The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-05


 up until the public is attracted. He had
 recognized the English Marconi company,
 and those who exchanged their old shares
 for shares in the new operation had the privilege of purchasing a certain number of shares of the new issue at a stipulated
 price. Before the time they had the priv
 ilege of exercising this right the shares
 were selling at . handsome premium, and
 they became eager purchasers, for they saw a chance for a considerable profit.
 There were lot of things favorable
 to speculation in wireless just then. The
 British government had entered into
 deal with the company to establish eight | stations at far distant points, such as l Aden, Singapore and Calcutta which the government contracted to take over in
 six months at the price of e3oO,009 and to
 pay 10 per cent to the company on all | the commercial business these stations
 did. This hit the imagination of the l phlegmatic Britishers. II was profitable i to the wireless people and it was a good l thing for the government because it | gave wireless communication to strategic
 naval points, which would be of vast benefit when England went to war with
 Germany.
 But one of the things the public did not appreciate was that at these eight stations there was not likely to be much commercial business, and the 10 per cent that would come to the English AIarconi company would not be large In specula-
 ton. however facts do not weigh so much as prospects and English Marconi stock went to a premium of nearly lc10 per cent
 The British field was not the only one fon wireless exploitation. America af- fercd most alur.ns prospects, The Marconi company never had made much headway i on this side of the water. The United Wireless is said to=.haye had better equipment. There was little fight be-
 tween the United Wireless and the Mar conf. II became so serious that the Mar conf company refused to have any deal iags with the Uuited or to Have any com 'nanicati9n whafeyer with ships equipped
 with United Wireless appatatus. The United Wrolegs got it's equipment on United States warshlps and on most of the coastwise steamship lines. It would have prospered. no doubt, if it's officers had been honest But they were q lot of
 stock iobbers. What they did with the money they got hold of is a matter of 1 public record The officers wcre prosecut- cd and most of them convicted. The president is now in ia
 Monsieur Louis Pierre Cartier learned that the Marconi neople planned to form . now Amcrican Marcon company, take ayer tho dofurct United Wireless and do
 Tn the American field what they had done n the English Here was chance for him He sct all the information he could about wireless. He did not know ex- -ctlv what proposition the Marconi peo-
 ,le would make to the holders of United Wireless shares for an exchange of stock. hut that was not essential He did not
 '-now how much business the new Mar aeni ccnanany would do but th1t was not ,ecessary It did not matter particularly that so far as any one knows wireless 'elegraphy cannot he onorated successful | = iu opposition to land lines and will be
 ~anf fined exclusively to ocean communica- l len. It was sufficient that the wireless 'tuation was going to he cleared np. tha. | tho magic name of Marconi was to be ] linked with the American company. and that the English company was in high
 eevor with the British government. He say grcat possibilities in speculative eav for American Marconi. Business is | business. and there was every chance of a
 lot of brokerage business in American