WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY





Report  of  the  Inter-Departmental  Board
Appointed  by  the  President  to  Consider
the  Entire  Question  of  Wireless  Telegraphy
in  the  Service  of  the  National  Government





WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE

1905
This is an HTML version of the original government document, Wireless Telegraphy: Report of the Inter-Departmental Board Appointed by the President to Consider the Entire Question of Wireless Telegraphy in the Service of the National Government, which is commonly known as the "1904 Roosevelt Board Report".

This HTML version is based on a scan of the original 40-page publication. It incorporates all of the original contents (except for some minor elements, such as page number references), keeping as much as possible the layout of the original document.


LETTERS  OF  TRANSMITTAL.
__________

WHITE  HOUSE,          
Washington, July 29, 1904.      
    MDEAR  MR.  SECRETARY: I am directed by the President to forward to you the accompanying report from the Inter-Departmental Board on Wireless Telegraphy, which he approves and directs that the several Departments concerned put its recommendations into effect. The Navy Department being the most in interest, this communication is made to it and it will please advise the other Departments of the action taken, sending them copies of the report.
        Very truly yours,
WM.  LOEB,  JR.,             
Secretary to the President.    
    Hon.  PAUL  MORTON,
              Secretary of the Navy.




DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE  AND  LABOR,                
LIGHT-HOUSE  BOARD,          
Washington, July 12, 1904.      
    SIR: I have the honor to inclose for your consideration the unanimous report of the Board on Wireless Telegraphy convened by your order of June 24, 1904.
          Very respectfully,R.  D.  EVANS,                    
Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy,             
Chairman, Light-House Board.
    
    THE  PRESIDENT.
A.

WHITE  HOUSE,          
Washington, July 24, 1904.      
    MY DEAR SIR: The President has appointed Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans, Rear-Admiral Henry N. Manney, Brig. Gen. A. W. Greely, Lieut. Commander Joseph L. Jayne, and Prof. Willis L. Moore as a board to consider the entire question of wireless telegraphy in the service of the National Government, and submits for the consideration of the board the accompanying papers upon which he desires a report in full.
          Very truly, yours,WM.  LOEB,  JR.,             
Secretary to the President.    
    Rear-Admiral ROBLEY  D.  EVANS,
          Chairman Light-House Board,
               Department of Commerce and Labor.

LIGHT-HOUSE  BOARD  ROOM,          
Washington, July 12, 1904.      
    The Board first met in the Light-House Board room, in obedience to the order of the President and pursuant to the call of the chairman, at 11 a. m., July 6, 1904. Present, all the members.
    The chairman requested Lieutenant-Commander Jayne to act as recorder, and then read the letter appointing the Board, a copy of which is prefixed, marked "A," and the inclosures, marked "B" to "J," inclusive.
    After the reading of the memorandum from the Secretary of Agriculture, marked "D," Professor Moore stated that Mr. Fessenden had, since it was written, made a satisfactory settlement of the claims against him by assigning the patent rights in question to the Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau.
    The Board thoroughly discussed and maturely considered the questions before it at its meetings held from time to time, all the members being present at each meeting.
    The following was found to be the status regarding Government wireless telegraph stations:
    (a) The Department of Commerce and Labor has established no stations, but permission has been granted to other departments to erect 10 on light-house reservations and on the Nantucket Shoal light-ship and its relief.
    (b) The Army has operated 6 stations and is preparing to install 2 others in Alaska. The urgent necessity for the stations in Alaska has caused the temporary removal of the apparatus from 2 of the first mentioned, but it is in process of replacement. Four other Army stations have been proposed, but for 2 of these the Chief Signal Officer thinks that the proposed naval stations in the same localities, if available to the Army, would make duplication unnecessary. The Army also has 1 portable train for use in maneuvers or for other military purposes.
    (c) The Department of Agriculture made valuable and extensive experimentation, and has established 2 stations and contemplated establishing others at prominent points along the coast lines.
    (d) The Navy Department has established 20 shore stations. The apparatus has been removed from 1 of these but will be replaced in a few days. Arrangements are being made for the establishment of 10 more in the near future--a complete equipment, or some portion of it, having been ordered for each one. This includes the 2 light- ships that take turns on Nantucket Shoals. In addition to these 30 stations it is proposed to establish about 50 more on shore and to start on the more important of these at an early date. The Navy Department has entered into a very important contract for the equipment of long-distance stations at Key West, Guantanamo; points to be determined in Porto Rico and on the Panama Canal Zone, and Pensacola. Satisfactory communication is to be established between all of the first 4 and between Key West and Pensacola. Communication from any one of these stations to ships at any points between it and a communicating station is also to be established.
    Twenty-four naval ships have already been equipped, and 10 others are to be equipped immediately, or before the completion of the repairs which they are undergoing. It is proposed to equip 68 others after the report of the Board which is now conducting tests of various systems has been acted upon, making a total of 102.
    One torpedo-boat outfit has been ordered for trial. If this apparatus is successful a number of torpedo-boat destroyers and small gunboats may be equipped, making the total number considerably larger.
    With these small vessels provided with wireless apparatus, there would be about 200 naval stations on shore and afloat.
    (e) The Treasury Department, while having under consideration wireless installations for the Life-Saving Service and the Revenue-Marine Service, has established no stations, but has relied on a leased commercial wireless system.
    The following was found to be the status of private stations:
    The Marconi Company has a ling-distance station on Cape Cod for communicating across the Atlantic, and 2 others of comparatively short range on Long Island. The Board understands that that company proposes to establish numerous stations along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
    The New York Herald Company has a station on the light-house reservation on Sankaty Head, Nantucket Island, and has been permitted to maintain stations on the 2 light-ships which relieve each other on Nantucket Shoals. These privileges have been withdrawn, however, owing to the refusal of the Marconi Company, which operated them for the Herald, to receive wireless messages from vessels using other systems.
    The American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company and the National Electric Signal Company (Fessenden system), have stations in the vicinity of New York, and both propose to establish a chain of them along the coast. The former company has already begun operations at Cape Hatteras and at Key West, and has announced that they propose to establish several stations to bridge the Pacific and make foreign connections. It has also established several stations away from the sea coast, especially on the Great Lakes, and planning to have a regular interior system, according to one of its officers.
    The Fessenden system has stations in Philadelphia and Washington. Fesssenden states that his company is negotiating for permission to establish communication with Bermuda.
    The Providence Journal maintains several stations in the vicinity of Narragansett Bay, and there are several other systems which are at present not yet active.
    On the Pacific coast the Pacific Wireless Telegraph Company has several stations, and has been making persistent efforts to obtain authority to establish stations on the light-house reservation, Farallon Islands, and at other prominent Government reservations along the Pacific coast.
    There is an interisland system operated in Hawaii.
    A number of trans-Atlantic liners are using the Marconi apparatus. Few coasting vessels are using any system, but the indications are that this method of communication will come into quite common use when the shipowners feel that conditions are favorable.
    The Navy Department has at times been very seriously interfered with in the vicinity of New York and Boston, and there are already so many stations in the vicinity of Newport that an effort has been made by the officer in charge of the torpedo station to establish a tentative arrangement whereby the various stations will interfere as little as possible with each other.
    Reports from the naval wireless station on Cape Cod indicate that on one occasion that station was temporarily crippled, very probably by heavy sending at the Marconi long-distance station a few miles away.
    It would appear that the Weather Bureau already has a station at one of the most important points on the Pacific coast, where the Navy Department desires to erect one and equip it with more powerful apparatus than now in use by the Weather Bureau. The Weather Bureau also intended putting in new apparatus, it having been demonstrated that that now in use is unable to communicate with the nearest naval station in San Francisco Bay, although the latter has sufficient power to reach far beyond the Farallons. This is one of the places where the Pacific Wireless Telegraph Company is so anxious to locate. The Weather Bureau also contemplated establishing stations at prominent points where the Navy Department already has stations in operation or proposed to establish them. Most of the stations proposed by the wireless-telegraph companies are to be located at prominent points where Government stations are already established or proposed. This state of affairs seems to demand prompt action to avoid most unfortunate confusion and unnecessary duplication.
    As a first step toward avoiding this condition the Board adopted the following resolution:
    "Resolved, That all installations of Government wireless-telegraph stations be suspended except at stations now under contract, until the final report of the Board is acted upon by the President. That all Departments of the Government interested in wireless telegraphy should refuse to allow any private company to install a station on any Government reservation until so authorized by proper authority."

