Evening star., 1923-06-30
RADIO IS MARVEL
OF HARDING TRIP
BackpIatforming Revolution
lied by Waiting of Voice on
Two instruments.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
EN- ROUTE WITH PRESIDENT
HARDING, June 30.-Backplatform-
ing has been revolutionized by the
radio. No longer need a presidential
candidate worry about the reach or
his voice with the crowds.
The loud speaker and the radio
have been of incalculable value to
President Harding on this trip and
probably will become an indispensa-
BILE part of the equipment of future
candidates as well.
In two distinct ways mechanical
devices have helped Mr.. Harding on
his western journey. First. there IS
the successful experiment conducted
by the American Telephone and Tele-
graph Company whereby the presi-
Dental voice is gathered in by an
apparatus on the speaking platform
and carried over long-distance teis
is fed into a radio broadcasting ma
chine and spread about just as eff
fectively as if the speaker were in
New York city itself.
Second, there is the back platform
apparatus inconspicuous in appear
ance. whereby the presidential \o..e
is carried to the uttermost edge OF
the crowds. The writer got off the
train at Cheyenne, for instance, and
walked around the edge of the
crowd and was able to hear the
Presidents speech at every angle for
q radius of nearly 100 yards, in which
circle it would be possible for $4,000
people to gather. And there will be
crowds as big as that when the pub
lie really finds out the presidential
candidates can be heard SO plainly
from the back platform of railroad
cars.
Greater Possibilities.
One can stand alongside the presi-
Dental car at the opposite end from
the observation platform at which
Mr.. Harding speaks and hear plainly.
In fact the telephone engineers say
they could equip the roofs of each one
of the ten Ca~rs in the train with loud
speaking horns and broadcast the
speakers voice for many city blocks.
There is indeed no limit to the possi-
bilities of the amplifying apparatus.
The effect on the crowd was notice
able. The writer has seen people
gather at the rear of trains and strain
to catch the speakers voice, falling
which, they become restless and
move away. On Mr.. Harding's trip
the crowds at the rear Of the train
have been very quiet and attentive.
One could tell by outbursts of ap-
plause that the persons at the outer
limits of the crowd caught the speak
er's voice plainly.
IT'S great stunt" remarked the
President the other night after he
had addressed several thousand peo-
pie in Wyoming from the rear of
his train. 1t really means a great
deal to him, for it permits the people
10 get better idea of his personality
than has been possible with the voice
unaided before. AT one time Mr..
Harding's voice became husky and
not d half dozen people would have
been able to hear him ordinarily, but
the loud speaker amplified so well
that the crowd didn't know the Presi-
dent was speaking much above a
whisper.
Possibilities HnrdIy Scratched.
The radio broadcastln possibilities
also have hardly been scratched It's
true that in small towns there are not
halls big enough to take care of the
crowds. and good back-platforn
speech in. the open-air of the railroad
yards VIII be of much more benefit
politically than the meetings in small
halls and auditoriums. But there are
thousands who cannot leave their
homes and go to the station. These
can be reached by radio simply by
running a telephone wire from the
train to the nearest local broadcasting
station.
President Harding has received
many kilograms from people in New
NICiIllS WHO nave
his western speeches. In Kausas City
a receiving station picked up the
Presidents address from a New York
city broadcasting sta ation simulta-
neous with the making. of the speech
itself in the auditorium in Kansas
City itself. 1t would have been pos
sible for a headclasp instrument to
have been fastened on the head of any
ono in the Kansas City audience and
10 have heard a real echo of the Presi-
dents remarks.
The American Telephone and Tele-
graph Company engineers are so care
full of their arrangements for broad
casting the Presidents speeches that
they always have alternate telephone
routes ready to offset possible line
trouble. The other night at Kansas
City telephone line which was car
rying the presidential voice to New
York city for broadcasting broke, and
the voice was instantaneously switch
ed to another tranScontinental wire
with hardly the loss of a syllable.
The 1924 campaign probably will see
radio in use by the leading candidates
of all parties, for it means that mill
lions now can be literally spoken to
where only few thousands were
reachable before-a revolution in
campaign methods,
Copyright, 1929