The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-06-27
VAN LOON AWED
At MARVELS
Of SCIENCE
Radio Has Revoiutionized the
Carrying on Of Conventions,
Says Historian
By HENDRIX VAN LOON.
Copyright. 1924, by The christy
Walsh Syndicate.)

Walsh Syndtcate.)
NEW YORK, June 27.-Fifty
years ago with loud bang modern
science with a capital NJ and 8
broke loose upon an unsuspecting
world. Railroad lines were built
and fast steamships were put into
commission. Chemical laboratories
began to work overtime and the
historians scrapped the Middle Ages
which they dubbed the Dark Ages
and which they described as an era
Of somber ignorance when mankind
CROPPED in blindness for a set Of
ideals that would hardly be tolerated
in our own days Of enlightened
wisdom.
The last ten years have taught
US a somewhat different lesson.
The railroad trains were used to
move. large bodies Of troops from
one spot to another in a way that
made the footwork of Napoleon'S
armies look slow and pitiable. Tele-
graph wires were forced into service
to rush deadly ultimatums from one
government to another and chenai-
cal compounds were fabricated
which could kill more people in
fewer minutes than had ever been
and blood-thirsty a warrior as the
got radio.
Ignorant of Plumbing.
Now 1 happen to know remark
ably little about such things. I
do not understand the simplest
problems Of plumbing. have,
under the stress of great emotion
sometimes succeeding in changing
an electric bulb that had burned
itself to death in the service of my
household. But l am scared Of
the telephone and radio entirely
surpasses my limited comprehension.
/ accept it and wonder and leave 1t
to the fans.
At the same time having spent
a great part of my life in the Pc
rusal and detection of what II
commonly called bunk" 1 must
sound a word of warning about
one side Of the broadcasting prob
lem that deserves special atten.
ton.
In the olden days a demonstra-
ton was the result Of an outbreak
Of enthusiasm on the part Of q
group Of people assembled for some
common purpose. The newspaper
men described it in such terms as
seemed to fit. The reader was
asked to judge for himself whether
the accumulated shouts and groans'
end cat calls really represented
the pent up emotions of a mighty
host or had been merely fabricated
by skillful managers for certain
stage effects.
Radio Changed All.
Radio has changed all this. The
delicate broadcasting implements
are strictly non-partisan. At night
they tell the story of q million
mice scampering through the de.
serted aisles of the Garden in
search of the ham sandwiches left
behind by eager delegates. Dur.
ing the day time they will rever-
berate with equal generosity at
the behest of q McAdoo whistle
or q Smith megaphone. The party
leaders who seem possessed of con.
siderable engineering skill have
making use Of it for their own
purposes.
They fill the haIl with people who
carry buzzers and fire gongs and
every sort and variety Of mechanical
screech owl. 1t is no longer neces.
sary for people to stand and holler.
They can remain in their seats and
push a button. Their little tin cans
or their COW bells will do the rest.
and the radio will buzz as violently
as II it were giving a record Of an
actual and genuine emotion.
The people in the Garden this
morning duly recognized the wholly
artificial nature Of the campaign Ut
frightfulness that followed the men.
tioning of the name OF the popular
candidate. But the radio fans in
Nebraska and Missouri and in
Maine, listening in on their eight
cylinder synthetic photograph drew
conclusions which were entirely
wrong and were meant to create an
erroneous impression. -