The Washington times., 1905-06-11
Continued from First Page.)

caused much wonder and regret. It was
not until the latter months of 1916 that
he emerged from retirement and per-
mitted it to be known that he had per-
fected a wonderful new electrical in
vention, whose nature, however, he did
not disclose.
This invention was presently offered
to the American Government for mill
tary uses. 1t was variousiy supposed to
be anything from a new torpedo TO an
application of radium as an explosive,
but no conjecture came near the truth.
1t was. in fact, the art Of taking photo
graphs by wireless electricity, enabling
a vast area of the earth's surface to be
photographicaIly presented through the
medium Of the electric waves. 1t is, of
course. development of wireless
telegraphy, whose application in naval
warfare so successfully achieved by the
Japanese IN their war with Russia, did
20 much to earn the victories that i'm
Mortaf1Zed Togo and his men, Instead
Of transmitting messages through the
identification of the atmosphere, Ad-
dersley found a means Of using the cleo
trfc current to transmit photograph of
a great area of the eartn's surface.
Wonderful as we are still wont to re-
gard this discovery ii was not. in its
own generation, so much marvel as
wireless teiegraphy had been before It.
Addersley was a man of strange ideas
ard personality. He firmly believed that
his invention would make war fmpos-
sible between power possessed of his
secret and one not possessing IT. When
he had perfected 1t he took 1t TO the
Washington military authorities, and
Oh
to induce them to take CONTROL of the
device. He was paid almost nominally
for the service; but he found satisfac-
ton during life, and was honored after
death. because Of real service to his
country
His invention. briefly. made secrecy
impossible The military or naval COM
.nander possessed of it could make a
photograph Of his enemy's forces, 10
cations, and dispositions at any time.
He could thus know exactly how to di-
rect the attack or the retreat. what
forces to concentrate, and how to avoid
the enemy.
Reasons of military expediency have
moved the American Government 10
guard even till the present day the
eecret of this invention. There has
been much and acrimonious debate as
to whether America did not owe to the
world the right TO use and enjoy SO
valuable an art, But the washington
Government has seen fit to preserve It's
monopoly. with the promise that 1t will
give the secret to the world when II is
convinced that general knowledge OF
the device will not be a menace to uni
versal peace. Probably before another
decade the curtain of mystery Will have
been lifted. For the present, II Is only
known that the electric current used in
producing the telephoto Is in some way
modified by the employment of radium |:
that communication over the area de-
signed to be photographed must be es-
tablished between two electric stations,
as In the case Of wireless biography;
and that for the purposes Of warfare
aerial vessels are commonly employed
tai establish one Of these Complementary
stations. Thus IL is that the perfection
OF the airship, which so recently as a
generation ago was but an entertaining
toy for the amusement OF scientiAts
and inventors. possessed of more re-
pute for enthusiasm than for sanity.
contributed so largely to the military
utilization Of autobiography.
Admiral Worthington's battleships and
fast cruisers were all equipped with the
telephotographic device. though only his
executive officers were aware of the
fact The mechanism so far as was Wis
ible resembled closely that of wireless
telegraphy: indeed. II was possible TO
use the same electric current for making
pictures and conveying messages. The
confidence Of the Washington Navy De-
partment in the outcome of the naval
test was based on possession of this de-
vice.