CONCLUSIONS.

    The conclusions of the Board are:
    That the science of wireless telegraphy has been advanced by the able and persistent work of the Signal Corps of the Army and the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture, as well as by the experimental work of the Navy Department;
    That wireless telegraphy is of paramount interest to the Government through the Navy Department, and that its use by the Signal Corps of the Army for communication between military posts of the Army and other necessary links will be necessary both in peace and war, and that such use shall be unrestricted. When interference seems probable between stations of the Navy and War Departments, the question involved shall be mutually settled by representatives of the two Departments;
    That coastwise wireless telegraphy is not a necessity for the work of the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture, provided that the necessary meteorological data for that Department can be collected by the stations of the Navy Department from ships at sea and by them sent to the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture;
    That the maintenance of a complete coastwise system of wireless telegraphy by the Navy Department is necessary for the efficient and economical management of the fleets of the United States in time of peace and their efficient maneuvering in time of war;
    That the best results can be obtained from stations under the jurisdiction of one Department of the Government only, and that representatives of more than one Department should not be quartered at any station;
    And finally the Board concludes that the Government must take the necessary steps to regulate establishment of commercial wireless-telegraph stations among the States and between nations.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

    In order that the above conclusions may be carried into effect, the Board recommends--
    That the Signal Corps of the Army be authorized under its chief to establish from time to time such wireless stations as he may deem necessary, and that they do not interfere with the coastwise wireless-telegraph system of the Government under control of the Navy Department; and further, that the Chief Signal Officer be requested to inform the Navy Department what stations of its system may be utilized to transmit messages for the Signal Corps or other bureaus of the War Department, and that representatives of the Signal Corps of the Army and the Bureau of Equipment of the Navy Department be at once requested to draw up such rules as will insure the efficient and harmonious carrying into effect of the above recommendations.
    That the necessary steps be taken to have the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture turn over to the Navy Department all coastwise wireless-telegraph apparatus now under its control, and such material as it may have in its possession which can be utilized by the Bureau of Equipment of the Navy Department, and that proper transfers of funds for this purpose be made;
    That the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture furnish to the Hydrographic Office of the Navy, and to the naval wireless-telegraph stations, or to other portions of the public service, such meteorological data as it or they may desire at no cost to them;
    That the Department of Agriculture shall continue the work of its meteorological vessel-reporting and storm-warning stations, as now constituted and provided for by law, and continue the control of seacoast telegraph systems, except wireless systems;
    That the necessary steps be taken that the Navy Department may equip and install a complete coastwise wireless-telegraph system covering the entire coasts of the United States, its insular possessions, and the Canal Zone in Panama;
    That the Navy Department be directed to receive from the Signal Corps of the Army, at such points as may be requested by the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, all messages for army posts within their radii, and transmit them under such rules as may be agreed upon by the representatives of the Signal Corps and Bureau of Equipment, without cost to the Signal Corps of the Army;
    That all meteorological reports from vessels of war or commerce or other sailing craft, now being forwarded direct to the Hydrographic Office of the Navy, shall be forwarded direct to the Weather Bureau, and the control of ocean meteorology be transferred to the Department of Agriculture, which already has ample law for doing this work;
    That the estimates for the support of the Hydrographic Office of the Navy, or any other office of the Navy, for the next and succeeding fiscal years, do not contain any provision for the making of ocean forecasts, or for the publication of meteorological data, other than such as may be needed by the Hydrographer of the Navy for use on the pilot and other charts, which data shall be furnished by and credited to the Weather Bureau;
    That it is the opinion of this Board that no meteorological work need or should be done by any portion of the Navy for the purpose of publication, or for the making of forecasts or storm warnings; that all such duties, being purely civil, should devolve upon the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture in accordance with the organic act creating that Bureau;
    That the wireless stations of the Navy Department shall, without charge to the Agricultural Department, receive and promptly transmit to the ocean or to islands, or to other places where the information can be made useful, the storm warnings of the Weather Bureau;
    That the Navy Department shall request all vessels having the use of its wireless stations for the receipt of messages, to take daily meteorological observations of the weather when within communicating range and to transmit such observations to the Weather Bureau, through naval wireless stations, at least once daily, and transmit observations oftener when there is a marked change in the barometer; and that there shall be no charge against the Agricultural Department for these observations or for the transmission thereof;
    That representatives of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Equipment of the Navy Department be directed to prepare the necessary rules for the harmonious and efficient carrying on of the above recommendations.
