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1 I SENDING MESSAGES BY RADIOjBafPBBfl f T Nt ' 'V 154. M ySTING'CKIES''lNTHE DEFOREST .t' 'X
WIRELESS telephony, that latest,
and In many ways greatest, won
der of thl3 electrical age, Is
on the eve of working a complete revolu
tion In tho methods of handling tho enor
jnoua shipping of the Great Lakes.
Already, at scoro3 of point? along the
lakes, tho towering ptlss of tho wireless
telephono system, each with li" 'Antennae
of wlresj are .being iut In . .:,) bo that
by next Spring the flysteii; ti).-& already
has mado Itself Itivaluabh Vr '-"so great
Paclflo fleet of our navy -s well as to
the navies of Great Britain and Italy,
will be In use from end to end of tho
chain of America's Inland seas. By use
of this system marine Insurance rates
will ba reduced to a minimum, owing to
the fact that al storm warnings may be
transmitted Immediately to lake vessels
so that they will have ample time to
mako safe harbors and, used In conjunc.
tlon with the enormous existing land sys
tem of wire telephones, will make It pos
sible for persons either on tho shores of
the lakes or hundreds of miles away, to
talk with officers of or passengers on
any of tho vessels engaged In the lake
trade.
"Without the enormous expense, of
wire maintenance that 13 necessary to:
tho wlro 'phone systems, and also 'with
out the expense of an -expert operator
as Is necessary with wireless telegraph
systems, the use of the wlrelcs-j telephone
-will be within financial reach ot the most
modest sailing craft plying from port to
port.
Few persons, oven those (directly con
nected with commerce on the Great
Xiakes, realize the enormous Interests rep
resented in that trade; therefore few re
alize the vast boon conferred by tho
latest electrical marvel. Eighty per
cent, of all the water tonnage of North
America Is carried on the Great
Lakes. Thirty thousand craft of all classes
today are engaged in the lake trade, and
the lake shipyards are from one to threo
years behind on their orders from lake
ship-owners. Although ono-lmlf of nil
the vessels built In the "Western Hemi
sphere In 1008 were for the Great Lakes
trade, tho need for more bottoms has be'
come so acute that steamship companies
engaged in the trade recently have been
obliged to go to English and Ccotch ship
yards with orders.
An Enormous Fleet.
The freight conveyed over these waters
during 100S was more than seven
times as much as the whole world car
ried through the Suez Canal in the same
time. Four thousand freight steamers, 250
big passenger steamers and about 25,000
pleasure and other craft comprise the
enormous Groat Lakes fleet, which uses
upwards of three million tons of coal in
a single year, or enough to heat every
house in Chicago for three years.
The Pittsburg Steamship 'Company,
which is merely the carrier of the United
Slates Steel Corporaton, nlonn owns ships
with a combined capacity of 050,000 tons
of ore during a single trip. If the ships
of this company alone -were placed end to
end they would cover a distance of eight
miles and during the eight months of
Great Lakes navigation each year they
carry as much freight ifrom Lake Su
perior to Lake Erie ports as all the ves
sels of the world take through the Suez
Canal in a whole year. In weight of freight
annually bundled, Buffalo and Duluth aro
the world's greatest porta, while the ton
nage handled at Ohio porta alone exceeds
that of all the ports of France. During 1007
approximately 100,000,000 tons of freight
were shipped In Great Lakes bottoms.
This would be enough to fill 2,500,000
forty-ton freight cars, or a train that
would girdle the earth and extend from
New York to San Francisco in addition.
More than 00 per cent of this immense total
-consisted of 37,513,000 tons of Iron ore, 14,
000,000 tons of coal, 110,508,027 bushels
of grain, 1,150,757 tons of flour, 14,888,
027 bushels of flaxseed and more than
3,000,000,000 feet of lumber.
Greatest of all lines of lake traffic Is
that in Iron ore, and some 800 giant
steamers are engaged solely in Its car
riage. This ore commerce has doubled
Curing the last six years and tho steel
men ibelleve it will be doubled again dur
ing the next ten, for three Jlttle patches
of the Great Lakes country produced In
1008 nearly half of the world's total
supply of iron.
t
Total Tonnage for 1008.
