Evening star., 1925-05-03
FEATS OF SIGNAL CORPS CHIEFS
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN

A reception rendered by Maj. Gen.
Charles NICK. SaltZman, the present
chief signal officer of the Army, TO the
four living former chief signal officers
Maj. Gen. Adolphus w. Greely. Mai
Gen. James Allen, Brig. Gen. George
Scriven and Maj. Gen. George B.
Squier-for the first time in the his.
tory of the country. 1t is believed.
brought together five former and
present chiefs of any one branch OF
the Army.
This was a very interesting group,
not only because each member has at
one time been chief of the Signal
Corps, but because each one has some
other claim to fame. Gen. Greely
for instance. who was chief signal Off.
Ger from 1887 to 1906, won interna-
tional recognition by a scientific ex.
pedition to Lady Franklin Bay, which
was one of the 10 international sta.
tions established for scientific work
under the plans of the Hamburg inter
national polar conference of 1879.
The Greely expedition started out in
1881 with % men. Scientifically, il
made the nearest gravity observa-
tions to the Pole, ascertained the eli
matte conditions of Grinnel Land
made Pathological studies. determined
the hitherto unknown secular mag
netic variations of that region, and
through it's tidal observations first
disclosed the conformity Of the 81
dereal day with the diurnal equality
Of the tidal waves of the earth"
1t also explored unknown lands one
eighth the way around the globe north
of the 18th parallel. In May, 1882,
two of Gen. Greely's command took
an honor from England which she
had held for three centuries, by reach
ing the farthest point north to be at
tained up TO that date.
Rescued By SchIey.
The relief ships failed to reach the
Greely party at Lady Franklin Bay,
so they moved on to Cape Sabine,
which was a 400-mile trip. There
they waited nine months for relief
and supplies and were eventually res
cued by Commodore, later Admiral
w. S. Schley. During this time, how
ever. IS of the party had perished.
Gen. Greely was thanked by the
British government, received the
Founders Medal of the Royal Geo
graphic Society, the Roquette Medal
from the Societe de Geographic. and
was honored by a number of other
foreign societies. Because his work
was in the Zine of duty he received
no official recognition from the United
States.
1t is told that while Gen. Greely
was chief signal officer the Secretary
of War called him into his Office one
day and asked him If he could build
cable from Seattle to Alaska. and
also what the approximate cost would
be. Without having any idea as to
where either the money or materials
we're to come from, the general, in
present day parlance, flowed as
how" he could do this, and within two
days submitted estimates of the cost
When the cable was constructed the
actual cost came approximately with
in his estimates.
The Alaskan cable was actually
built by Gen. Allen, who was then g
major, under the direction of Gen
Greedy. This cable extends from
Alaska to Seattle and is operated by
the Signal Corps. 1t handles both
Government and commercial mes
SageS.
The original cable was intended as
a. military meas sure, to esta blish con
nection with the military garrisons
that had been sent to Alaska at that
time, following the discovery of gold
! in that region and the rush of q
great number of persons to the Ter
ritory.
1t was not intended that the cable
should have a longer life than ap
proximately five years, and its mes
sage carrying capacity - about &c
words minute-was designed on tina,
| basis The cable, however, was con
| tinued in Government service long
after the military garrisons were prac
| tically withdrawn and finished a life
of more than 20 years.
| In 1923 the cable was not only in a
practically worn-out condition, but its
message-carrying capacity could nc
| longer answer the traffic needs OF
| Alaska, where messages were being
exchanged between the Territory and
| the homeland at a rate of a Thousand
a day in the open season and half that
number during the closed season
Therefore it was decided to replace II
| with q new gutta-percha insulated
cable. The new cable was completed