Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-04-12
HORRORS.
House Of Representatives Has
Been Rugged Out With
ACQUISITION
by Its Use All That Goes
On May Be Heard
All Over
May Have the Blessed Ef.
feet Of Stopping the
Parrot Act

Washington, April 11-This week
witnessed the trial installation in the
house of representatives of the long
promised and widely heralded acous-
ticon, and with its advent the repre-
sentatives of the people are watching
their Ps and Qs, fearful lest they talk
too much. This is strange charge to
lay at the doors of congress, for hith-
erto talk has been cheap in the big
building on the hill, as witness the
massive volumes of the Congressional
Record for the past two or three ses-
sions.
The fear of the solons lies in the
fact that the acousticon is an adapta-
tion of the modern telephone, the re
ceiving station of,which, placed on the
reading clerks desk, just in front of
the speaker, transmits to listening
stations in each of the various com
mittee rooms, the private offices of the.
different members, the White House
and the nine executive departments,
everything that is said on the floor of
the house, from the whispered plans
for a filibuster to the arguments in a
heated debate. The acousticon is no
respecter of persons, whether it be the
newest member rehearsing his maiden
speech under his breath, or the
venerable Col. pete" Hepburn liven-
ing things up in an oratorical way, the
sounds are carried, perfectly audible
and distinct, from the farthest corner
OF the big chamber to and through the
acousticon, to be heard by scores of
congressman in their private Offices,
by the president and the members of
his cabinet, and by friend and foe
alike. And now, after couple of
days trial, most of the members are
actually afraid to talk at all.
The acousticon has told many Sc
crets since it was installed. On the
first day Representative Clark of Flor
ida, who resents the activities of the
attorney generals Office in running
down alleged peonage cases in his
state, got the floor and proceeded to
tell the house what he thought of the
high handed methods Of the depart
nent OF justice" He spared no one,
and used the plainest kind of Ian
guage, never dreaming that his every
syllable was being heard by the Off
Gals at the. department whom he was
roasting" 81.
Another congressman who, FORUM
ately, happens to be bachelor, was
on the floor a little early and told
friend confdentially that he was going
to take a long auto ride in the after
noon with a very attractive young lady
whom The had but recently met; and
that he was also arranging for a box
party in her honor. Later, when he
learned that the "devilish little de-
vice" on the speakers dias had faith
fully or faithlessly carried every
thing he had said to fully half the
membership of the house, including a
rival for first place in the good graces
OF the young lady in question, he was
much embarrassed. to say the least.
The acousticon is not without Its
possibilities, however. It is nothing
more nor less than an extremely sensi-
tive telephone transmitter, and many
have been the suggestions concerning
IT. One member, who said he had
just read the annual report of the d..
rectors OF the huge Bell system and
had learned that at the close OF 1907
there were nearly 100000 Bell sta
tons IN operation in the United States
alone, advanced the novel idea of con-
Meeting the acousticon with the Bell
switchboard at the capitol and putting
every one of those 100000 subscrib-
ers in direct touch with legislative az
fairs at Washington.
It is to be noted that although
many secuted this scheme, declar-
ing that it would be necessary to
perfect the wireless telephone before
such thing could be brought about,
Washington only the other day was
connecting link in what is perhaps
The longest telephone call yet made
successfully. The newspapers this
week cllronfeled this event entail