During 1008 200,000,000 bushels of
CTain and 11,000,000 barrels of flour were
shipped from Lftko port, the grain Bhfp-1
' -
THE COOS BAY TIMES
ments from Port Arthur and Fort "Wil
liam alone being well over 80,000,000
bushels. At least 00,000,000 bushels of
wheat, 00,000,000 bushels of other gral.i
and 7,500,000 barrels of flour passed
through the "Soo" canals eud 50,000,000
bushels of grain, conservatively rep
resent the total shipments f.-ont Chi
cago, Milwaukee and other pnrt3 whoso
eastbound commerce does .not pass
through these canals. Tb' -tr's lum
ber shipments aggreputed V-'" v 1,500,
000,000 feet, or enough i Zt. ? more
than 75,000 houses oi." !si u-v.a' each.
Taking tho "Soo" canal as Its center
and drawing a circle having a radius of
350 miles, it would bo found to Include
four of the world's greatest ports, Buf
falo, Cleveland, Chicago and Duluth.
"Within the circle or upon its circum
ference are such other ports as Detroit,
Toronto, Dunkirk, Erie, Conneaut, Ashta
bula, Lorain, Sandusky, Toledo, Gary,
Milwaukee. Ashland, Superior and Port
Arthur. The eight states along the Great
Lakes are In reality the heart and power
of the nation. "Within their borders dwell
35,000,000 people and upon their shores
center the greatest industries of the
world. Should the lakes disappear sud
denly the Industrial supremacy of the
United States would receive a staggering
blow from which 'It might never recover
and more than half the population of the
nation would be vitally affected. The steel
Industry would come to an untimely end.
With aN the great shipyards straining
every effort to meet the demands -of the
lake commerce, shippers agree that they
never will be quite able to meet the re
quirements of the traffic Everywhere
from Duluth to Buffalo the shipping is
crowded, In many cases dangerously so.
The greatest ocean port3 never foavo
known such blockades as Duluth has see i
on more than one occasion. During on')
month alone last year there were 1,221
arrivals and clearances at this port, an
average of forty a day. Steamers pas3
through the Detroit River on an average
of one every twelve minutes, night and
day. Harbors and canals must bo en
larged fo facilitate tho growing business
and unless there is some means available
for the protection of this vast shipping,
the tragedies of this next decade will bo
greater than those of all the past. In
the wireless telephone It is believed that
protection has been found.
Storms Do Terrific Dniungre.
The Great Lakes are known as the
most treacherous highway in the world.
Great storms, coming up at a ifew hours
notice, do enormous damage to shipping.
Scores of vessels suddenly and myster
iiusly disappear each year, leaving no
trace behind them. According to the re
cords more than $15,000,000 worth of
freight has been lost on the lakes, involv
ing the wrecking of 14,000 vessels and
the total loss of more than -2,000 ships.
During the last thirty years, in which
time the records have been practically
complete, the wrecked vessels numbered
some 8,000, .nearly 1,000 of which weru
total losses, while the loss in cargoes
alone has exceeded $12,000,000 in this
fame period. A notable case in point oc
curred ,ln 1000 when the steamer "Flagg"
went down with a cargo of metal worth
$1,250,000, none of which ever has been
recovered. One of the most horrible dis
asters In the whole history of the Great
Lakes was the wrecking of tho "Griffin"
and her destruction near Cleveland, in
volving the loss of 280 lives. Thousands
of other tragedies mark tho history of
the treachery of Great Lakes storms.
During the first week of October, 1008,
a round dozen ships, valued approximate-'
ly at $500,000 each, were wrecked during a
severe storm. The net loises during this
week were not far from $1, 000,000, "Warn
ings of the storm that caused this damage
were posted toy the United States
"Weather Bureau eight hours in advance
and, hod the lake vessels been equipped
with wireless telephone apparatus at the
time, every one would have had ample
opportunity to have made port or a safe
harbor.- As it was, they had no warn
ing of impending danger.
Another great peril to lake shlpoln?
is that of collision and conditltvis In this
respect stow worse from day to day.
During the whole eight" months of the
rtirpplng season each year, scarcely a day
passes without one. or more collisions,
These conditions, which of course are
especially acute Jn time of fog, could be
almost entirely obviated" by wireless tele
phonic communication from ship to ship
and, as ail the danger which, surround
MARSHFIELD, OREGON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1909
TC"B5 - PMJllMi i "I i i i- - T 'a. ii- ff
The "Soo" Canal Vessels carrying 15,736
tons of iron ore passing through
(he locks.
the shipping interests on tho lakes natu
rally compel tho exaction of excessive
Insurance rates, this In turn reacts upon
the freight tariffs so tlhat the over
coming of the perils from storm and col
lision means a material reduction in cost
of present lako transportation which, in
spite of every existing obstacle, is ex
ceptionally low.