    We recommend that as fast as the naval wireless-telegraph stations are put in operation the Navy Department be directed to receive and transmit through these stations, free of charge, all wireless messages to or from ships at sea, provided such stations do not come in competition with commercial stations, until such time as Congress may enact the necessary legislation governing this subject.
    In asking for legislation on this point, the Board desires to invite attention to the fact that where wireless stations are needed for the merchant marine, as a rule the Navy will also require them. The Board believes it to be in the interest not only of governmental but public economy and efficiency to permit the naval stations to handle the public service, for in the present state of the art but one station is desirable for the public interests in such places. As the needs of the Navy are paramount on account of the problem of national defense, private stations should not be allowed to locate to the disadvantage of the former. Moreover, there is at present no public need for multiplication of stations at these points.
    It is admitted, however, that there may be special cases where private stations can serve a useful purpose, and the Board believes that the Department of Commerce and Labor should have the duty of issuing licenses in such cases under such regulations as will prevent interference with stations necessary to the national defense. All private stations in the interior of the country should also be under supervision of the Department of Commerce and Labor.
    This method of placing private stations under full Government supervision is desirable in order to regulate them for their mutual and public welfare, as well as from considerations of national defense. Aside from the necessity of providing rules for the practical operation of such stations, it seems desirable that there should be some wholesome supervision of them to prevent the exploitation of speculative schemes based on a public misconception of the art.
    It is believed that invention and private enterprise should be encouraged in every legitimate way, and it is the policy of the Navy Department to do this. It has the means of assisting inventors that no other Department has, and it believes that in order for it to lead the navies of the world in this matter, which is of great importance to the national defense, every reasonable facility should be given inventors, while at the same time it is working out the problems of the application of their inventions to its requirements in times of peace and war.
    To prevent the control of wireless telegraphy by monopolies or trusts, the Board deems it essential that any legislation on this subject should place the supervision of it in the Department of Commerce and Labor.
    Because international questions may arise, due to the fact that the use of wireless telegraph stations in our own possessions may affect the use of similar stations in foreign countries, it is desirable for the Congress to enact legislation which will enable the Government properly to handle such cases; a failure to do so may seriously embarrass the Government at some future time.
    It is thought that the legislation recommended in placing private stations under the supervision of the Department of Commerce and Labor will also cover this case.
    In conclusion, the Board deems it essential that the Executive take such action as in his judgment seems wise to prevent the erection of private wireless-telegraph stations where they may interfere with the naval or military operations of the Government until legislation may be had by Congress on this subject.
    Appended hereto are two extracts from the Revised Statutes, marked "W" and "X," which related to the operation of the Government telegraph lines; also a decision of the Supreme Court, marked "Y," and the final protocol of the Preliminary Conference of Wireless Telegraph, held in Berlin in August, 1908, marked "Z."
      Very respectfully,
 R. D. EVANS, 
Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy,            
Representing the Department of Commerce and Labor.    
                                       H. N. MANNEY, 
Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy,            
Representing the Navy Department.    
 A. W. GREELY, 
Brigadier-General, U. S. Army,            
Representing the War Department.    
 WILLIS  L. MOORE,              
Professor, representing the Department of Agriculture.    
 JOSEPH  L. JAYNE, 
Lieutenant-Commander, U. S. Navy,            
Representing the Navy Department.    

W.

    Section 2, act of October 1, 1890 (26 Stat. L., 653), reads as follows:
    The Chief Signal Officer shall have charge, under the direction of the Secretary of War, of  *  *  *  the construction, repair, and operation of military telegraph lines, and the duty of collecting and transmitting information for the Army by telegraph or otherwise.

X.

    Section 3, act of October 1, 1890 (26 Stat. L., 653), reads as follows:
    That the Chief of the Weather Bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, on and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, shall have charge of the forecasting of weather, the issue of storm warnings, the display of weather and flood signals for the benefit of agriculture, commerce, and navigation, the gauging and reporting of rivers, the maintenance and operation of seacoast telegraph lines, and the collection and transmission of marine intelligence for the benefit of commerce and navigation, the reporting of temperature and rainfall conditions for the cotton interests, the display of frost and cold-wave signals, the distribution of meteorological information in the interests of agriculture and commerce, and the taking of such meteorological observations as may be necessary to establish and record the climatic conditions of the United States, or as are essential for the proper execution of the foregoing duties.

Y.

    The Supreme Court, in its October term, 1886, in Telegraph Company v. Texas, said:
    A telegraph company occupies the same relation to commerce as a carrier of messages that a railroad company does as a carrier of goods. Both companies are instruments of commerce, and their business is commerce itself.

Z.

FINAL  PROTOCOL.

    The delegations to the preliminary conference concerning wireless telegraphy designated below:
    Germany, Austria, Spain, the United States of America, France, Hungary, Russia are unanimous in proposing to their Governments to examine the following general bases for an international convention:

ARTICLE  I.

