The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-02
RAPID STRIDES BY DE FOREST SYSTEM Wireless Telegraph is Spread
 ing Over the World ALREADY BECOME A GIANT Fifty Stations Have Been Established In Various Parts of the Globe
 and Have Withstood
 Seyerest Tests.
ALREADY BECOME A GIANT
RY wIcKLIFFE GRAY.

~ BY WlCKLlFFE GRAY.
 An infant, yet giant. such is the uni que position of wireless telegraphy at the present time when the qualifications Of it's development are extending to every country on the earth and every sea. Its application to commercial uses is of but a few years growth; yet that growth mas been by leaps and bounds, and apparently there Is no limit to it's possibilities. One day we read of it's application to rail- road work, permitting a moving train to communicate with headquarters or sta- ton along the line; next we find the Agricultural Bureau planning to install d system of automatic fire alarms in the great western forests to give warning of approaching fires; again a press dis patch is flashed across the seas for hun dreds of miles, despite intervening islands l and the men read of a naval battle far ] out at sea on the other side of the world, while the conflict was still raging.
 | Such feats are emnently in keeping with the spirit of the twentieth century. And yet to the uninitiated, there is in them an element of the weird the unbe- lieveable. To a great mass of people wireless telegraphy is still more a theory than practice; more dream than reality. | It is a giant stride of scence-and some of the people have not yet come abreast. A year or two of successes, of spectaeu- lar achievements, of continued daily ap- plication to commercial purposes, and wireless telegraphy wll assume natural proportions in all eyes. It will as the telephone and wire telegraph become an essential component part of every day | life, and settle down to al ever widen ing career of usefulness, that only time itself can limit or guage.
 An Important Factor.
 One important factor in every com mercial science, particularly for it's fu- ture prosperity, is recognition by national | governments. In this respect wireless telegraphy has been particularly fortu- nate. as was the wire telegraph. And a most notable and clear sighted action on the part of the United States Navy De- partment was the contract for five wire | less stations whose circuits will cover the waters of the Mexican Gulf and Carri- bet sea, and the Greater and Lesser
 
 American DeForest Wireless Telegraph Company. According to widely published press reports 'N ..h the greatest care the government experts conducted most rigid tests, and reported that the DeFor- est system already executing govern ment contracts, on a similar scale was the one which offered the best service. During a period of several months seven wireless stations were in operation in the same magnetic field and yet long mes | sages were received and transmitted by | the DeForest system This achievement, regarded by the government experts as the greatest in the history of the science. was possible only by the utilization of "syntonic aerography," in which Dr. De- Forests attunng apparatus is employed" ]"
 The contract with the government is re- clprocal, which makes the company and the governments In a sense. allies. since | commercial messages are exchangeable | between all nations and ships equipped ! with the DeForest instruments, whether ! maintained by the government or by the company This arrangement is a most happy settlement of the incipient con- troversy regarding government owner ship of allcoast-wise wireless stations on grounds of public policy and welfare. Sucn harmony agreement obviates the possibility of friction between private and government stations, because the two classes of stations, supplied with the De- 1 Forest tuning apparatus are able to | operate simultaneously in close proxi- mity without interference In other | words, the art is reduced to the smplici- ty of the local Bell Telephone exchange, where one may drop a connection and pick up another on a moments notice.
 Question Probably Settled.
 It is scarcely possible that this question | of government ownership will again arise. though the next sess. on of congress will undoubtedly enact some legislation con- trolling future wireless installments, along the coast, at least, and possibly in- terior stations. President Roosevelt sev- eral months ago appointed a General Wireless Board composed of the active heads of the government departments and bureaus using wireless Their ob- jects was to enquire into the relation of 1 wireless to the government, particular ly along the coasts, and to recommend Legislation to congress. This report which received the presidents approval, is still | in the hands of the government printer and has not been made public in it's en- tirety It is known, however, that a re- commendation is made to place wireless stations under the supervision of the de- partment of Labor and Commerce. and trough this department to license and keep track of any wireless station estab- | lshed. Such supervision would enable closest censorship during a state of war
 The points at which the large govern ment stations are being established are Pensacola, Key West, South Cuban Coast, Porto Rico, Panama. Any one of these stations will be able to communi- cate with any other in the circuit Here In is to be found a pertinent comparison | of the relative cost of wireless installa- | tions and land ana cable lines. To install cables between each of these points would require | cable length of approx imately 4,770 miles, which would cost at | the average of all .--e cables of the world l $7.500,000. The cost of the government in this instance Is something less than one | fiftieth of that amount.
 The quick closing of this contract. the largest for wireless communication ever