Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-12-03

communication with the friends on the other side
of the enemy.
Homing pigeons have been used from time i'm
memorial, and they also we're used at Santiago.
Today a different condition exists. AS the Ger.
mans were sweeping down on Paris the operator
in Eiffel tower whispered through the very air the
Germans were breathing to convey information to
st. Petersburg or Petrograd.
The swish of the wireless was unstoppable. The
Spaniards shot down the American signal men on
the embankments in front of Santiago, but the
rifle bullets from the Germans could not interfere
with the wireless message as it went on its way.
One of the most wonderful developments of the
wireless telegraphy came at the opening of the Eu-
ropean war when it became possible to talk all
the way from Berlin to Long island. Germany
talked across the British fleet to her own ships
sailing the Atlantic and warned them of the
sudden tremor.
The only way to stop the wireless was to de-
stroy the operator and he was thousands of miles
away. In our last war wires were stretched all
over the fields back of the fighting men. Dis
patchers carried word from colonel to general
where there had not been time to string the
wires. #l
In this war wires, too, have been stretched on
the fields, pigeons still have carried messages,
dispatchers have galloped back and forth, but in
addition to all these messengers Of war the fight
ers all depended more on the invention of Mar
Gull, tu6 great wireless Telegraph, - - g.
The wireless telegraph has proved it's value
right on the field of battle. The man in the front
ranks, or the outpost miles from the headquarters,
could place himself in instant communication with
his chief. The wireless telegraph made it posi-
BILE for a German soldier fighting his way through
Belgium to talk to a German soldier defending
Alsace. 1t made it possible for a soldier at Brus-
sells to shout news of victory back to Berlin with
out an ~instant's delay.
II mazda IF nocsihIaa for tba Ernunh ond Priticb
to keep in communication with each other and
map out a new line of defense when the Germans
were hurting their mighty hosts against them.
Marconi had already made himself famous be-
fore the war broke out. His invention was one
of the greatest boons to humanity because it
saved lives aboard ship in time of sea horror. 1t
brought rescue to the distressed and expedited
shipping. From an instrument of humanity and
peace it sprang to an instrument of war and ter
ror.
Like the pigeon or dove, the personification of
peace, it became an instrument of war.
Perhaps next to the wireless stations, the most
efficient messengers Of war are the homing pig
cons. These birds, the wisest of their kind, are
employed to great advantage in English, French,
German, Austrian, Italian, Russian and Japanese
armies. Military authorities hold there is no bet
ter means for small detachments to communicate
with their headquarters nor could they want bet
ter.
On the fields of Europe the fights Of the birds
are in most instances so short that they do not
have to stop for a rest, thus preventing the mes
sages from falling into the hands of the enemy.
A pigeon in its fight scars so high it is almost
invisible to the naked eye, thus it necessitates
the use of high power guns to bring it to the
ground. And any man who ever makes such a
shot can well call it a miracle.
The king Of England and the emperor Of Ger
many, as we'll as other rulers Of European nations,