Evening star., 1921-04-23
WIRELESS AN INVALUABLE AID
IN WINNING WAR, SAYS DANIELS
Former Secretary Tells of Building World
Greatest Station, S. 0. S. Signals, Navy
Press and the Radio Compass.

kinds of information and orders. Oft
en- We would send simultaneously as
many as fifty or sixty messages to
all kinds of vessels and they would
be picked up by them without diff
Guilty.
AT the same time we were sending,
our stations along the coast were in
tercepting every wond or signal sent
out by ships at sea. Sometimes 1.-The
air was full of them" as the operators
said
The wireless operator in his little
room had ears for the world. and all
the world spoke to him. There came
to him its cries. it's warnings, it's ap-
peals. sometimes its curses, and some
times even it's laughter. Many Sc
cret he heard-and kept.
But the message which never failed
to send thrill through his soul was
"Allo! Allo. S. o. S." That call vibrat-
ing through the ether meant that
somewhere an American or allied YES
sci was being attacked by U-boat.
Every naval vessel which heard it
went hurrying at once to the scene of
it's origin.
Air Full Of Distress Cries.
Sometimes in the war zone the air
seemed full of "Allos." Nearing the
european COAST snip SDuiu CdlSh thC
wireless for hundreds of miles. One
moment it might hear distress sig
nal from some vessel off ireland. and
the next from some craft being at
tackled in the Bay of Biscay.
Morale was stimulated and helped
tremendously by wireless. Our wire
less news service was greatly appre-
ciated by the men at sea. 1t kept
them almost as well informed as to
what was happening at home. and as
to the vital happenings in other parts
of the world. as if they had been
able to get the last edition of the
home town paper.
"cleared' for the Navy Press. and we
gave out a complete summary of the
news of America.
Perhaps, one of the most interest
ing and useful things We did with
wireless was to establish radio com
pass stations. which, by listening to
the direction from which a wave
length came with greatest force. could
determine a ships position at sea.
Great Help to Ships.
These stations. of course. were
originally erected as a means or 10
eating submarines, and in this work
they proved so Ssuccessfui that the
U-boats hardly dared use their wire
less off our coast. Since they nnlsh-
ed their U-boat job. however. they
have proved of the greatest value TO
navigation. There are some seventy
of them on the Atlantic. Pacific and
gulf coasts. and any ship that be-
comes lost in fog. or otherwise con-
fused as to its reckoning. can Obtain
by wireless from the radio compass
it's exact position. If it is in danger
Gus waters it will be given sailing
direetions which will enable it to
steer safely into port.
Think of what this would have
meant to Columbus or Magellan
Not a few inventions which were
designed specifically for war use are
the ways and needs of peace. but
doubt if any of them will do more
for saving life and the facilitating OF
human intercourse and traff1c than
the radio compass.
Sometimes I think the achievements
of wireless and its still undeveloped
possibilities mark the "farthest north
of human adventure in the realm of
experiment and research.
Long Way From Fire Signals.
Assuredly it is long road the race
has Travelled since the days when the
tribesmen of Great Britain signaled
to each other by hilltop fires and the
aboriginal American Indian communi-
Gated with those who acknowledged
written in Wavering columns of
smoke.
The news of victory at Marathon
was carried back to Athens by Phei-
dippides. who. running with sustained
sneed the twenty-six miles from bat
tlefieId to capital, fell deal from ex-
haustion with the cry on his lips,
Rejoice. we conquer"
When Wellington defeated Napoleon
at Waterloo it was nearly thirty-six
hours before London heard the glad
tidings. When the armistice was
signed in 1918 Washington had the
news in few minutes.
Poems have been written about the
famous ride of Paul Revere and the
carrying of the good news from
Ghent.
Elbert Hubbard immortalized the
youth who took message to Garcia.
1t will take a combination of Long
fellow and Browning and Ebert Hub
Lard to pay a just tribute to wireless
and its heroes.
Copyright 1921, by John r. Ollie. Copy
right by National Newspaper Service. Copy
right in Great Britain. Canada and throughout
France. All rights reserved including trans
la tion into foreign languages. including the
Unauthorized rpprinting for any
purpose forbidden)
(AnOther article by former Secre-|
tary Daniels will he published in The
Stnr tOmOrrOvvD