Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-05-29
ONE MILLION
PEOPLE COULD
HEAR SPEECHES
Dedication of Lincoln Memo.
rial Tomorrow Will be
Great Occasion
TAFT AND HARDING
Speeches of President and Ex-Presi-
dent to be Transmitted to Crowd
Through Loud Speakers"

What will possibly be one of the
worlds greatest oratorical events as
well as one of the most important his
torical and sentimental celebrations OF
this continent will take place on May
3Oth, when Chief Justice William
Howard Taft of the Supreme Court
of the United States of America, act
| ing as chairman of the Lincoln Me-
mortal Commission presents the Lin
coin Memorial to the nation at large.
Accepting for the nation, President
! Harding will receive this wonderful
gift, built by the peoples money and
will take the opportunity to sound a
national key note based on the
thoughts of Lincoln and Memorial day.
What will make it memorable from
an oratorical standpoint is that never
before IN the history OF the United
States have President and former
President spoken together on the same
platform TO so great a gathering.
Rare indeed have been the occasions
when a former President has been on
the platform with a President and
the crowds which heard the two men
have always been limited to the ia
dius OF the natural speaking voice.
On this occasion, however, owing to
the scientific marvel, known as the
Loud Speaker, it Will be possible for
a million people to hear President
Harding and Chief Justice Taft, ii
million people care to attend the cere-
monies. The space around Lincoln Me
mortal extends for many thousand
feet almost in every direction-one
| of the widest public parks in the
world-and yet the Army Engineers
who have the celebration in charge
believe it will be physically impossible
to bring so many people to the cele-
bration-that some of them will be I'M
able to hear.
The Loud Speaker is scientific de-
velopment Of the Bell System, not a
commercial device. For this celebra-
ton il is the gift to the nation by the
Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone
Company and American Telephone and
Telegraph Company. Engineers OF
these organizations will have been at
work on installing the apparatus for
more than a month and will operate
! the intricate and delicat6 yet powerful
machinery during the speeches.
The thousands of Washingtonians
and visitors who hear the words Of
the ceremonies will see no mechanical
apparatus and will be unable to de-
tect any unnatural tone in the voices
of the speakers. Though far out of
range of the average spoken voice
coming from the memorial, they will
hear as plainly as If standing but a
few feet from the speaker. The voices
will carry in every direction, and a
person standing at the foot OF the
Washington Monument will be able TO
hear as plainly as any one close to the
memorial.
Concealed about the memorial build
ing will be the loud speaking projec
tors from which will issue the words
of President Harding and former
| President Taft. In every direction
the speeches will go out from these
big horns, and though amplifed mil
lions of times by the intricate appa-
ratus, every infection and tone of the
spoken voice will be retained. One can
stand in front of the speaker, turn
around and walk half a mile while the
speech, is in progress, but he will not
! be able to detect where he passes from
the zone of, the natural voice into the
area served by tha loud speaker. There
IS no raucous, shouting tone, such as
| comes from megaphOne.
Though the words Of the speakers
will be carried by wires to expensive
and extremely delicate apparatus,
where theyfwilI be boosted and thence
sent to the projectors that will send
them forth; they will sound out at the
same instant, practically, that they
are uttered. In front of the speakers
will be a little box, containing highly
! sensitive transmitter similar to that
on an ordinary telephone. Wires lead
ing from the transmitter will transmit
the words to the simplifying apparatus
inside the building
Here the electrical waves, passing
through the amplifiers will be boosted
many millions of times, finally reach
ing the telephone receivers enormously
strengthened, but with all the original
qualities impaired to the transmitter.
The receivers are connected to the
projecting horns, and like the ordinary
telephone receiver, change the electrl-
cal waves back into actual sound.
There will be a number of projectors,
all on the same electrical circuit, so
that the words will be broadcasted to
all the crowd surrounding the memo
rial.
Though great amount Of work IS
necessary in preparation for the
achievement, none of this will be ap-
parent to the crowd. The projectors
will be placed and concealed so as to
harmonic with the memorial and only
those previously Informed VIII real
lie that they are present.