The Advance
of "Wireless."
Some very interesting facts con
cerning the state of develoj ment of
wireless telegraphy are given by
Kugene P. Lyle in The World’s
Work. He says:
Wireless telegraphy is already making
a commercial success. Go, if you wish,
to the nearest telegraph station, and
thence you may communicate with a
friend on almost any trans-Atlantic liner
on the h gli seas. The sen ice will cost
you, exclusive of land tolls, £2 for ten
words. Or you may send your friend
money, or give notice of legal action
against him, or play a game of chess
with him. And you might reach him
similarly from Canada or Ivnglaud, or
from another steamship. The United
States, Creat Britain. France, Italy, Ger
many, Holland and Belgium, and I.loyds
and the British Admiralty, all have
steamship lines carrying Marconi instal
lations. In all, about 100 vessels are
e pupped. The Atlantic Ocean is charted
into squares, and since every ship is con
stantly in range of communication from
land and from other ships, it can be
located at any moment and rung up to
take a messagt. Moreover, every vessel
is reported hours before her arrival in
port.
Newspapers printed on the steamship*
contain wireless messages. The Cunard
Daily Bulletin appears every morning on
every ship of the Cunard Line, alongside
of every passenger’s plate at breakfast.
The dispatches are labeled "Marconi
grams—direct to the ship.” On one day
the column of news is headed "Received
from the Marconi station at Toldhu,
England, 280 miles from Liverpool”;
next dav the head is changed to this:
"Latest news received from the Marconi
station at I oldhu, England”; the thin*
day the distance is 1,400 miles. Tin
fourth day Cape Cod is picked up, Eng
land is cut off, and the herd reads:
"Latest news through the Associated
Press of New York, received from the
Marconi station at Cape Cod, distance
i,o»o miles.
. . . It is from the news service that
the men interested in the Marconi sys
tem hope for rewards, ami, incidentally,
the steamship companies which publish
the paper secure profits for ruiltoad, hotel
and summer resort advertisements The
present news rate to ships is 25 cents a
word. But 1 ven at a fifth of tins a large
yearly profit is possible.
There are wireless newspapers on laud
also. Towns on islands not important
enough for cables tiepend on wireless
messages for their news dispatc hes. The
Post-Di‘patch at St. Louis anti Li Pres sc
if» Montreal have been receiving the Ik
Forest service. A land ne\vspaj*er in
Amsterdam takes the London stock mar
ket exchange* reports l»y the Marconi
system. Even the l ornimi Times has
puhlislu* i wifeless message Last \ear’s
yacht race* were reported by wireless.
Of course, as an aid 111 navigation the
value of wireless telegraphy would la*
hard to over-estimate. Two great ships
approaching in a tog can now warn each
other t»if \ number of ships have
already been saved by wireless warniiigs
finding themselves in d.stn ss thev send
appeal* tof help. The St Paul was crip
pled and delayed and hi r exact count
tion was reported, so that the families of
those on hoard were spared anxiety.
Ship dispatching will some day he made
as definite as train dispatching, and the
loss of £40,000,000 in wrecks on our sea
hoard every year should be decreased
enormously.
Wireless is an aid to river navigation.
The Marconi system has been installed
for the Canadian government in a series
of stations which makes a chain from
ltelle Isle to Labrador and virtually patrol
the dangerous St. Lawrence river. The
stations at Belle Isle, Heath Point. Point
Armour, Chateau Bay, Panic Point, Sable
Island, Cape Race, and other points are
doing commercial business. The chain,
when completed, w ill have a scope of 500
miles. The stations keep boats advised
of ice and of weather conditions ahead,
so that they may steer a clear course.
Here wireless systems cover a country
where storms constantly blow down
wires. Through wireless telegraphy
Labrador, for the first time, has tele
graphic communication with the rest of
the world. A11 extension of the system
011 the eastern Canadian coast will do
away with many of the perils of ocean
liners.
For land serviceseveral w ireless sys
tems are doing coinmeicial work. There
is Marconi communication from London
to Italy, to Gibraltar and even to Russia
— overland communication for 1,500
miles. It is now maintained that wire
less is as adaptable to mountains and
valleys as to the sea. In England there
are now twenty four wireless stations op
erating on islands. There are four on
the Isle of Wight, one in lielgium, one in
Holland, one in Germany, two in Italy,
and two in Monteiugro; and even the
Congo Free State possesses two. The
most powerful station of ..11 is being
built in Monte Mario in Italy, to connect
with a similar station in Argentina, 6,000
miles away, where 4,000,000 Italians live.
The intention of the builders of the sta
tions is t<» charge 6 cents a word tor mes
sages which now cost >1.50 by cable.
The De Forest Company have three
vast circuits in prospect; one system is
to send messages via the Great Lak.s to
Montana and Seattle, thence to Alaska,
Siberia and the Orient. There are to be
stations in San Francisco and Honolulu,
Guam, Manila and Hong Kong. This
will make a double line of wireless com
munication across the Pacific. The sec
ond system i* to be n branch to the
Midtile West, to El i’aso, Santa Fe, Los
Angeles and San Francisco; the third
will run down the eastern seaboard to
Panama. then aero-s and up the Mexican
coast to San Francisco. Connecting with
this system will Pe the lr.sular branch
connecting Guantanamo. K* \ West, Pen
sacola an«l Porto Kico. All of these big
systems will b« in communication one
w ith another.
The Ik- 1 orvst Company announce that
they have now more than thirty station*
»»!*■-it lor business. The station* at Nome
and Norton >otind earned, last i*rtober,
jf I 2,000.
