up to catch the ways that answer way bringing news of exciting happenings in other lands waves holding reports from the nation's faraway embassies waves that may carry the message of a king or the joy greeting of a mother to a distant child and besides these wire and wireless channels to distant places long distance also means the art whereby the wires and wire and us are brought together station like quest of time and space there are other houses of magic tools hundreds of them placed with a procession of engineering science without which the land why ours would fail in their word bearing mission as the cry and other days was fresh horses for the stagecoach so now must there be new energy for the electric currents that speed our speech to distant places repeaters are what these energizers are called it is because of them and the experts guarding them that the pressures freight of words upon the wires may be delivered underlaid and unharmed despite the distance of their travel not words the only freight that rides the wires there is music to that must travel unimpaired by the length of its journey for long distance is each wire network that brings to broadcasting stations the songs of the day the music of the masters  statesman humorous newscast it is the technique that links together with split second precision the ever changing station groups it is the responsibility to judge electrically each spoken word each tone the orchestra or singer before far off radio transmitters receive them but more than speech and music is flowing along the wires there is the written word as well at many a switchboard is the sound not of voices but of tapping keys as operators provide wire channels for typed communications and so long distance means the circuits over which are written messages may pass between teletype writers it means other circuits to more carefully planned tell a typewriter systems to the machines of great news gathering organizations come the reports of what a busy world is thinking and doing and hoping there is sifting checking editing and then a million words a day are sent along three hundred thousand miles of wire to feed the waiting presses again that is special news for those who protect communities the alarms the tell of lawlessness and crime the warnings that help to trap and capture public enemies to meet the speed of escape long distance gives the speed of the flashing word in one great area of the carry back instructions orders decisions to interchange vital information for the protection of the public welfare and there is other vital news it is terse language of coded reports to guide the flying men of this modern day whose confident passage through the air depends on what the wires tell of our wind or rain or sleet or landing field ahead finally there are the organizations whose trust it is to defend the nation their protective services rests on the coordination of widely scattered units there are far flung activities are unified and mobilized through the swift transmission of information of instructions of command long distances here to call to the colors and serving with pride and so long distance means many things graves wire antennas building many pots many skill many function a composite instrumentality ready for the task ahead and giving this instrumentality life and energy is the spirit that moves men and women everywhere who undertake the duties of communication