The Wisconsin weekly blade. [volume] (Madison, Wis.) 1916-1925, 1920-01-15

vi MADISON,
ceiNinE station where they were auto
matically joined together again, SO as
To form the message as originally sent.
II. for example il was desired to send
from Hoboken to Washington the mes
sage, Transport LeNiathan sails June
-" it was proposed 70 make use OF
$'o lines. one running. let US say,
through Harrisburg, the other Via vii
mngton The message sent over the
Harrisburg wire would be broken up
something after this fachion: "ta-s-o-
t-e-i-t-a-s-i-s-u-e-w-u-y-i-t.' While the
portion going 10y way of Wilmington
would read; gnp-r-l-v-a-h-n.a-l-j- j-n-t-
e-t-f-f-h"
ITO create still further confusion in
the mind Of anyone who might succeed
in irterceptng one of these sets OF
fragments it was proposed to superim-
pose 'camOuliage' message upon the
disconnected letters the characters of
The camouilage message to occupy the
spaces between the characters Of the
real message BY an exceedingly in
geuious device these apparently mex
tricably intermiNed and unrelated let.
ters were automatically sorted out at
the receiving station and pieced to-
sether, like jigSaw puzzle. so that
the message appeared precisely as it
was sent,
Utilizing the Telephone.
Going a step further, the inventors
Of this system proposed by the same
means to install a system of telephone
communication whereby the spoken
words would be broken up just as the
Morse characters were divided, certain
sounds in each word going over one
wire and the remaining sounds over
another, to be Joined together at the
receiving station into "a perfectly in
telligible conversation.
Here again a wholly separate and
eXtraneouS conversation was superim-
posed over the sounds proceeding by
each route. so that were either of the
lines tapped the lStener-in would be
rewarded for his pains by hearing a
torrent of sound which would convince
him that he was listening TO a combi.
nation of Choctaw, Chinese, the raw
ings Of John Mccullough, and the
symptoms of a severe cold. Notwith-
standing the undeniable ingenuity Of
this system, the signal corps experts
n So tod I.,l
tonishment of the inventors, that they
could overhear and understand these
crazy built conversations as readily as
though they were being held across a
dinner table in plain English"
Products IT American Ingenuity. i'll
The successful device (Which may,
| of course, use none of the principles
| involved in the system just Outlined)
| is one of three evolved by Yankee in
| genuity from the war which Major
Powell regards as "the most important
| discoveries, so far as their effect on
| the peaceful interests of the nation
| are concerned, which have been pro-
| duced since Morse invented the tele-
! the wireless" One of them is the
radiotelephone, by means Of which .per-
| sons on the ground can converse with
aviators; and the other is the diScov-
cry of Chief Signal Officer Squire that
| growing trees can be used as sending
Sages.
Major Powells book is devoted In
the main to the man with the silver
chevrOns. He wrote 1t at the request
! of Secretary Baker and was retained
in the service to complete it. Readers
may be sure, therefore, that lie had
| access to all necessary records; but
! there are moments when the heavy
hand Of department head becomes ap-
parent.
"The Ears Of the Army"
In spite of that, be writes as one
"on the inside" He tells OF the IL
telephone and telegraph battalions re-
cruited in large measure from the
ranks of the two great telephone com.
panies in this country (Which may ex.
plain why it has been so hard to get
"central') These he calls the ears
of the army" but at times they also
We're It's spies. He tells Of the engi-
neers, the gasmakers, the quartermas-
ter and ordnance departments. the avi.
ators, the tank corps. the motor trans.
port corps, the medical department
and, of course. military intelligence
He says. incidentally, that not one spy
was shot here during the war.
1t is Major Powells contention that
the motor transport had its beginning
when Pershing went into Mexico after
Villa; and at one place he throws this
interesting sidellght Oh the submarine
raids along the Atlantic coast:
Americas Moving Fortresses.
"And. apropos Of rolling stock, here
is bit Of secret history hitherto un-
published. When Villas raiders were
threatening to destroy the railway
lines paralleling the Mexican border
| the engineering corps designed and
built a number Of prOpelling
arnored railway cars armed with
three-inch rifles, machine guns and
searchights. When he German sub
marines began their piratcal opera
uons along the Atlantic seaboard in
the spring Of 1918 these moving for
tresses were secretly rushed up from
the Rio Grande In order 10 afford pro
lection 70 the undcfended Jersey coast
towns. 1t was well for the U-boat
commanders that they do not attempt
to shell Long Branch ard Atlantic City
! as thnu ehnllnl s. arhnrnunh ann