New-York tribune., 1911-11-29

IS for each additional word. Later tniS
was reduced TO s2j for ten words ana III
1872 the rate OF 81 per word was intro
duced. Since 1888 the cable rate across the
! Atlantic has been 25 cents word ana inc
Average for the whole world Is, roughly
| 81 a word.
The most romantic story among the IN
ventions TO annihilate distance was tha'
of the telephone. by the wondrouS
agency of electricity speech flashes through
space and swift as lightning bears udlhss
of good and evil" is the Inscription on the
beautiful panel by Puvis de Chavannes III
the Boston Library representing the teie
phone and the telegraph.
And vet no discovery has ever been less
accidental Alexander Graham Bell the
voung Scottish American, followed out III
nerslstent work 10 the last link OF long
chain of discoveries. After years or eX-
perlmenting. the telephone In its prlhclpie
was born in June, 1915, when Ben coui'
hear the full twang of CLOCK sprIhB Cum
ing over the wire. True. that LOT loI y
weeks the telephone could do no more thah
gasp and make strange, inarlcUlate hoiseS'
but finally. on March 10, 1916, !; talked Oh
his twenty-nlnth birthday Bell receNeu
his patent. the most valuable single patent
ever Issued I'm any. country.
He had created something so ehtreIy
new that there was no name for IL IN any
of the worlds languages. 1t was as diner
ent from the telegraph as the eoquehee oi
the orator IS from the sign language OF the
deaf mute Two months later he exhibited
his invention at the Centennial Exposition
i'm Philadelphia. but Il would have passeu
uunoticed had not Emperor Dom PEDRO OF
Rrazu recognized Bell, whom he had met
I'm England. Dom Pedro took the receiver
which everybody else had scorned, ana
rIaced # TO his ear. With a gesture of sur
prige and a look Of amazement' he eX-
claimed: My God-it talks!'
Telephone RidicuIed for Years.
But. despite this favor Of a crowned
head. the telephone was the object OF rld-
icule and increduity Tor many years ana
only the untiring struggle OF Gardiner u
Hubbard. Thomas Sanders, Thomas a.
Watson and Bell brought to it at last the
rocornition il deserved And when the
commercial possibilities Of the telephone
were finally established and the inventor
and his friends emerged from priVauon'
and threatened bankruptcy, they rapidly
found financial rewards that eXceeueu
those OF any other inventors and promo
tiers.
The DEVELOPMENT of the telephone system
and the indispensable part 1t has taken
In our daily life Is too well known to need
further description. The number OF city
e,becribers has grown I'm leaps and bounds
while perhaps the greatest peheht mas
heen derived from the telephone service oy
the farmers Of the country. 1t is estimated
that more than 10000 farmers are connect
ed bv telephone with their markets anu
the possibility to talk to neighbors mas re-
moved much of the unpleasant feellhs ol
isolation that drove farmers 20 city HE.
Millions of dollars are expended annually
for telopbone service. but the advantages
derived from il cannot be compared with
the expenditure
The invention of wireless telegraphy was
not due to any one single mind, but II
grew out of the experiments conducted by
many individuals. though the most EN-
pIoved system is that of Marconi Hun
Creds Of mercantile vessels are now
eouinped with wireless apparatus, and all
the navies of the world make extensive
use of the system. The ocean liners cross
ing the Atlantic are now I'm constant com
munication with other shore, and In cases
of distress aid is summoned successfully
II is On the seas that the wireless mas
proved most valuable. The overland oper-
alton has not been able to compete WIN
the telegraph, and wireless across the ocean
has been unable to show itself equal 10
the cable. Messages have been trans
mitted across the Atlantic, but the dis
tanee is too great for the present appara-
tus. whose radius is admittedly restricted
70 about 100 miles. 1t is hoped however
that This and other difficulties viii be
overcome IN the near future.