ADVANCES IN SIGNALLING 223 



Atlantic Ocean were supervised by the U. S. Navy. The rest 

 of the network was under the control of the U. S. Army Signal 

 Corps. The duty of maintaining a complete system of electrical 

 communication between Washington and the American Army 

 overseas thus devolved, in large measure, on the Signal Corps. 

 Under the pressure and stimulus of this duty, the very con- 

 siderable advances in signalling which were made during the 

 war, were largely developed in and by the Signal Corps, so 

 that the story of that advance, from the American viewpoint, 

 is mainly an account of signal-corps achievement. 



Communication across the Atlantic was maintained mainly 

 by cables underneath the ocean, and partly by radio, or so- 

 called " wireless," over the ocean's surface. The transatlantic 

 cables in service were heavily loaded. A few of them were 

 out of service by breaks, partly due to accident and partly due 

 to war. It was very difficult to make cable repairs in the 

 Atlantic during the war, on account of the dearth of men and 

 repairing ships, and also on account of the vigilance of hostile 

 submarines. Those cables which remained intact were worked 

 at the maximum available speed, duplex ; i.e., in both directions 

 simultaneously, without pause or interval of rest, day and night 

 continuously throughout the year. In describing sustained and 

 unremitting business, the beaver is a common metaphor; but 

 the beaver is a very lame vehicle of expression for unceasing 

 activity ; because he sleeps through a fair share of each twenty- 

 four hours. As busy as an Atlantic submarine cable during 

 the war, would be a much more apt comparison for the anti- 

 thesis to the life of the lily of the field, which toils not, neither 

 spins. 



In order to supplement the work of the cables, great improve- 

 ments were made in transatlantic radio signalling, under the 

 auspices of the navy ; both as to speed and precision, especially 

 between the naval radio station at New Brunswick, N. J., and 

 a similar station in France. The results attained indicate that 

 even without any new discoveries, or epoch-making inventions, 

 the prospects of long-distance radio communication are im- 