Safeguard Against Extortion.
It is an admitted fact that the Great
Lakes constitute the nation's chlof safe
guard against oppressive railroad rates.
They are the regulators of our ereat com
merce and tho traffic on the Jakes savo3
to tho people of the United States $500,
000,000 annually, or $0 for every man,
woman and child of our population.
Transportation over the lake waters in
modern steamshlpa costs from one'
fifteenth to one-quarter of the prevailing
railroad rates. It costs only two cents per
bushel to ship grain from Duluth to Buf
falo and orrfy eighty cents to carry a ton
of ore between these two points. This is
exactly ono-soventh the cost of railroad
transportation for the same commodities
between the same ports.
In passenger rates nearly a Tike differ
ence is shown. During the season of 100S
the splendid passenger service of the
Great Lakes was used by more than
10,000,000 people and the ratio of in
crease indicates thr.t- this total will
be doubled In Ues3 than a decade.
The railroad fare betweon Detroit
and Buffalo is $7, but by steamer
one can travel the 900 miles between these
ports for $2.50, while one day each week
a fare of $1,25 prevails.
Tho future of the Great Lake com
merce is something so vast that none but
the moat venturesome would chance a
prophecy. "With the great Mississippi sys
tem to the southwest, soon to be connect
ed with Lake Michigan by way of the
ship canal which Chicago is building into
the Illinois River, vessels will be enabled
shortly to pass from, tho Great Lakes
down the Mississippi to the Gulf. To the
northwest lies the great wheat country
of central North America, the focal point
of which Is the growing city of "Winnipeg,
located at tho Junction of the Asslnlbolne,
now navteated for 300 miles, and the Bed
Itlver of the North., up which steamers
can go to the Minnesota, through the
great wheat fields of the United States,
thus bringing her sphere of Influence
south to Grand Forks and Fargo in the
Dakota.
Lake "Winnipeg, which Js as large as
Lake Erie, now Is being connected by
locks with the Saskatchewan River sys
tem, navigable fr nearly 1,000 miles in
to t& Yery heart of taw world' greateat
Radio "Wireless Telephone Tower On the
roof of the Terminal Building
in New York.
grain fields. Soon this great inland water
system, centering in "Wlnnlpci, will have
an outlet Into Lake Superior by means
of a canal running through the "Winni
peg River, already navigable for 200
miles; Lake-of-tho-"Woods, Rainy River,
Rainy Lake, Nemokan Lake, Loon Lake,
Nequokan Lake and Others, requiring
only a few miles of actual canal build
ing to bring down to Thunder Bay the
product of a region jvhlch already is
becoming the world's granary, although
the .Cana'dlan grain trade Is but in Its
infancy.
Projects To Relieve ConeeaUonC
The congestion In tho Detroit Oliver Is
to be relieved by two Canadian projects
Kivliig free outlet over British soil to
the shipping of iho great Northwest.
The first of these, the Georgian Bay pro
ject, is to take in the French River, Lake
Nlplssins and the Ottawa' Rivor, thus
connecting Lake Huron with the St
Lawrence at Montreal. The second, tho
Trent Navigation project, now is open
from Lake SImcoe to the head of Halley's
Tails, a distance of 135 miles. Nearly
r'l t.io unfinished portion Is under con
tract.
In a few years the movement of oro
to feed tho hungry furnaces of Pittsburg
will be by an all-water route, as a canal
from Ashtabula to the great city of iron
and sK-el will do the work of fifteen
raflroa Is at the cost of one.
Today the Great Lakes hold the key
to the commercial supromacy of America,
Great capitalists, of course, are vitally
interested in the traffic but most of the
shipping on the Lakes belongs to the
masses, the stock In the owning com
panies being held by hundreds of thou
sands. As the shares aro among tho most
profitable and tho Bafest investments In
tho world they have become the property
of small Investors ouch as farmers, me
chanics and clerks and it is an interesting
met mot one-third of the farmers In the
lake counties of Ohio have money Invest
ed In lake shipping.
