Evening star., 1924-01-13

N -'S' ~ system VI tOnmun1Ca-
~ tlon that employs more than
l,ooo hlgh-powered radio
transmitting Stations-fbers
mat tap every important agricultural
commercial and political section of
the world--has been built up by Tn
Gle Sam within the past few years.
livery move our foreign neighbors
make is instantly registered over the
system and studied at Washington by
the government specialists in charge
OF each line of activity.
The wheat crop in Mesopotamia is
cut in half by a drought, and the
news is instantly flashed by radio to
The Department of Agriculture, thence
rebroadcast over the United States to
farmers and the trade
Ten Thousand African chieftains
are in the market for plug hats The
fact is dispatched at once to the De-
Dartment of Commerce, and Ameri-
can manufacturers get the jump on
fhe foreign trade need.
Germany makes a move of political
Significance; the State Department is
Instantly apprised of it. An inter-
national crook embarks for America: ::
by radio the Department OF Justice is
Informed, and detectives greet the
man. There is a call of distress on
land or sea; the world is told of it by
radio, and aid is rushed to the suffer-
ers.
The United States Navy probably
plays the largest part i'll this world
wide system Of communication. ON
land and sea the Navy operates mere
than 500 ship and shore radio sta
tions. Practically every naval ves-
sci from submarine to dreadnaught
is radio station constantly alert to
receive and broadcast weather warm
ings, time signals and distress calls
1t was an American warship that
told the world by radio that Smyrna
was burning and summoned aid from
all over the seas. In the Japanese
disaster. Commander Bell of the Nd
val Hospital at Yokohama. was able
finally TO get through the message
relayed around the world: Send de-
stroyers, Yokohama. Americans in
great distress"
One hundred and thirty-f1ve Navy
shore stations on the American coast
lines keep mariners informed of
weather and ocean conditions, the
menace of icebergs, submerged
wrecks and shifting sand bars. Forty
of these stations have range up to
5000 miles; ninety-five stations a
range of 500 miles. Fifty radio COM
pass stations along American shores
furnish bearings to mariners on re-
quest, in darkness. fog and storm.
ho 1nc -
preventing fifteen serious maritime
disasters.
ON the eastern seaboard the Navy
radio station at Bar Harbor, Ne,
receives all dispatches from Europe
and from the fleet. The messages
are then relayed over leased land
wire to Navy headquarters at WASH
ington. Other leading stations on
the Atlantic coast are Sayville. Long
Island; Annapolis, Md; Arlington.
Panama.
The Sayville station is a transmit
ting station to the fleet. and Annap-
oils the principal Atlantic coast
transmitting station to Europe and to
the Pacific, both stations being oper-
ated by remote control from Wash
ington.
In the Pacific, the Navy radio serv-
See Is practically the only means Of
handling press dispatches to the Phil
jppines. the Associated Press sending
1000 words day from San Francisco
40 Honolulu and 500 words to Manila
Several radio circuits are operated
by the Navy in the Pacific, connecting
with Guam, Cavite and Tutuila, in
the Samoan Islands. The Cavite sta
tion is in constant communication
with French Indo China, the Dutch
East Indies, Peking and Shanghai.
The Alaskan chain of Navy stations
at Sitka, ketchikan, Seward, Kodiak