Sunday Washington globe., 1902-01-05

partment that will anticipate the success of
the proposed transpacifc cable, keep the
army transports in almost continual com
munication at sea and eventually, with the
aid Of Uncle Sans chain of islands in the
Pacific establish complete telegraphic SER
vice between San Francisco and Manila.
Part Of the great scheme-the charting of
the ocean to keep track of the daily move
ments of the heet-has already been accom-
plished. The next step will be to equip the
transports with the latest wireless tele-
graphic apparatus and erect stations at
Honolulu, Guam and Wade Island. Even
without the expected Improvements in
wireless telegraphy during the next year.
accommodation is a certainty. This
equipment will be one Of the big improve
ments Of the new year.
What / have already done" says Cen
eral Long, lis to perfect a system by which
when once it is fully in operation-I can
tell instantly, at any time, just where the
ships of our transport or naval service are
plowing along in the ocean. In itself alone
this might not seem Of much importance
but taken IN connection with the Govern
ments intentions TO utilize wireless tele-
graphy in the navy, you will see what it
means II means the possibility Of a COM
plete revolution in the executive depart
ment Of our ocean service. II means that
we may see at some not very distant date
a complete chain of wireless communica-
tion between here and our possessions on
the other side Of the Pacific Ocean
"A practicable contrivance BY which one
could place the point Of his pencil on the
exact spot in a map where a ship should be
lin the 1000 miles of the Pacific Ocean
at any arbitrarily chosen time, has been the
dream of the War Department ever since
we established close transport service be-
tween here and the Philippines. AT last
thanks to the assistance rendered me by
my co-worker, Frank Van Week, assistant
superintendent engineer in the service,
think I may safely say we have realized
that dream.
The system OF dispatching ships offered
by this plan is absolutely novel. Its great
value consists in being able to maintain a
continual line of transport and island sta
tiOns between the home port and Manila in
such regular rotation that by equipping
vessels and island stations with wireless
telegraphy a message can be flashed in re-
lays, independent of wire cables, across the
entire Pacific
Each vessel can be furnished with the
chart map and telegraph plant, and with
instructions from the home Office would
know exactly what to do says General
Long. Not alone would this system en-
able us to make use Of the ships as relay
stations in reaching from point to point, but
we could also know that in times Of war il
would be possible to intercept ships that
now are lost for days and days, and change
their orders or give them warnings.
IF the Oregon, for instance, had been
equipped with wireless telegraphy. and If
she had been dispatched according to a
schedule similar to the one prepared for
the Pacific feet, she would not have been
lost as she was along the coast OF South
America. She might have made her prog
ress known, whether night or day, while
she swept by the southern ports, though
hundreds of miles from shore.
When General A. W. Greely, Chief Sig
nal Officer Of the United States Army, re-
turns from the Philippine Islands he and /
will confer as to the most available plans
10 be followed in equipping our Pacific
squadron of transports with wireless teleg-
Taphy. The department at Washington is
deeply concerned with the future of wire
less telegraphy Not only will such an
equipment keep the ships within reach
when out of sight and sound at sea, but it
will enable them to communicate one with
the other while passing in the wide ocean
under circumstances that otherwise would
preclude their knowing of each others
presence. Once following a regular dis.
patch schedule they will be on the lookout,
and no ship need be without communica-
tion in times of peace or war for more than
day at the VerV utmost
AS you know, there is to-day communi-
cation between TT. Mason and Alcatraz
Island by wireless telegraphy. The stations
established there have been in operation
for almost a year and a half now. No
trouble has been experienced My chart
dispatch-system, which has been an almost
necessary prelude to general application of
wireless telegraphy in this service, has been
favorably regarded so there is absolutely
nothing now to hinder the near establish
ment of the entire proposition.
And now the query comes, How far can
communication be had at sea with wireless
telegraphy2 A year ago it was less than
thirty miles. A month since it was conser-
vatiyely placed at 200 miles To-day Mar
conf the great master promises success at
double that distance Within another year
900 miles may reasonably be possible; aud
then but four ships would be necessary to
transmit a message the 1000 miles between
here and the Philippines were we to use
our possessions at Hawaii, Wake Island and
Guam as intermediary stations"
The telegraphy instruments in local use
are Of pattern similar TO the latest used
BY Marconi. The recent successes Of the
now celebrated syntonic telegrapher are
due not to absolute changes Of his machine,
but to the adoption Of auxiliary influences
in transmitting, and Of more sensitive me-
chanism in receiving.
Wireless telegraphy, spark telegraphy or
syntonic telegraphy, as it may be called,
works primarily from atransmitter or send
ing apparatus throwing electric vibrations
through wire-tipped pole that oscillates
and produces electric waves in the ether
atmosphere. These waves travel away in
successive pulsations with the speed of
light and when coming in contact with
wires attuned 10 the transmitting wire will