    Exchange of correspondence between ships at sea and coastwise wireless telegraph stations opened to general telegraphic service, is subject to the following rules:
    SECTION 1. All stations whose field of action extends to the sea are called coastwise stations.
    SECTION 2. Coastwise stations are required to receive and transmit telegrams originating on ships at sea without distinction as to the systems of wireless telegraphy employed by said ships.
    SECTION 3. The contracting states make public the technical points of a nature to facilitate and accelerate communication between coastwise stations and ships at sea.
    However, each of the contracting Governments can authorize stations situated in its territory, under such conditions as it may deem proper, to utilize several installations or special arrangements.
    SECTION 4. The contracting states declare their intention to adopt, in order to establish the tariffs applicable to telegraphic service between ships at sea and the international telegraphic system, the following bases:
    The total charge to collect for this service is established by the word. It comprises:
    (a) The charge for transmission over the lines of the telegraphic system of which the amount is that fixed by the international telegraph regulation in force attached to the St. Petersburg Convention.
    (b) The charge pertaining to the marine transmission.
    The latter is, as the former, fixed by the number of words, this number of words being counted according to the international telegraphic rule as indicated in the paragraph above (a).
    It comprises:
        1° A charge called "charge of the coastwise station," which goes to said station;
        2° A charge called "charge of the ship," which goes to the station installed on the ship.
    The charge of the coastwise station is subject to the approval of the state on whose territory it is established, and that of the ship to the approval of the state whose flag the ship carries.
    Each of the two charges should be fixed on the basis of equitable remuneration for the telegraphic work.

ARTICLE  II.

    A regulation which will be attached to the proposed convention will establish rules for the exchange of communications between coastwise stations and those placed on board ship.
    The prescriptions of this regulation may at any time be modified by common agreement by the administration of the contracting Governments.

ARTICLE  III.

    The rules of the telegraphic convention of St. Petersburg are applicable to transmission by wireless telegraphy in so far as they are not contrary to those of the proposed convention.

ARTICLE  IV.

    Wireless telegraph stations should, unless practically impossible, give priority to calls for help received from ships at sea.

ARTICLE  V.

    The service of operating wireless telegraph stations should be organized, as far as possible, in a manner not to interfere with the service of other stations.

ARTICLE  VI.

    Contracting Governments reserve to themselves, respectively, the right to make special arrangements between themselves, having for their object to oblige the companies operating wireless telegraph stations in their territories to observe, in all their other stations, the prescriptions of the proposed convention.

ARTICLE  VII.

    The prescriptions of the proposed convention are not applicable to the wireless telegraph stations of the state not open to general telegraphic service, save in that which concerns the clauses which Articles IV and V are intended to cover.

ARTICLE  VIII.

    Countries which have not joined the proposed convention will be admitted at their request.
    Done at Berlin August 13, 1903.
    (Then follow signatures of delegates for Germany, Austria, Spain, the United States of America, France, Hungary, Russia.)

DECLARATION  OF  THE  DELEGATION  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN.

    While engaging itself to submit the above bases to the examination of its Government, the British delegation declares that in view of the situation in which wireless telegraphy finds itself in the United Kingdom this delegation ought to maintain a general reserve. This reserve relates especially to section 2 of the 1st article and to the application of the rules of Article V to the stations indicated in Article VII.
    Done at Berlin August 13, 1903.
(Signatures follow.)    

DECLARATION  OF  THE  ITALIAN  DELEGATION.

    The delegation of Italy while agreeing to submit to the examination of its Government the propositions contained in the final protocol of the conference, ought, agreeably with the declarations made by its members in the several meetings, to make on account of the Government the following reservations:
Article 1st, Section 2.
    It would accept the proposed text only on condition of the following addition being made: "Provided that all these systems give a known guarantee for good working in reciprocal correspondence with respect to the range, to the perfection of the organization, and to the surety of communications."
Article 1st, Section 3.
    It cannot accept the first paragraph of this section because in the agreements concluded with M. Marconi the Government engages to keep the details of the installations secret.
Article VI.
    It cannot accept the text of this article and it should limit itself to the declaration on the part of its Government it will endeavor to introduce in the agreements stipulated with M. Marconi some modifications in the desired direction.
    Done at Berlin August 13, 1903.
(Signatures follow.)    

LIST  OF  INCLOSURES.
__________
  1. Letter from the Secretary of the Navy, dated June 18, 1904, marked "B."
  2. Letter of June 13, 1904, to the Secretary to the President from the secretary to the Secretary of War, marked "C."
  3. Memorandum in regard to wireless telegraphy from the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, with an indorsement by the Secretary of War, marked "D."
  4. Letter from the Acting Secretary of the Navy to the President, dated May 13, 1904, marked "E."
  5. Letter from the General Board forwarded with the above, marked "F."
  6. Letter from the Bureau of Equipment, Navy Department, forwarded with the above, marked "G."
  7. Letter from the Secretary of Agriculture, marked "H."
  8. Letter from the Navy Department, dated June 22, 1904, marked "I."
  9. Subjects for consideration by an Inter-Departmental Board on Wireless Telegraphy, forwarded with the above and marked "J."

B.

NAVY  DEPARTMENT,          
Washington, June 18, 1904.      
    SIR: After reading the indorsement of the Secretary of War on the within papers I respectfully suggest the following: It seems that economy and good administration forbid duplication of such work as that of wireless telegraphy. The control over all Government wireless telegraphy ought, I submit, to be vested in one Department, The control being in one Department, the work done may serve all Government uses. If it be conceded that the control of wireless telegraphy should be vested in a single Department, it seems clear that that Department should be the Navy Department. The reasons for this are so obvious that they do not require restatement.
          Very respectfully,WILLIAM  H.  MOODY,          
Secretary.    
    THE  PRESIDENT.
________

C.