Of all the needs of Great Lakes ships
and shippers the greatest is for an ade
quate and reliable means of communica
tion from ship to ship and from ship to
shore. It la to meet this demand that
hundreds of artisans and mechanics now
are engaged In the construction of wire
less 'telephone stations along the shores
of the Lakes and Jn Installing instru
ments on the Lake vessels, t
No sooner had the wireless telephone
become a commercial practicability,
through the perfected inventions of Dr.
Lee de Forest, who previously had won
distinction hi ft wlreiew fe!egp flM,
EVENING EDITION
than Its adaptation became a matter of
greatest concern to the shipping inter
ests of the lakes.? "When the De Forest
system was installed and successfully
tested by the United States Navy iwlth
the result that Admiral Evans was able
to bo in constant vocal communication
with all the officers and ships of the
great Paoltic fleet on Its cruise from
Hampton Roads through the Straits of
Magellan and thence to San Francisco,
there came insistent demands for an ado
quatowlroles3 telephone system for tho
lakes Although tho American Navy was
the first to utilize , wireless telephony, It
since has been Installed on many of the
Ehlps of the Italian Navy, while tho navy
of Great Britain Is following tho same
course with all possible speed,
What Wireless Telephony Has Done.
Already, from the station which the
Do Forest people Installed at the
top of the Eiffel Tower In Paris, tests
have been made which carried tho hu
man voice clear and distinct to beyond
Marseilles, COO mllosaway. In this country
successful tests have been made for a
distance of 150 miles, but when tho new
station Is completed in the fifty-second
story of the huge" Metropolitan Llfo
campanile In this city, it is confidently
expected by the wireless telephone ex
perts that they can project the volco
much further than at tho Paris test3. In
fact, the Inventor, do Forest, lias' de
clared that within a Bhort time ho will be
ablo to send mes3ages.,between these two
greatest' stations so that the voice spoken
!n New York, may be distinctly and im
mediately heard In Paris, p
"When one considers' that thirty years
ago the .present wire telephono system
was laughed at as being nothing moro
than a clover toy, and that Prof. Alex
ander Graham Boll nearly wore his heart
and soul out trying to get tho small
sum of money needed to construct his
small test lino for threo miles from Boston
to Somervllle, the suggestion of wireless
talking from New York to Paris Is not
to bo considered as a smlle-provoklng
proposition.
In establishing Its Hvstem nf wlrnlnan
telophony it already has (been announced
by itho Great Lakes Radio Telephono Com
pany, of Cleveland, which controls the De
Forest system fort'ho torritoryin question,
that It will work in conjunction with all tho
existing wire telephono systems, whether
Bell or Independent. By a simple con
trivance the wire 'phone system can be
connected with tho wireless system at
any of tho Jntter's central stations so
that a person located nt a regular long
distance telephone in New York, for In-
ptanco, can be connected through a wire-
loss station at 'Cleveland and hold con
versations with a business associate trav
eling ao a passenger on a steamer out
in the middle of Lake "Erlo.
Each central wireless station will have
Its apparatus attuned to a certain num
ber of vibrations on the principle of a
tuning fork. The attuning of on in
strument can bo changed by a switch.
Just as tho switchboard of a central wire
station can bo regulated by tho Insertion
of plugs. In this way when a Lake
steamer, for Instance, desires to talk with
Cleveland, Its operator will throw the
switch to the number of vibrations called
for by Cleveland. "When the wire Instru
mont on the steamer Is in repose, it will
drop back to a certain specific number of
vibrations so that it can be reached by
any central station calling its number.
or, by means of nn Aorephono automatic
signalling device, can bo reached by any
station sending out storm signals In dark
ness or fog. In this way each Instru
ment can be so regulated that It can
either take up general calls from any
direction or only specific calls for its
own number, as might be desired.
No Franchises Are Required.
Ono of the advantages of the wireless
telephone is that it does not require a
franchise right to operate or a right of
way from any government, state or mun
icipality. It talks through the air and is
tho only known method of vocal inter
shlp communication or of talking from
ship to shore. In case of fog or storm
the sound of the human voice, projected
by this means, is as clear and distinct as
at any other time, and the invention is
thereforo peculiarly adapted for safety
signals and life-saving service. A distinct
advantage of the wireless 'phono over tht
wire 'phone is that the buzz of the wire al
ways is absent. As any chip's officer
oab talk by wirelea frhon a readily,
as by wire 'phone on shore, all expense
of an expert operator is eliminated onoS. "ft
the apparatus is placed within the rea?a.
of the most modest ooat aiioat. r. -
The antennae wires of the apparatus
are strung to the masthead of the ship by
moans of hempen rope, and ore bracoS
apart by a needle or spar of wood. Tha
wireless telephone, Just as the wireless)
telegraph, depends upon the projection of
electric waves that pass through the at
mosphere, and solid substances as well,
with the velocity of light, which is 180,000
miles a second or more than seven, times
tho circumference of tho globe.
