Evening star., 1935-04-28

IneSe plants, WHICH Ill lllc Hldlil
ask that radio be abolished, have come
to President Roosevelt, the Secretary
of Agriculture, the weather Bureau,
the Communications Commission and
other agencies. All of them eventually
find their way to the Weather Bureau.
where William j. Humphreys, chief OF
meteor olog;cal physics, replies with
his stock answer.
The most forceful protest comes
from DR. H. Preston Pratt of Chicago,
75-year-old physician and expert
menter, who came to WASHINGTON this
month for the avowed purpose of con-
tacting Government officials. notably
members of Congress, to impress upon
them the seriousness" of this stu
alton and bring about comprehen-
sive semitic investigation. Armed
with an 18,O00-word document-Which
he AYERS offers scientific basis for his
contentionS-he maintains the only
solution is to change the entire broad
casting structure so the millions OF
watts flung into the ether will go up
vertically" instead Of horizontally.
Then, he maintains. power OF statlons
could be curtailed with no loss OF re-
ception and with the immediate elimi-
nation of the radio blight from the
face Of the earth.
DR.. Pratt says he knows whereof ne
speaks because he was pioneer IN
the development of the X-ray, back
in 1896, and from 1879 to 1883 was
an expert of the American Bell Tele-
phone Co. He argues that the watt
age" catapulted into the ether by ra-
dio accelerates the action Of the sun
in drawing the moisture from the
earth, thus "dehydrating' it. This
process has gone on since the advent
of radio a score of years ago, he
claims, with the result that the dry
dust on the surface is now being
waited across the land by the wind,
calsing the present scourge. And, he
maintains, it will become more and
more serious unless something is done.
WHILE broadcasters are building
w bigger and more powerful equip
ment every day. a radio receiving
system that makes the average trans
mitting outfit look puny by compari-
son is being augmented to provide the
1000 rooms of a New York hotel with
short-wave programs.
Listening to a small receiver in the
home, the average radio fan sees a
marvel of modern science in the form
of small cabinet as the immediate
source of broadcast programs. little
realizing that to provide programs in
its rooms, a large hotel must install
a network of wires and equipment
fully as complicated as the telephone
system Of a small town.
At the heart of such a system. that
OF the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New
York, is an array of radio panels so
feet long, with the outlets extending
to the 1000 private rooms as we'll as
lobbies, banquet halls and other
places At present receiving domestic
broadcasts, the system is being re-
built to capture the faint emanationS
from short-wave stations in all parts
OF the world. build them up as much
as 100 billion times. and then feed
them inko the hooks and corners of
the hotel at the will of those who
wish to listen.
To snare these short waves. an
sntenna is being built which is al
most invisible from the street, thus
preserving the appearance of the two
towers atop the building Wires are
strung horizontally, for the most part
and their arrangement and length
has been calculated so they will pluck