WAR  DEPARTMENT,          
Washington, June 13, 1904.      
    MY  DEAR  SIR: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 14th of May, inclosing papers concerning the question of the control of wireless-telegraph stations.
    The Secretary has placed a memorandum for the President on the back of the papers, which I return herewith.
          Very respectfully, yours,FRED  W.  CARPENTER,           
Private Secretary.    
    Hon.  WM.  LOEB, Jr.,
          Secretary to the President.
________

D.

Memorandum in regard to wireless telegraphy.

*            *            *            *            *            *            *
    This Department now has in operation 38 meteorological observatories on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, each one manned by from one to six observers, where meteorological observations are taken in the interests of agriculture and storm warnings displayed for the benefit of commerce. At 13 of these places the Department owns its own observatory buildings, and at several of these stations vessels are reported and communicated with by flags and other signals. Every station on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts has been established for the purpose of enabling our meteorologists to promulgate forecasts for the benefit of the farmers in the interior, and the work done for the marine interests is only incidental, but it is economically accomplished, because the officials at these stations can accomplish the marine work in addition to their meteorological duties.
    The observatory buildings owned by the Department are located at Nantucket, Mass., Narragansett Pier, R. I., Block Island, R. I., Atlantic City, N. J., Cape Henry, Va., Hatteras, N. C., Kitty Hawk, N. C., and Jupiter, Fla., on the Atlantic coast; Key West, Fla., and Sand Key, Fla., on the Gulf of Mexico; the Farallone Islands, Point Reyes, Cal., North Head, Wash., Tatoosh Island, Wash., and Port Crescent, Wash., on the Pacific coast; and at Duluth, Minn., and Sault St. Marie, Mich., on the Great Lakes. At each of the stations operated by the Weather Bureau on our coasts there is a well-trained and thoroughly disciplined force, which, in time of war or emergency, could report vessels of war as readily as it now reports vessels of commerce. The system could, on short notice, and comparatively slight expense, be amplified so as to cover all of the unprotected portions of our extensive coast line. All these stations, and any other that the Army and Navy consultation board might deem necessary in time or war, could, in time of peace, be economically and profitably used by the Department of Agriculture in the taking of meteorological observations, the displaying of storm warnings, and the reception and transmittal of vessel reports. Such additional stations would be established by this Department on the receipt of the request of either the War Department or the Navy Department.
    The Department of Agriculture owns and operates ten cable and land-line telegraph systems for the collection and dissemination of marine information. The authority for this Department to establish and operate marine reporting stations in connection with its meteorological service, and to construct and operate cables and land lines, is shown in the act of Congress approved October, 1890 (see Statutes at Large, Fifty-first Congress, p. 653), as follows:
    "SEC. 3. That the Chief of the Weather Bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, on and after July 1, 1890, shall have charge of the forecasting of weather, *  *  *  the maintenance and operation of seacoast telegraph lines, and the collection and transmission of marine intelligence for the benefit of commerce and navigation, *  *  * ."
    As an illustration of the efficiency of the vessel-reporting work of this Department, it may be said that at Cape Henry, Va., alone, 5,613 vessels were reported during the six months ended March, 1904, while at Sand Key, Fla., during the same period, 585 vessels were reported, although this latter station has been in operation less than one year.
    The Department of Agriculture has a wireless-telegraph system in operation between the southeast Farallon Islands and Point Reyes, Cal., and additional instruments will soon be installed for communication between Tatoosh Island and Port Crescent, Wash., a distance of 60 miles. The station on the Farallon Islands reports vessels bound into and out of San Francisco harbor, while the station at Tatoosh Island reports vessels that enter and go out of the Straits of San Juan de Fuca. It is the intention, as soon as practicable, to establish wireless telegraphy stations at Sand Key, Fla. (located in the Gulf of Mexico and 9 miles from Key West), at Jupiter, Fla., at Hatteras, N. C., at Cape Henry, Va., and at Nantucket, Mass., or Block Island, R. I.
    If the needs of commerce and the protection of our country in times of peace or war should require that the United States Government control and operate seacoast wireless telegraph stations, I would respectfully submit that the Department of Agriculture is equipped to efficiently establish and operate such stations, and information as to the passing of ships of commerce or vessels of war would be furnished to the Navy Department as accurately and as expeditiously as it is possible to do such work. It may not be amiss to state here that the first knowledge of the arrival of the battleship Oregon in our Atlantic waters during the Spanish-American war was given by the Weather Bureau officials at Jupiter, Fla.
          Respectfully,JAMES  WILSON.        
[Indorsement.]
June 13, 1902.      
To the PRESIDENT:
    After reading the report of the Secretary of Agriculture I am by no means certain that the Navy Department ought to have control of all governmental stations for wireless telegraphy. It seems to me that it would be sufficient for the joint Naval and Army Board in time of peace to keep a record of all stations, both public and private, with power in the Navy Department to assume control of them in time of war. Provision as to control of private stations would probably need legislative action.
WM. H.  TAFTSecretary of War.    
________

E.

NAVY  DEPARTMENTWashington, May 13, 1904.      
    SIR: Referring to the memorandum of the Secretary of Agriculture in regard to wireless telegraphy, forwarded to this Department on the 22d ultimo by your direction, with a view to having it submitted to the General Board for comment, I have the honor to return herewith the memorandum in question, accompanied by a copy of a report of the General Board (No. 419) dated the 2d instant, on the subject, together with a copy of a letter on the same subject addressed to the Secretary of the Navy by the Chief of the Bureau of Equipment (No. 88863, March 7, 1904).
          Very respectfully.
CHAS.  H.  DARLING., Acting Secretary.    
    The PRESIDENT.
________

F.

