Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-11-29
WIRELEssTALKSCHOOL
Instruction of Photography Class
 at Brooklyn Navy Yard.
MASTERING TART OF sPARKNG."

MASIEhlNG AhI UE SfAkklNG."
 Hethod of Turning Out Operators to send Government Messages = Good Positions For Young Men Tn the Navy-OnIy Electricians, However,
 Are Employed.
 For six hours every day class of twenty-five young sailor men in the navy yard at Brooklyn delve with book and key into the mysteries of wireless telegraphy, says the New York Post. They report for study from stations the country wide and from warshfps all over the seas. When their course is finished they are sent wher- ever there is government wireless plant in want of an operator, and here they serve out their enlistments either shooting government messages through the atmosphere or alert to catch stray sound currents looking for receiver. This means that messages will be talk en from vessels other than warsAips and transmitted for them at commer- ciaI rates to their proper destinations. It also means that the government is going to keep other wireless plants from getting anywhere near its sta tions.
 The government system of wireless communication is going to be a big one and the demand for operators is larger than the supply. Already sparks can be transmitted from Maine to Pan- anna, which places the navy yard at Brooklynsfn close communication with all the stations up and down the coast. Soon the Pacific coast line will be har- messed, and then the government will have a chain connecting United States forts and naval stations from Vancouv yer to New Brunswick.
 The wireless school in the navy yard is close by the steel sides of the un- finished ba<tleship Connecticut and in the shadow of the immense travelling crane. Straight into the air overhead sticks the big white pole with its streamers of steel. This indicates the wireless station, and under it six hours at a stretch the trim figures in blue plug away at the ..art of sparkling" That's what the sailor lads call it. Some in steel helmets are busy at 'sre- ceiving," others are at the key 'ssend- ing," and the rest are taking apart and putting together the electrical and me chanical appliances that make the bat tery and apparatus.
 The spark from a wireless plant sounds like the cry of gigantic To- cust in summer time, only it is not so long and drawn out. It comes sharp and distinct like the click of tele- graph instrument Add this racket to the rat-a-tat-tat of the workmen's ham, mers aboard the Connecticut, the hum of the travelling crane and the con- tinual hiss of escaping steam, and one has the atmosphere Of the navy's wire less school. Occasionally the band of a warship breaks loose in honor of somebody's coming aboard, small but important tugs are necessarily whis- tling hoarsely, and the noise of the shops close by never ceases
 It would seem as if the sailor man could make little progress in school of such surroundings, but he does. Moreover, he finishes his course in thirty days and is ready to be put on < a station by that time. It must be re- membered that he comes to the school an electrician Only this class of sailor man can apply for the instruc- ton. When he enlists he passes an examination and is rated as an cleo trician-that is, he gets $50 month pay, where the landsman, which is the lowest class of recruits, gets only $16. If the electrician is steady and shows desire for work be is showed ahead, and each higher grade brings more pay. A t"chief electrician" gets as high as $75 All wages, of course, include food, clothing and transportation.
 Such wages bring better class of recruits into the navy than it ever had before. and the men one sees around the school in the yard are bright, clean looking lot of men whose general makeup is above that of many of the best trades schools in the country. They are sent to all parts of the world and are the governments workmen ahd op- orators aboard all manner of craft. Their work is congenial; they are well kept and receive fair pay. It Is not to be wondered at, therefore, that few of them leave the navy after they once gaE in. They are instructed by gradu- ates of the United States Naval acad- emy and have every opportunity for advancement in their work to the end that if they dc leave the governments service their papers find them good em- ployment immediately.
 The United States navy was the last to take up wireless telegraphy, and, al- though much progress has been made with the new system of communica- ton, we are, it is said, still far behind the other powers in both construction and operation.
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