Evening star., 1899-10-10
War Department Experiments.

War Department are intended to demon
strate the applicability of the wireless sys-
tenn in the improvement of the signal sery-
ice of the army for special use in time of
war. These experiments will be made at
New York after the conclusion of the yacht
races and will be conducted under the su-
pervision of Gen. Greely, the chief signal
officer.
An officer of the corps has made the fol-
lowing statement in regard to these tests:
"A proving ground is being selected for
the purpose, and balloons are being fitted
out for some and fascinating expert
ments at extraordinary high attitudes
These air vehicles Will be small, capable of
lifting only forty or fifty pounds, but will
be ample to support the necessary wires
and fixtures. 1t will not be necessary to
send any men or instruments aloft This
by itself will be great advantage over
present methods. The most dangerous post
in the signal service, if not in the entire
military organization, will thus be elimi-
mated.
These balloons will be sent up to various
attitudes. They will be employed instead
of the high poles which Mr.. Marconi has
hitherto used. Some of them will be COW
cred with tinfoil: others will carry up
plates such as are now attached to the
tops or poles. A few of the famous weather
bureau kites will also be used Since the
| height to which these aerial craft can be
sent is great the distance over which wire
| less communication is now possible will he
| enormously multiplied, provided sufficient
| potentials can be generated
| with the pole experiments the limit
| thus far appears to be beyond eighty miles,
! twice the distance of the first telegram
| line using wires. While Mr. Marconi was
| working in Europe it was supposed that
| provision had to be made to overcome the
| curvature OF the earth, but this no longer
| seems necessary. 1 understand that the
| elghty-mile message was sent from a sta
| ton only seventy feet high, although the
/ curvature of the earth was 900 feet Theo-
rati ool lyv hall
| sibilities almost limitless According to the
| old formula providing for the earth's curva-
| ture two balloons, each 900 feet high
should send messages $500 miles"
| New Line to Cuba.
| 1t is not at all improbable that the Com
| mercial Telegraph Company may find In
| the Marconi system a powerful weapon
with which to fight the monopoly now
abused by the Western Union Telegraph
| Company, in the matter of communication
between the United States and Cuba. Up
to this time the Western Union has kept
| that field entirely to itself through an old
| grant from the former defunct Spanish
| regime in Cuba, and frustrated the
| plans of the Commercial company to
| extend its lines to Cuba by persuading the
! officers of the government that they had no
| legal right to grant the Commercial COM
pany the privilege af landing it's cable on
| the shores of Cuba In case the latter COM
| pany secures no felle1 from congress the
! matter Of landing it's cable it is possible
| that it may resort to the wireless system to
establish connection between Key West and
| Cuba. 1t is said that the officers of the
| company are making close study of the
| system with that object in view in case of
| extremity.
| In a recent interview Mr.. Charles Cut
| triss. an expert of the Commercial COM
| pany made the following significant state
| ment:
| 1.-The wireless telegraph is one of the
| greatest inventions Of the age. AS to its
| practical application, it will have field
i entirely IT'S own Wireless telegra phv will