The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1909-02-04

v
ing succor to sinking ship and
saving the lives of hundreds or
thousands. Then the scotfers who
look upon my invention as a toy or
a plaything will believe in it at
last as | do now"
Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of
the wireless, was the speaker. We
stood at the edge of the bluff that
marks the most easterly point of
North America-the headland of
Glace Bay, Cape Breton island,
Nova Scotia. From where we stood
looking straight east, nothing but
the Atlantic lntervened for 1000
miles. On the other side was the
newly erected Marconi station at
Poldhu, on the Cornish cliffs. Be
hind us reared the four skeleton
towers with their cobweb of wires
bv means of which Maroon had
just succeeded in flashing through
the ether the first message that
had ever crossed the western ocean
without the aid of wires. A Hall
fax freighter, making for Sydney
harbor, crossed the horizon. "Five
years from now,' said Marconi,
"such ships as that will have wire
less equipment that will enable
them to communicate with other
vessels or the land over a distance
of hundred miles-perhaps more.
In ten years, the wireless will be
as necessary part of ships
equipment as the anchor. When
that time comes, the perils of ship
wreck will have been reduced to
the minimum. Life will be as
safe as--nay, safer-on the ocean
than on the railroads. / do not
care if all my efforts to make the
wireless commercial success shall
fail, if only it results some day in
saving the lives of single ship.
Ordinarily the intensely practi'
cal, nervous, active worker, dig
ging out Natures secret by pure
will force, Marconi's face then
lighted up like that of a visionary
He seemed to be peering into the
future and seeing things that were
obscured from the vision of ordi-
nary men. In his fleece-lined
leather jacket, leggings and fur
cap-for it was January and the
chill Atlantic wind searched the
very bones-he looked at first
glance like an ordinary fisherman
of the neighborhood. But there
was that in his voice and manner
that proclaimed him dreamer of
dreams and seer of visions there
was an inspiration in his very
presence. cover there" he said,
pointing into the Northeast, "less
than two hundred miles from
where we are standing, La Bour.
gogne sank with all on board, less
than five years ago. Had my IN
vention been made tan years earl.
ier, she would have been able to
summon aid, and many, perhaps
all of her passengers would have
been saved. If my efforts shall
result in averting one such catas
trophe as that, / shall feel that
my life work has been amply re.
warded."
That was six years ago this
month. How Marconi's dream has
come true and his hearts desire
realized, the whole world knows
to-day. The story of "Jack"
Binns of the wireless and how his
pluck and Marconi's inyention
brought aid and safety to the
sinking Republic has already been
told and retold. The young Ital'
ian inventor must be the happiest
man in the world to-day, as ne
realizes that his genius saved the
hundreds who would assuredly
have perished but for his inven-
ton.
What is Marconi's wireless
How is it possible to flash a mes
sage through the air without the
aid of wires2 The scientific world
knows, but to the average citizen
the wireless is still more of mys'
terry than was the electric tele'
graph in it's earliest days. shall
try to tell, as Marconi told me six
years ago at Glace Bay, enough OF