No. 419.]
NAVY  DEPARTMENT,  GENERAL  BOARD
May 2, 1904.      
    SIR: The General Board has the honor to submit the following report on a memorandum by the Secretary of Agriculture in regard to wireless telegraphy, which was referred to it for comment by direction of the President. The General Board forward also a letter on the same subject addressed to the Secretary of the Navy by the Chief of Bureau of Equipment (No. 88863, March 7, 1904), with the request that it be laid before the President at the same time.
    2. The questions are--
    Whether or not all wireless-telegraph stations belonging to the Government on or near the seacoast ought to be under a common control?
    If so, which Department of the Government can best exercise the control?
    What is necessary in order to control private seacoast wireless-telegraph stations?
    3. In all this discussion, the term "seacoast" includes all wireless-telegraph stations capable of communicating with ships at sea, whatever their actual distance inland, and includes the Great Lakes and the insular possessions of the United States, as well as the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts.
    4. The following facts must, in the opinion of the General Board, form the basis of the decision:
    5. The principal defect of wireless telegraphy, the liability to interference, renders some central control indispensable to the integrity and effectiveness of any wireless-telegraph station. Without control over the placing of other stations, any wireless-telegraph station may be rendered absolutely useless either by accident or design.
    6. The control of all wireless telegraph stations belonging to the Government can be accomplished by Executive order. In order to control private stations, general legislation by Congress will be required, both because wireless telegraphy bridges the boundaries between States and because it stretches beyond the territorial limits of the nation.
    7. The principal use of wireless telegraphy is now, and long will be, at sea--between ship and ship, or ship and shore. On shore other means of communication always exist, often better, always possible substitutes. The common telegraph or telephone, or the heliograph, permanent or portable, is everywhere available to the soldier or the meteorologist. Permanent outlying stations can be connected by submarine cables. Although wireless telegraphy may be an added convenience, on shore it never can be indispensable. But from ships at sea, out of sight of flags or lights, and beyond the sound of guns, the electric wave, projected through space, invisible and inaudible, can alone convey the distant message.
    8. In the present state of the science, development and experiment must be carried on largely at sea. We know as yet little of the limitations or possibilities of marine and transmarine communication. The Navy is the only department of the Government that has facilities for this branch of the work, and, irrespective of what is done by other Departments, the Navy must, in its own interest, continue to experiment and to communicate between its ships and the shore.
    9. To the Navy wireless telegraphy is absolutely essential. All the battle ships and larger cruisers, perhaps even torpedo boats, are or will be equipped with it--as foreign navies are--to communicate with each other, as well as with the shore.
    10. The Navy has already 20 wireless-telegraph stations on the seacoast and proposes to establish no less than 60 more. The Navy has already made arrangements to receive at its stations and to transmit over the land telegraph lines wireless messages from passing merchant vessels. The Army has 2 stations in use in Alaska, and 2 others for experimenting, and has considered placing 1 at the Golden Gate on the Pacific coast. The Weather Bureau has 2 stations and proposes to erect 7 more. All these stations, except the 2 in Alaska, which are for communicating with each other, are for the purpose of communicating between ships at sea, or in a few cases outlying islands and the mainland. Several of the Army and Weather Bureau stations interfere, or will interfere, with those of the Navy.
    11. From these facts it appears clear that it would be in the interest of all to put the seacoast wireless-telegraph stations belonging to the Government under the control of one Department. That control must extend to the determination of sites, and probably to the choice of systems, in order to prevent the several Departments from frustrating one another's efforts. It does not seem to the General Board that there will be much difference of opinion on this question.
    12. It remains to consider which department can best exercise control. For the reasons given--that the navy has the preponderant interest in wireless telegraphy; that to the Navy it is indispensable, to other Departments merely accessory; that the Navy alone has facilities for experimenting with seacoast stations, and, whatever other Departments do, the Navy must continue to experiment; that the Navy already has five times as many seacoast stations as all other Departments of the Government together--for all these reasons, the General Board is of the opinion that the Navy should exercise such control over the placing of all Government seacoast wireless-telegraph stations as to prevent their mutual interference. It is better and simpler for the Department that has the predominating interest, even if it does not actually operate all the Government stations, to control their positions, rather than to attempt to exercise control by mutual agreement.
    13. But if more than one Department is to operate wireless-telegraph stations on the seacoast, duplication and interference are inevitable. The two existing wireless-telegraph stations of the Weather Bureau and the one proposed by the Army prevented the Navy from establishing its own station in the best place to communicate between ships at sea and the principal navy-yard on the Pacific coast. Several of the new stations proposed by the Weather Bureau are on sites already occupied by the Navy, or within their range of interference; and all the rest would clash with stations projected by the Navy. A promontory best for the Weather Bureau is likely to be best for the Navy. For the purpose of receiving wireless telegrams from ships at sea, the same seacoast station best serves the need of all concerned. Obviously then, it is more economical that the Department that controls the placing of all Government seacoast wireless-telegraph stations should operate them all.
    14. It would, in the opinion of the General Board, be far easier for the Navy to transmit the messages of the Weather Bureau than vice versa. The seacoast wireless stations of the Weather Bureau are now but a tenth, and with the new stations planned will still be less than half, as many as the Navy has already. Granting that the Weather Bureau would be willing, as the Secretary of Agriculture says, to establish the great number of additional seacoast stations needed by the Navy, and that its observers now efficiently report the movements of shipping, there are still two important reasons why the Navy can not depend, either in peace or war, upon stations controlled by the Weather Bureau:
    (1) It is absolutely necessary in time of war that the observers stationed to receive messages from the fleet should be subject to military law--that is, enlisted men of the Navy. Civilian marine observers, however skillful in reporting merchant ships, could not so well be trusted to distinguish the wireless messages of friendly from hostile men-of-war, or to transmit accurately technical naval signals, and could not be trusted at all with the secret signal codes of the Navy. Whoever mans the seacoast stations in time of peace, the Navy must man them in time of war.
    (2) Unless the Navy mans the stations in time of peace it will not have the trained force ready to man them in time of war. Practice with instruments on shipboard alone will not suffice. The man to be trusted at a seacoast station in time of war, alert to detect the unexpected, must he familiar with the usual local business in time of peace. The opportunity for training the signalmen is no less important than testing the apparatus.
    15. The single instance cited by the Secretary of Agriculture of the weather observer at Jupiter Inlet reporting what he saw and having the good fortune to be the first to see the arrival of the Oregon is far from proving that the Navy can trust to anyone but its own trained men to receive wireless signals from ships at sea. From every point of view, therefore, it appears to the General Board that the sea-coast wireless-telegraph stations of the Government are essential to the Navy and to no other Department; and the General Board therefore concurs in the recommendation of the chief of Bureau of Equipment that an Executive order be issued placing them all under naval control, to be manned and operated by the Navy.
    16. The subject of legislation to control private wireless-telegraph stations on the seacoast is of growing importance to the Government because of the increase, in the number of them and their liability to interfere, maliciously or accidentally, with the Government's stations. In order to safeguard its own interest, both in peace and war, the Government must have some means to prevent the erection of a private wireless-telegraph station within the range of interference of one of its own. It would not be wise, in the opinion of the General Board, for the Government to undertake to manage all the seacoast wireless-telegraph business of the country, nor for an industry of such growing commercial utility to be controlled directly by a military branch of the Government. The Department of Commerce and Labor, now charged with the administration of the light-house service, the coast survey, the inspection of steamboats, and the jurisdiction over merchant shipping generally, would perhaps be the most natural one to control private wireless-telegraph companies. The law should clearly give the Government priority of right and prohibit the erection of any private station without the approval of the Government.
                Very respectfully,
GEORGE  DEWEY,                    
Admiral of the Navy, President General Board.      
    The SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY.
________