Tho mechanical principles upon whichv 3?j
the wireless teiepnono aepena seem tot
bo simp!? enoushi n!ttiL'Eh. t!ier I. &'
proat difference of opinion as to the aot"
he act
sna, o"Y
forma-' S
jr-vary
ual explanation ot the phenomena,
wireless telophony. Speech Id the
tlon of very rapid complex and ever-vary
ing series of vibrations of the air ana.
their measurement by the nerves of the
ear. Owing to the resistance of the at
mosphere, these vibrations grow weaker ' .LS
and at last disappear as we get further l K
from the source of disturbance. Tele
phony is the art of translating these)
vibrations of the air into vibrations ot
ether whose lesser resistance enables
them to bo carried to great distances for
translation into air vibrations again, as
only the air vibrations can be measured
by the car. In the wireless telephono
tho air waves are translated Into th
vibration of an electrical dlscha:
cliarga
which oscillates the ether.
One exceptionally valuablo feature ofJ
the wireless telephone, which the United
States Government Is utilizing as rapidl? i
as possible,- is its adaptability to tho
lighthouse and lightship service. Becausa 1
ot uio absence of wire maintenance
charges ,lt costs no more to talk from.
shore to a lighthouse or a lightship than. 1
It would cost to talk between two blocks
of a congested city district, and tho lirrhti
house keeper or lightship people need! y
have no expert training dn order to oper
ate the apparatus.
Government Shows Its Appreciation.
At every turn tho Government ha $
shown its appreciation of he invention, A.
which, in addition to having been in- - "'
stalled ,on the thirty odd battleship I ''
CTuIsers and torpedo-boat destroyers ofi vb
the Paclflo fleet before they started onv AK-
ineir voyage around the world, has also '" Iff
ueen installed at Fortress Monroe, Mara
isiana ana other army posts. a
Still another feature of the invAnHon?f
or rather the benefit that may be derived: V
from It, is for tho supplying of musla j
mm uwer terms or entertainment ti
jjusauiiBers traveling on the passenger
vessels, a service of this kind, aided bsj
a huge receiver so that all of the passen
gers gathered In a large salon could hea
tno music or operatic airs simultane
ously, should prove ai most welcoma
innovation for steamship travelers. It isJK
within tho range of possibilities, at ant
early date, that the traveler by Great V
Lakes steamer may te able to spend his l S!
OVPnlnfTa llalantnn n tl. ..4.. ,- 1
or Melba simultaneously with the audlen- t
ces who see tho singers in person at t
Covent Garden, London, or the Metro
poll tan or Manhattan Opora Houses In
New York. j )
"With the first great long1 dlstanca
wireless station nearlng completion at t
Toledo, with twenty-flve other long dis
tance stations already contracted for
construction along the lake front, w!fi j
work going ahead on seventy-five small-, J
er shore stations and with fifty odd moro '
already projocted, there is reason to ex- l
pect that, by the tlmo Great Lakes navl- J
cation opens in the Spring for the season
of 1909, the wireless telephone system
will be in full operation on tho Great
Lakes with nearly 200 stations In use. I, i
The central station ot the system wllL' .
bo located at Sault 6te Marie, a contract
for Its construction alroady having been
let. Cfilcago, Cleveland, Detroit, MItwau- "'
kco, Duluth, Buffalo, Erie and Pittsburg- ii
are among tho cities being provded with, 'i
long-distanco stations, while among other
places for which minor stations ara
either planned or under construction l
are Sandusky, Lorain, Benton Har
bor. Muskegon, Bay City, Cheboysran
Mnnlsteo, Mackinaw, Alpena, Port Huron,
Afhlnnd. Dunkirk, puperlor, Engle River.
Marquette, Escanaba Bay, Menominee, T
Marinette, Green Bay, Sheboygan, Racine; 1
Kenosha, Waukegan, Gary, Grand Haven, 1
Traverse City, Petoskey, St. Xgnaoe, h j
uranq itapius, AsniaDUia, CMrmHu. iM
Oswego and gacketts' narbor, ti
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