628 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 



which is sufficient even for the most rapid kind of ordinary tele- 

 graphy in actual practical use anywhere. Such an oscillator oper- 

 ating, say at Cape Cod, would very probably be felt at every point 

 of the Atlantic between the European and the American coast, 

 particularly on receiving circuits which are in resonance with the 

 oscillator. Such an oscillator has not yet been constructed and it 

 may not appear quite clear how so much electrostatic capacity can 

 be crowded into an oscillator of the enormous frequency employed 

 in wireless telegraphy. Yet I feel fairly confident that the present 

 state of the electrical science offers abundant means for doing 

 the thing hi a very simple manner and that it. will be done in the 

 near future. But I am afraid that when it is done the official back 

 of the electrical cat upon which the military and naval scienticu- 

 lists rely for their charging generator will curve up in mad disorder; 

 there will be an interruption in the very important official wireless 

 communications between naval stations, one requesting the other 

 for a loan of a few yards of rubber hose. A session of the war council 

 would probably be called to decide how this intolerable interruption 

 of official business can be avoided, and after careful consultation 

 with the military scienticulists the war lords would probably 

 decree that the existence of such thundering machines on the sea- 

 coasts is a public nuisance because it interferes with the wireless 

 business as conducted by the scienticulists of the Army and Navy 

 and required by the conditions existing in their administration. 

 The w r ireless problem cannot become a true engineering problem 

 so long as the war office interferes with a technical art of which it 

 has no intelligent grasp. Soldier, stick to your guns; leave wireless 

 telegraphy to people who can handle it with more intelligent grace 

 and skill. 



The Telegraph Problem 



It is the most difficult electrical engineering problem before us. 

 What is wanted is a system which will perform a large part of the 

 work of the ordinary mail at any rate between thickly populated 

 centres. That means very rapid, efficient, and accurate automatic 

 machine sending and receiving. It also means multiplexing way 

 beyond the performance of the present quaduplex. Theoretically 

 the solution of the problem looks easily possible and actual experi- 

 mental demonstrations have been given to prove the correctness 

 of the inference drawn from pure theory. Mr. Patrick Delany's 

 work in this particular direction should be honorably mentioned 

 here. But very serious practical difficulties exist, which are known 

 to those only who have been for a long time in actual touch with 

 the telegraph business of this country. This business has devel- 



