142 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



Concerts from the Great Hall of the College of the City of New York 

 are two of the successful uses where music and speech were concerned, 

 while broadcasting of the results of the football games from the various 

 distant cities indicates possibilities for the dissemination of interesting 

 information. 9 



The social and economic possibilities of the system are scarcely 

 realized by the public as a whole at the present time, when the method 

 resorted to for reaching large numbers of people is usually the printed 

 word. While this method is effective, it leaves much to be desired 

 in that the personal touch between the man with ideas and the people 

 to receive them is entirely lost. The difficulty for any but those 

 possessing the strongest voices to reach an appreciable number of 

 people at one time has led to a decline in oratory as a means ot con- 

 veying public messages to large numbers, for it is not always the man 

 with the best ideas or the best ability of presenting them, who is 

 blessed with a powerful voice. A system such as the one which has 

 just been described enables the speaker, even though his voice be 

 relatively weak, to address at one time and in one gathering, several 

 hundred thousand persons, and if the system be used in connection 

 with long distance telephone lines or radio broadcasting, the number 

 which may be reached is increased almost indefinitely. The value 

 of such a situation can hardly be overrated in times of national emer- 

 gency or stress, when it is necessary for those in responsible positions 

 in the Government to get their message to the people directly. 



The development of the apparatus just described has been the 

 result of the efforts of such a large number of investigators working 

 cooperatively that no attempt has been made to. acknowledge the 

 individual contributions. 



9 Use of Public Address Systems with Telephone Lines. W. H. Martin and A. R. 

 Clark. 



