4
THE SUNDAY OKEGONIAN, PORTLAND, APRIL 19, 1908.
HOOT :
Can
Now
Wit
Wires
BY C. II. WILLIAMS.
IF TOU were on a ship midway b
tween Portland and -Honolulu and
the cratt were to sink beneath the
waves, you could, while the waves were
laping hungrily at the sinking craft,
send a message to your friends in
Portland and direct the disposition of
your property. Or if your voyage were
more happy, and was to end at Port
land, you could, while oft the Columbia
liiver, far out of the sight of land,
order a cab sent to your pier to meet
you at the hour you step oft the gang
plank. You can order rooms reserved at
your hotel, notify your .wife you will
be home for dinner, or do anyone of
the thousand things that you can
through the old telegraph and tele
phone system. If the shaft of your
steamer breaks and Hip. vessel drifts
helplessly at the merry of wind and
wave at any point on the coast from
Sitka, Alaska, to Magdalena Bay, your
captain can flash a message to Port
land for a tug, giving the location of
. the disabled vessel, with reassuring
messages to friends of passengers on
board- This is a splendid accomplish
ment, when It is remembered that thou
sands of steamships, similarly disabled,
have drifted helplessly for weeks, and
many have Anally gone down, over
whelmed by storms.
All these things and innumerable
others have been made possible by the
installation of the new wireless sta
tion on Council (.'rest by the United
Wireless Telegraph Company, which
has just been put in operation. 'With
the crash of the wireless -spark as bis
only companion, 1. A. Cameron, the
operator, keeps vigil over the city
sleeping far below him, for the station
works onjy at night, when conditions
are most favorable for the wireless ap
paratus. The violent rays of the sun
are at war with the ether waves that
carry wireless messages, and light them
like red corpuscles In the blood do dis
ease germs. Humidity in the air also
bleaks up ether waves. Only short
distances arc covered by wirclcs In
the daytime. Messages to be sent over
"00 or 3"0 miles are transmitted at
night when conditions are perfect.
A Modem Aladdin.
Every night Operator Cameron, hears
the wireless messages passing between
Admiral Kvans' fleet of lighting ships
and the Southern California stations.
He hears what ships far out at sea
have to say as they pass each other
hundreds of miles apart. He is chum
my witli the operator at Sitka, Alaska,
and chats with the man at the key in
the lonely hut on Tatoosh Island, as
readily as one neighbor to another over
the telephone. Ho gossips with the
man on watch at San Diego, and the
itations between as readily as one man
to another across the room.
The wireless telegraph operator is
mother Aladdin. He caresses his key,
tvhich is another magic lamp, and the
Eenli of the clouds do his bidding. The
willing lave carries his message a
thousand leagues over land and sea,
snd delivers it more iuickly than a
flash of lightning. Before the wink of
an eye is accomplished, this modern
wizardry is done.
This is nothing short of magic
. neater magic than the wonder-work-trs
ever wrought. That one may send
. message across mountains, over des
rrts, fling it across oceans, without
wires or cables, losing not a letter of
Its import, is nothing less than a
miracle.
Would the steamship Columbia have
' Bone down last Summer off the Cali
fornia coast in collision with the San
Pedro, had both vessels been equipped
with wireless as Portland-San Fran
cisco steamers are now.? Probably not.
By wireless telegraph and its sister in
vention, the wireless telephone, -Aiips
can warn each other of approaching
danger, even In the densest fogs and
smoke, which often make visual signal
ing impossible. Lighthouses equipped
with wireless can warn ships off the
shore more effectively than the present
system of lights.
In the Xcw Station.
At the Council Crest station, a mast
200 feet high has been placed, from the
peak of wiich stay wires reach in each
direction. These wires are not used Jn
receiving or transmitting messages,
eight antennae serving these purposes.
There are 26 other stations on the Pa
cific Coast already, all of them in touch
with the Portland station, as well as
a number of ships that ply across the
ocean. From Portland to Sitka is 870
miles, while to Magdalena Bay is 1500
miles more. Stations will be places
within a short time at Coos Bay and
Grays Harbor, making a chain of-wireless
masts that will be in ready com
munication with each other at all times
reachlng the whole length of the West
ern North American Coast.
Wireless messages have been sent
very long distances successfully, "Utsf
Spring the naval wireless station at
Point Ima, Cal., took part of a mes
sage sent by the wireless operator on
board the Connecticut, which was oft the
east coast of Cuba, A message from the
battleship Rhode Island was received by
the same station, the vessel being at that
time off Cape Henry. The armored cruis
er Pennsylvania, in San - Francisco Ray
last August, took a wireless message
from Savannah, Ga., a distance of more
than 2400 miles. Tho message was re
corded without a break.
