WORLD-WIDE TELEPHONY 507 



in magnitude and completeness, what form will the system take? 

 It is, of course, too early to give a categorical answer to this question, 

 but present development gives us some indications from which to 

 judge the future. 



Considering first the field of use of the various types of circuit, 

 it seems that radio circuits will for a long time fill an important field 

 in the provision of intercontinental circuits. This is particularly true 

 of the short-wave systems which seem to be best adapted for pioneer 

 work such as is going on at the present time on light traffic routes. 

 Here their imperfect reliability is more than offset by their flexibility 

 and relative economy. Long-wave radio will, no doubt, continue to 

 be valuable for certain routes where the direction of transmission is 

 east and west and at a high latitude, but the limit, which is apparently 

 inherent, on the total number of circuits of this type that can be 

 used simultaneously in the world would seem to prevent them from 

 supplying any large part of the world's future needs for intercontinental 

 circuits. Radio telephony, both short-wave and long-wave, must 

 compete for wave-lengths with other forms of radio service. It is 

 evident from the important part that radio must continue to play in 

 world telephony that the increasing needs for wave-lengths for this 

 rapidly growing service will require special consideration in future 

 international radio conferences. Wire circuits which in the present 

 pioneer stage are just beginning to enter the scene, will undoubtedly 

 become more important for the principal circuit groups as interconti- 

 nental communication develops. 



As the amount of intercontinental traffic builds up, and as the 

 technical form and best routing of the telephonic relations between 

 continents become established, it is to be expected that experience 

 will show the advisability of adopting a fundamental routing and 

 switching plan similar to those plans which have already been con- 

 sidered and put into use for some of the large continental networks. 

 It is now too early to suggest in any detail the form of such a switching 

 plan, but it seems that while political considerations may temporarily 

 affect the form of the network, ultimately the requirements of economy 

 and good service which have determined the form of continental 

 plans now in use will be weighty factors in the planning of a world-wide 

 fundamental switching plan. This gives a clue to some of its char- 

 acteristics. 



The splitting of circuit time between different terminal wire net- 

 works, while a valuable expedient for offering service under pioneer 

 conditions, will naturally disappear generally as sufficient traffic 

 develops to justify a full time circuit on a given route. This may be 



