Evening star., 1925-11-29
RADIO GOSSIP AND NEWS

The Army Signal Corps net, COM
posed of some 60 radio stations, han
died S3SS,S23 words during :he past
fiscal year, almost twice the number
transmitted last year. lad this busi-
ness been conducted over commercial
wires, even at Go. crumcut rates, it
would have cost the Government $l5o,-
CO.. according 10 Brig. Gen g Mex.
SaltZman, chief sigma, Office. III his
annual report 10 the Secretary of
War.
1t IS thus shown what an efficient
and useful organization of radio faCil-
tiles the Signal Corps has built up in
the past years lUt The actual cost
OF operatio; inc,udns The overhead
is not known ans 50 40 actual savings
in dollars and ceuu are announced.
Ii is of &rea Importance. however, to
- branches Of the Government besides
the Army, which. OF course. uses ii
continually to keep in touch with its
corps areas headquarters and some
so other stations. Incidentally il
serves as an excellent training SyS-
TEN for the radio operators and their
commissioned Vi GERS assigned to com
lnunication ac' vIt!es Increased en-
listed pers4,,ae. ami non-commissioned
officers as specialists are urged as
necessary To cont rued efficiency.
Other governmental departments
and bureaus which IliliZe the facilities
offered by this :. dlu service To praCti-
cally every point in the countr'r. in
clude the Departments of Labor,
Navy, justice. Treasury. Agriculture
commerce, POST Office. Interior and
the bureaus of Veterans. Panama
canal. PUbII Health Service. Weather,
Public Roads. Interstate Commerce
commissions Shipping Board and
others, 10 the number of about soc
messages q day.
Commenting on the history of this
let tie chef signal officer says:
The War Department radio net
established by the chief signal officer
at the Army in June, 49,. Is today Il
complete and comprehensive network
"t radio stations operated exclusively
ly military personnel. This net was
originally initiated as communica-
ZION feature of certain War Depart
lnent war plans to insure communities
zion with corps area headquarters
and certain critical cities m case of
failure or destruction %. the com.
lnerCiIl wire system. on completion
o. the initial installation and test, il
was obvious tina: the network as
Installed could B enriuyei to excel
lent advantage ~ ne training of
Signal Corps personnel. To furthe~
Inis plan of training the War De
partmcnt dispatches that We're nor
mally handled by commercial wires
were diverted To the radio net. pruvid-
iue rad:u facilities We're svai.able at
point ui destination TO expedite this
business.
In 1928 the success o. Ibo War
Department radio net Was Sl4ld as
to warrant the FIRST expansion ~ ia
'tiiteS and traffic. Al that time. the
tive original stations transmitted ap-
proXinateiy 30 official messages daily,
the average Govnrnment message
containing app. rNiflateiy u words
Today the department net has l.
maj jor stations. one station in each
corps area headquarters, two relay
stations Tor tGanSCOuJi..rntal traffic
between NaShII.-t,I ard the Pacific
Coast, and one IN the District OF
Washington. Each corps area con
trolls within !ts-h radio network
covering jhe important garrisons and
posts, making a grand total of 50
corps area net stations The oper-
alton of tins net met with such sue
cess that the War Department..
under date OF March. 1923, author
lied the Sigh1i Corps TO establish the
War Department message center to
Co-Urdnb,e traffic and directed that
all War Department telegrams and
cablegrans would be dispatched from
this center The rapid growth OF
traffic was hrough, about by the
chief Co-or,ilnator In an endeavor to
consolidate Government communica-
tion activities in order 10 eliminate
duplication OF effort and carry out
the retrenchment policy Of the Presi
dent. In order to avoid duplication
of facilities, there is close cooperation
between the Army and Navy in han
ding traffic All off shore traffic han
dted through the War Department
message center is turned over to the
Navy for dispatch, while all communi-
cations within the continental United
States for the Navy are handled by
the Army where naval facilities are
not available y