Slock Quotations to Pleasure Seekers
A striking demonstration of one of the
many uses of the wireless was made last
August by an enterprising New York
newspaper. Tho annual cruise of the
New. York Yacht Club was about to be
sailed through Iiine Island Sound and
the newspaper equipped a tug with wire
less apparatus and arranged to send finan
cial bulletins and stock quotations to it
every little while. The tug was to fol
- low the fleet of pleasure craft and hoist
signals telling the latest news of Wall
street. Each yacht had been supplied
with code books In advance by which
the owners could Interpret the tug's sig
nals. Wireless messnges were (lashed
to the tug from the top of a Broadway
skyscraper, where a mast and laterals
had been set up.
While the fleet was gathering at Glen
Cove a number of the yachtmcn de
clared they Intended to separate them
selves entirely from business worries
during the cruise. They accepted the
code books politely, but intimated they
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markable work of wireless telegraphy.
Sound does not affect wireless messages
In any way. A curious Instance of the
futility of trying to block wireless mes
sages was shown in Chicago when a ves
sel, fitted up with wireless apparatus.
was towed, out into the lake from Chi
cago and used as a floating poolroom. It
was there beyond the jurisdiction of the
Illinois court. To prevent the results
of the races being received, a tug
steamed alongside and blew its whistles
at' intervals for hours with a view to
intercept )ie wireless messages. This
had no effect whatever on the ether
waves and the winners of the day's races
were announced on board the steamer as
usual. . '
Wireless telegraphy depends for the
transmission of its messages upon ether
waves. These are set In motion by the
oscillation of a high frequency current
controlled by the operator. The waves,
set in . motion at one station, impinge
upon receiving antennae at other stations.
They travel in widening circles just like
waves from a pebble flung into a pool.
The difference Is that they .travel as fast
as light itself, which is calculated at
186.000 miles per second.
The ether wave is several hundred feet
deep. It travels over ' mountain ranges
and preserves its identity. Land sur
faces serve well for Ails wave to sweep
over, but salt water is the best known
medium. Fresh water lakes are found
to be somewhat less favorable than the
ocean.
Development of the Wireless.
G. Li. Milligan, a wireless expert who
has spent the past week in Portland tun
ing the local station', that is, adjusting
the wave length sent out to that of
other stations so they may talk together,
has watched the development of wireless
from the time a message could be flung
through the ether a scant four miles. He
believes the development of the ether
wave will give to science the power to
make daylight. He says it' .Is only a
question of short enough vibrations of
the wave, together with high enough fre
quency of the current: .
He also thinks electrical power will be
sent through the air in future without
wires. That electricity may be given a
high frequency, making It capable of
erators believe that with the constant im
provement oT sending and receiving ap
paratus that, is bound to come, the wire
less message will be seiU longer and
longer distances, and no one can guess
what will be the ultimate distances
spanned by the wireless spark.
Has Made the Karth Shrivel.
Like the other big advances in science.
the wireless telegraph has made the
world smaller. For centuries the earth
has been shrinking. When Marco Polo
first circumnavigated it, tho globe grew
noticeably smaller. When the first steam
boat ploughed the Atlantic, distances
grew less. With the invention of the
telegrapli and telephone and the build
ing of steam railroads, what seemed like
formidable distances shrunk to short and .
comfortable journeys. With the inven
tion of the wireless telegraph, tho earth
positively shriveled. It has done more
.to annihilate distance than almost anj
thing else. Terror of sea travel has been
vastly minimised.
And why not greater wonders still?
Why should not the control of ether, the
most Insubstantial substance, bind the.
planets closer together as 'it 1ms the
hemispheres? It is not altogether im
probable that the ether wave offers a
means of communication with Mars and
other planets believed to be inhabited.
Given the means of generating an ether
wave strong enough and there is no rea
son why it should not break on the shores
on that little known, mysterious planet.
Wily not sometime detach an ether warn
from the Council Crest antennae that
would pulsate tho receiving lateral of a
Martian station?
F.ther not only permeates the air and
water buf substances as well and is the
chief constituent of that void between
the worlds where nothing is across which
light and heat travels on ether waves
but through which no sound can come.
How fast the ether wave will speed in
its own element, where no air is. cannot
now be known. Who knows but in that
supposedly perfect medium, an earth
wave would flash across hitherto un
bridged distances and all in the twink
ling of an eye?
In fact some wireless inventors believ
"Mars has been trying to signal us by
this means already. Last Summer when
this new science was being developed
by leaps and bounds, a number of scien
tists w,ere experimenting along the At
lantic Coast at widespread stations. Oi
erators at the keys throughout tho night
reported that a certain fixed intervals
each night a mysterious message of three
dots would be tapped on tho receiver.
Not once, but many times this happened,
and .many operators at different stations
reported it.
