The Washington herald., 1916-03-08
Inventors HEAR
WIRELESS phone
Geographic Diners Listen to
Conservations Held Across
American Continent.
LANE PRAISES FEATS
Secretary Daniels Declares Naval OFF,
Gals Can Soon Direct Ships From
His Office in Capital.

Scientists, discoveries and inventors,
who have been called the fathers of
the worlds most marvellous feats, last
night witnessed the spanning of land
and water with the human voice with
out the aid of wire. The occasion was
the annual banquet of the National
Geographic Society at the willard
For the first feature, President Vail,
of the American Bell Telephone and
Telegraph Company, called points in
every part OF the United States over
| the long distance telephone. Each of
the 700 guests was supplied with a
/ telephone receiver. Mr.. Vail conversed
| Gulf OF Mexico, the Middle West, Far
| West. Northwest and Canada.
Following the telephone talk, the
instruments at the willard were con-
| nected with the wireless telephone in
strument at Arlington, and the guests
listened while the Arlington operator
conversed with all operators along the
! coast and to the station at Mare Island,
| Cal.
DIR. Bell Feels Bashful.
! DR.. o. H. Tittman. president of the
| society, presided. Secretary of the In
| terror Lane acted as postmaster. Mr.
Lane declared monuments should be
! erected to such men as were gathered
said, are the builders of the country,
and their names should be perpetu-
| ated"
Mr.. Vail paid a glowing tribute to
DR.. Bell, Thomas H. Watson. his as
sistants, and the others who have
helped perfect the telephone of today.
Il don't know what they mean by
/ trying to give me all this credit" de-
clared DR.. Bell.
81 have done only a little, the credit
should go to the army of workers
who have built the machines and laid
the wires"
| Mr. Watson asserted that he was
pround to have been associated with
DR.. Bell. He told of the first attempt
to talk on the telephone over a tele-
graph wire, he being in Cambridge
and DR.. Bell in Boston. AT first there
was only a black, dead silence" he
said. but after a while I found tnar
a telegraph instrument was connected
and was absorbing the low current
| being used. l disconnected this and
heard DR.. Bell saying, Hello, Watson.
are you there%"
! Mr.. Watson stated that in order to
convince the doubters they had ar
ranged for each TO take down the
words spoken. but in the Joy of sue
cess they forgot all about the ar
rangement after the first few SEN
fences.
The wireless telephone will be more
valuable to the navy than any other de-
partment, especially for the new and big
ger navy that this Congress is going to
begin to build" declared Secretary Dan
iels. THE day is at hand when the Sec
rotary of the Navy will sit in his Office
and direct the movement Of the Asiauc
Fleet as he now directs the chiefs at the
navy yards in the United States"
The guests of honor included members
| of the Cabinet, the diplomatic corps.
| ambassadors and ministers OF foreign
| countries, members OF Congress and sci
entists, inventors and educators of world
| renown
The officers and the board of managers
OF the society are:
o. H. Tittmann, president; John f.
| Pillsbury, vice president; John Joy Ed
son, treasurer; o. P. Austin, secretary;
Gilbert H. Grosvenor, director and editor;
| John oliver La Gorce, associate editor;
Frederick K. Eichelberger, assistant
treasurer: George w. Hutchinson, assist
ant secretary. Board of managers-Alex-
ander Graham Bell, Henry White. Gill
| bert H. Grosvenor. J. Howard Gore, A.
W. Greedy. George Otis Smith, o. H. Tit
mann, John NJ. Wilson, Franklin K.
Lane. Henry F. Blount, c. NJ. Chester, c.
NJ. Chester, Frederick V. Coville, Rudolph
! Kaufman, T. L. Macdonald, S. N. D.
North, John E Pillsbury, Charles ]. Bell.
| George R. Putnam, Grant Squires, John
Joy Edison, David Fairchild, George
Shiras. Sd, C. Hart Merriam and o. P.
| Austin.