Evening star., 1925-09-12
RADIO D|SPLAC|NG
WIRE MESSAGES
Government Handling Nearly
All of Communications
Through Air Now.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Development of radio has lifted
nearly all of the Governments COM
munication activities from the tele-
graph wires into the air.
The maze Of telegraph wires for
merly used largely has been supplant-
ed by network of radio stations man
ned by Army and Navy personnel and
transmitting messages not only of
the two military arms, but of other
Government departments as we'll.
About 100000 words in Govern
ment messages are broadcast monthly
from Washington through the Army
and Navy radio and wireless stations.
Until recent years about half of the
Governments messages were dis
patched over commercial lines and
Army and Navy officials pointed out
today that more efficient use of radio
was saving the Government hundreds
OF thousands of dollars annually.
Expeditions and Economical.
Radio not only has expedited and
effected economy in communication.
but its wide use for Government pur-
poses has served to train a large force
and erect system that would be
highly valuable in event of war.
The Navy sends and receives an
average of more than 900 900 words
monthly by radio, its own leased land
wires, and through commercial com
panies. OF this. little more than one
NTH is now transmitted by private
concerns, with radio handling the
larger part and the Navy thus has
been enabled to dispense with a vast
network of leased land wires used
during the war.
Not only does II dispatch messages
to its ships at sea and TO distant
ports, but II sends MANY across the
seas for the Army and other Govern
ment branches. The Army likewise
handles many inland communications
for the Navy.
Development during the past year
of experiments with radio high fre-
quency, or short wave length send
ing, has considerably increased the
Navy's capacity for handling mes
saGes, the short wave length having
been found to leap across silent"
areas in the ether and to penetrate
static readily. When the Macmillan
Arctic expedition was at it's most
northern point the Navy's Bellevue
ton during midday. when static ordi-
narily is very intense. with messages
sent on short wave. when the longer
waves carried only short distances.
Uses Short Wave.
The Bellevue station daily sends
dispatches to London. Paris. san
Francisco. San Diego, the Canal Zone
and to ships at sea. all on the short
wave. When the battle fleet was in
the Antipodes recently. two-way COM
munication was readily established
with Washington.
In place of its telegraph wires OF
a few wears ago the War Department
has established a net Of so radio sta
tions. One ma ior station is located in
each of the nine Army corps areas,
with two ira ranscontinental relay sta
tions at Fort Leavenworth. Kans.. and
Fort Douglas. Utah, and another ma
jor station in Washington. Each
corps area has it's own system of sta
tions connecting the distant posts with
headquarters, while % others are es-
tablished in Alaska, alone.
The War Department undertook its
first great expansion of the use of
radio for departmental business al the
beginning of the fiscal year 1928 and
transmitted through its stations that
year less than 100000 words. In
the fiscal year 1925. ending last July.
nearly $500 900 words were trans
noiffed