Message* are also tiring received at
points 111 the East and along the Great
Lake*, including Providence, K I , Pater
*011. N J Atlantic City, Washing km,
tape I latter a* Cleveland and Chicago,
and ill tile Midtilt \\r*t there i» commit
11 iv.ition from llhnoi* *.♦» leva*.
RECEPTION
SALOON
W. W. CROCKKTT
I
i WINES,
LIQUORS
AND GOOD
CIGARS
St. Louis
ABC
BEERS
The Highest Priced but
the Best Quality.
)
BILLIARD
AND
POOL
ROOMS
12-year-old Crow Whiskey- The Only Stock.
SoinetliiiiK New — 'l'ry Our Apricot Cocktail
Leaves for (ilen Every
Five Days.
Freighting and Packing
To ciiicl Prom All
the Creelcss.
Good Teams.
Good Service
THE
| HEETER
TANANA, ALASKA
N
S. E. HEETER, ED FERGUSON,
PROPRIETOR MANAGER
FI KST-CLASS
Wines, Liquors and Cigars
EVERYBODY WILL BE MADE HAPPY
WHEN CONGRESS MEETS AGAIN
Two Kililorials from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat (Republican), March r9.
ALASKA’S ,!t ST <i K IK V A N CIO.
I That Valdez mass meeting's demand that
[ Alaska be annexed to Canada was only a little
j flourish, intended to call the I'nited States at
I tentiou in a striking way to the slights which
Alaska has suffered at the neglect of congress.
Alaska has. for years past, been asking for terri
torial govern merit. She wants a delegate in
Congress, such as (-klnhoma, Arizona, New
Mexico and Hawaii have Congress has denied
this request.
') his is the reason why that gathering at
Valdez sent a telegram to the president asking
for annexation to Canada. According to the
resolutions passed by that meeting, there are
60.000 American citizens in Alaska. fndoubt
rdly the population of that region is growing
rapidly. Its expansion at tin- present time is
particularly great The recent gold discoveries
at Nome ami elsewhere in America’s big north
ern colony are sending people into that quarter
in large numbers. The region is rich in min
erals of all stilts, m timber, in fur ami in fish.
Its agricultural aid -tot k raising capabilities,
too. are Indicted to 1 » high Vet it tigress per
sists in keeping rt iti st me thing like w hut w ould
be called the crown colony stage in the Hritish
Alaska has bet n badly u-nl b\ Congress It
has been part of the fluted States possessions
for much more than a third of a century, and
yet its gt»\ eminent. . 1 l.u k of g<j. eminent is in
the most rudimentary *t..g-' No other people
under the American Hag haw tew privileges,
except those of the I hilf iims and in some
respect* the Filipino* are h*-tter treated t»y the
American government l hi-. «>l course, is in
excusable There are ten- « I thousands of per
sons in Alaska who hate tnugiaUd to that re
gion from th* • ariims «ti t - and they h.»\e thus
lo«t nearly all the polttuil privtlenes to which
they hail In 111 ai custom* d all their lives This
neglect on u ng-n.* p. rt oi a \«r> important
section nf the country tleservrs .*11 the coioWm
nation which Iht Alaskan* have hurl**1 against
it The prol*.*bility however 1* th.<t this tog
totality wit< not f» an out* »*t much longer A
blit erecting Alaska lit to one of m-re territories
1* exceeding!y bkelv to pass the congre«* which
will a»»eu.hie to «l fall or winur
POIiTO HKO WANTS 11031 K til LE.
An American who recently held a high place
in the government of 1‘orto Kico says the people
of that island want neither statehood nor inde
pendence. All that they seek, he says, is an
elective upper house in its legislature. They
have an elective lower chamber already, so that
the extension of the elective principle to the
other branch would give them a fair share of
home rule. This ought to be easy to grant.
Porto Rico is represented at Washington by
a commissioner, w ho maK.es know n the wants of
his constituents, and who has an influence in
inciting legislation. The island l.as not a full
territorial govtrnment, but cotnes very near that
status 11 has been reported that the islanders
wanted the complete territorial regime, so as to
be placed a step in art r to statehood, but the
American o.-official just referred to says state
hood is not desired. They have a larger hold
on their revenues now than they wcuid have
under a state government. The elective upper
house of their legislature would give them all
the privileges which they desire . t this stage
of tilings, if this be so congress ought to be
able to satisfy the Porto Ricans at its next
There i*. a strong desire among Americans to
please the people of Porto Rico where this can
be «li t'e without injury to the I’nited States 01
to p to Rico. The islanders rallied to the
I’nited States in the Spanish war of i*s»# prompt
ly. although they hail not been in rebellion
against sjain. and bad not found sern us fault
with the >; anish regime so far as the Ameri
cans had learned No thought was given to
Porto Kii' :»->.» possible spoil of war at the time
hostilities beg hi Not one American in ten at
the declaration » f war eeer supposed that I’orto
R ico would ci ir e under the flag That island
wa-overlooked in the excitement Its people,
however welt. me«! the American troop* when
they landed in Porto Mico near the close of hos
tilities and ‘hey gavo no trouble to the country
afterward. The potto Ricans desire lor com
plete territorial government with an elective
upper e hamlw-r should get favorable attention
from collars*
Ill Car*t>it C'itv, Ncv . their were
57 hirtlr* in .iiul »»t' them 5ft
were gills. The l«>v .iniveil hint,
jmt lie fore the iliw < f the year.
The volcano >>l kiluc.iu, neaf
iloitoliitti, II I . tecently rr
joUttl to I* atf-im in a.4 active a
»tate ai it «u« in tly*.