Where the dots came from no one knew
but the suggestion was made that It
might have been Mars trying to speaK
to the earth through this new and uni
versal means of communication.
Largest Bath in the World.
New York Sun.
The biggest swimming ,pool in th world
has Just been officially put in commission
at Tooting Bee Common, England. It Is
3u0 feet in length and is 99 feet wide.
With a capacity of 1,360,000 gallons of
water, it is so arranged that 80,000 gallons
can be pumped Into It dally, thereby in
suring a partial flow all the time. By this
plan It will not be necessary to clean the
bath more than once e year. To empty
the bath and refill It means an expendi
ture of J1!00. The depth of the pool is 6
feet inches. It has no covering over
head, but all around there Is ample ac
commodation for spectators.
The work of construction was begun
about a year and a half ago, and was so
faradvancedlast Fall that it was used for
general porposes. The fixtures, of course,
were only In a rough state; nevertheless
about 3000 persons visited the big pool
every day for their dip. One day In tho
wick Is set aside for women, and on these
days the bath Is taxed to its fullest.
There is no admission charge. In spite of
the' large number of bathers, no fatality
has so far occurred, but the bath attend
ants have rescued 13 persons, and they re
ceived the Royal Humane Society medal
last year for saving two persons from
the deep end. The. bath is situated in
the most picturesque part of the common.
would not be used. On the following day
the financial storm broke.
Many who had steeled themselves to be
heedless at the outset were the most
Interested readers of the financial bul
letins. From having promised themselves
to be interested only in squalls at sea.
they began to strain- their eyes for
squalls on the New York stock exchange.
Scores who. started -oiit to remain with
the fleet until the finish-of the cruise at
Newport hastened back- to the- storm
center. Those who remained were kept
as fully advised - of the market as if
they had . been in their own offices.
One minute and thirty seconds, was re
quir,pd to flash the news of the London
opening to the fleet, the message being
relayed by the' Newport naval station,
and In three minutes the O K had been
sent back to the New York operator that
the wireless tug had received the mes
sage. The same newspaper office was in pos
session of the fact that the schooner
yacht Klmina won the Astor cup two
minutes and thirty seconds after the
boat crossed the line, all due to the re-
traveling on tyie ether wave, and then
sent across the country and picked up as
wireless messages are snared in a net
of wires seems probable.
But the most wonderful development In
the field opened up by the wireless in
ventor is probably as yet ungucsscd. Op-
Hardy Newspaper Men.
Boston Transcript.
In 8 years no editor has been received
as a patient at the Longvicw Hospital,
of Cincinnati, and only one reported. In
that time the hospital has treated 21.i0
housewives. 12K4 laborers. 653 domestic
servants, 5S0 other servants, 3(6 farmers,
2W clerks. HI carpenters, 115 merchants,
135 tailors, 131 painters, 116 shoemakers.
M eigaimakers, 78 salesmen, Tf ma
chinists, 64 cabinetmakers, teamsters, 63
butchers, M bakers, 40 coopers, 48 saloon
keepers, 4" soldiers, 46 school teachers, 42
printers, 39 lawyers, 30 physicians, 30 fire
men and 28 policemen.
Fatbw O'l-lynn.
Alfred P. firavt!.
Of prits we can offer a charmin' variety,
Kar rno-ned for larnln and piety:
Stiil. I'd advance ye wldout Impropriety,
Father O'KIynn as the flow'r of tlicin all.
Ftefrain
Herat a health to you. Father O'KIynn,
Klalnte and alalnte and alalnte agin;
Pow' rfulest preacher and Icnflerent teacher,
And kindliest creature In ouid Donegal.
Don't talk of your Frovoat and Fellows of
Trinity.
FamoiiH fnrever at Greek ant T.atinlty,
Faix and the nivil and all at Divinity.
Katner O'Flynn 'd make hares of them
all!
I'onie. I venture to fcive ye my word.
Never the likca of hi lntrlc w.h heard,
Down from mythology lnlo tliayoiocy,
Troth! and concholoKy. if he'd the call.
Och Father O'Flynn, you'e a wonderful
way wld you.
All ould sinners are wishful to pray wld
you.
All the young chllder are i ild for to play
wld you.
You've nthch a way wld you. Father aviek!
Stilt, lor all you've ko jsentlo a aoul.
Gad, you've your flock In the grandest con
trol; Checkine the crazy ones, coaxiu' onalay
one.
Liftln the lazy ones on wid the stick.
And though quite avolJin" all foolish friv
olity. Prill at all season of Innocent jollity
Where was the playboy could claim an
equallty
At comicality. Father, wld youZ
Once the bl.shop looked grave ut your jest.
Till thin remark net on wid the rett:
"Is It lave gayety all to the laity?
Can not the clergy he Irian -nun, too?"