G.
No. 88863.]

NAVY  DEPARTMENT, BUREAU  OF  EQUIPMENT,          
Washington, D. C., March 7, 1904.      
    SIR: 1. The Bureau having successfully established a number of wireless-telegraph stations on the coast of the United States and in Porto Rico, and believing that the great utility of these stations has been proven in connection with wireless-telegraph equipments on board our ships, invites the Department's attention to the importance of taking early steps to complete a chain of stations around the entire coasts of the United States and its insular possessions.
    2. With a comprehensive scheme of stations laid out, the Bureau thinks that a foothold should be obtained without unnecessary delay so as to prevent priority of right to certain desirable locations being acquired by other Departments, private corporations, and individuals. On account of the principal defect of wireless telegraphy, i. e., liability to interference, this may become a very important consideration. The Bureau has already encountered serious trouble due to interference, which at times seems malicious, in the vicinity of New York. The station at the Boston yard is within the range of private stations which can seriously interfere with it. A report from the commandant of the naval station, Key West, received to-day, states that a private station is being erected at about a mile from the Department's station at that place, which will have the power to seriously interfere with communication between Key West, Dry Tortugas, ships, and Bahia Honda (should the Department erect a wireless-telegraph station there when the coal depot is established). Other private stations with the power of interference with naval wireless-telegraph stations will probably soon be established unless some legislation is enacted to prevent. Of course the Government can control private stations in time of war by exercise of martial law, but probably at considerable expenses for damages to the interests involved. Some legislation to control interference from them in time of peace is of growing importance and ought to receive early consideration.
    3. Owing to the fact that the principal use to which wireless telegraphy is likely to be put for many years is connected with the sea, and on account of the confusion that may arise from numerous independent stations being established in the same locality, the Bureau is of opinion that it would be advisable to put all Government wireless stations on or very near our seacoast under the Navy Department, and, perhaps, to have the Government take control of the entire wireless-telegraph service along the coast, as some foreign governments do with the land-telegraph service.
    4. The Bureau began in 1902 to establish stations at Mare Island and Yerba Buena Island, in San Francisco Bay, and to negotiate for a site on Point Bonita, at the entrance of this bay, but, after a correspondence lasting over a year, it abandoned this idea, owing to a desire of army officers to establish a station in the vicinity, the Point Bonita light-house being on a military reservation. The Bureau then turned its attention to the idea of erecting a station on South Farallone Island, off the entrance to San Francisco Bay. This also was abandoned, owing to the fact that the Department of Agriculture had established a station there and suggested that it would be undesirable for another one to be erected near it. As a result of these objections the Navy Department (which is most dependent upon wireless telegraphy) is placed in a position of having to depend on stations operated by men not under its control (and, in one case, not even under military authority) for the transmission of signals between its vessels at sea beyond the range of the station on Yerba Buena and one of its most important naval bases.
    5. Commander F. M. Barber, U. S. Navy, retired, the Bureau's representative abroad for collecting information relating to wireless telegraphy, speaks of its utility for naval purposes as follows:
    "But for maritime purposes it is simply invaluable in spite of its defects.
    "Navies are the only Government branch that can develop it, for though they do not own the earth they do own the sea, and their facilities for experiment are far greater than those of any other branch of the Government or of any private manufacturer or corporation. All the continental navies are very secret as to their results.
    "It is the varying atmospheric perturbations that are troubling everybody. There seems to be no difficulty now with good apparatus under favorable circumstances; but it is evident that there must be persistent and continuous observations about the coast line of each country in order to determine all its idiosyncrasies, and these again probably differ from what will be found in mid-ocean."
    6. In connection with Commander Barber's statements attention is invited to the recent loan of the cruiser Carlo Alberto to Marconi by the Italian Government for experiments between Poldhu, England, and that ship while en route to Cronstadt, Russia, and afterwards on this side of the Atlantic, and the long-distance experiments of the H. M.S. Duncan, of the British navy, and also to the importance of a ship being put at the disposal of the Bureau for similar employment.
    7. In conclusion, the Bureau earnestly recommends that the Department take up:
    First. The subject of obtaining an Executive order placing all wireless-telegraph stations belonging to the Government, on or very near the seacoast, under naval control.
    Second. The subject of legislation for the control of private wireless-telegraph stations or their abolition on the coast.
            Very respectfully,G.  A.  CONVERSE,                    
Chief of Bureau.    
    The SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY.
          (Through the General Board.)
________

H.

DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE,                
OFFICE  OF  THE  SECRETARY,          
Washington, D. C., June 22, 1904.      

    DEAR  SIR: I respectfully nominate Willis L. Moore, Chief of the Weather Bureau, for representative of the Agricultural Department on the wireless-telegraphy board.
    Sincerely,
JAMES  WILSON.      
    The PRESIDENT.
________

I.

NAVY  DEPARTMENT,          
Washington, June 22, 1904.      
    SIR: In obedience to your order, I have the honor to designate, as the representatives of this Department upon the board to be constituted for the consideration of wireless telegraphy, Rear-Admiral Henry N. Manney, U. S. Navy, Chief of the Bureau of Equipment, and Lieutenant-Commander Joseph L. Jayne, U. S. Navy, and in further compliance with your order I forward a draft of proposed instructions to be issued to the board, which is herein inclosed.
          Very respectfully,WILLIAM  H.  MOODY,          

    The PRESIDENT.
________

J.

Subjects for consideration by an interdepartmental board on wireless telegraphy.

NAVY  DEPARTMENT, BUREAU  OF  EQUIPMENT,          
June 22, 1904.      

    First. Whether, in the interest of governmental economy and efficiency and in order to prevent unavoidable interference, it is advisable to place all wireless-telegraph stations belonging to the Government on or near the coasts of the United States and its insular possessions under one Department, and if in the opinion of the board it is advisable to do so, to recommend the Department under which they should be placed, or if not to recommend a plan of interdepartmental cooperation in the matter of installing, maintaining, and operating wireless-telegraph stations economically, efficiently, and with as little friction as possible.
    Second. Whether, in order to prevent unavoidable or intentional interference between Government and private stations, or between private stations situated in the same locality and from considerations of national defense in time of war, it is necessary or desirable for the Congress to enact legislation to regulate and control the use of wireless telegraphy within the territory of the United States and its insular possessions, and if any such legislation is considered necessary or desirable to recommend its nature.
    Third. Whether, because international questions may arise, due to the fact that the use of wireless-telegraph stations in our own possessions may affect the use of similar stations in foreign countries, it is necessary or desirable for the Congress to enact legislation which will enable the Government properly to handle such cases, should they arise, and if so, to recommend the nature of such legislation.



Comments of the Inter-Departmental Board
on Wireless Telegraphy,

On a Letter Submitted by Mr. James R. Sheffield,
Addressed to the President.



OYSTER  BAY, N. Y.,          
July 21, 1904.      
    MY  DEAR  ADMIRAL  EVANS : I have read with great interest the report of your Inter-Departmental Board. Before taking action on it, I should like the comment of the board upon the inclosed letter from Mr. James R. Sheffield regarding the Marconi matter. You can either reconvene the board or write your own comment and have it submitted to the members of the board for such expressions of opinion as they desire to make.
        Sincerely, yours,
THEODORE  ROOSEVELT    
    Rear-Admiral R. D. EVANS, U. S. Navy,
              Chairman Light-House Board,
                        Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.

[Inclosure.]

[Betts, Betts, Sheffield & Betts, Counselors at Law.]

EQUITABLE  BUILDING, 120 BROADWAY,          
New York, July 19, 1904.      
    SIR: In compliance with your request to submit in writing the views which I stated to you verbally on Thursday, regarding the removal of the Marconi wireless telegraph apparatus from the Nantucket light-ship, I have the honor to present the following:
    Since 1901 the New York Herald has maintained an observation station at Nantucket, and by means of the wireless telegraph apparatus on the light-ship has rendered most valuable service to steamship lines of all nationalities, as well as to the public. That this service was of great assistance to navigation is evidenced by letters written to the Herald and to the Department of Commerce and Labor at the time it was reported that the Government intended to remove the Marconi apparatus installed on the Nantucket light-ship. Copies of many of these letters are hereto attached. (Appendix A.)
    The New York Herald of July 14, 1904, contains a partial review of the situation as it affects the interests of that paper and the public. I annex a copy of this statement from the Herald.
    Some time ago the German ambassador, probably not aware of the fact that all vessels of the German mercantile marine trading to our ports equipped with any wireless telegraph system had adopted the Marconi system, wrote to the Secretary of State requesting the Government of the United States to take legal steps to compel the Marconi company to receive messages from vessels equipped with differently designed apparatus. As a matter of fact, there are no vessels trading to the ports of the United States so equipped. There are about 40 vessels, including the German trans-Atlantic liners, equipped with the Marconi apparatus, and so far as I am aware no vessels equipped with any other wireless apparatus. All the German as well as other trans-Atlantic liners that are equipped with any wireless telegraph apparatus have the Marconi instruments, and have been in regular communication with the Nantucket light-ship and all similarly equipped stations.
    An appreciation of the fact that the Marconi system has been universally used on all the vessels equipped with any wireless telegraph apparatus trading to this country, and that its service has given satisfaction not only to the great steamship lines using it, but to the traveling and commercial public as well, is essential to an understanding of the situation which will be created by the removal of the Marconi apparatus from the light-ship in question.
    I have learned that it is proposed to replace the Marconi apparatus on the Nantucket light-ship with apparatus of other design, and at least one Department of the Government has declared its intention to communicate generally with vessels equipped with wireless telegraph apparatus by means of wireless apparatus other than the Marconi apparatus.
    The objections to such a plan are many, and there are two which seem fatal:
    First, technical, because it has been proven that efficient communication can not be established between two wireless-telegraph stations equipped with apparatus of different design without reducing enormously the scope and utility of the more advanced system, while such attempted communication generally results in more or less disturbance of the ordinary sending of messages and sometimes in complete confusion of signals.
    I annex hereto an account (Appendix B) of such attempted communication between two such systems, which entirely failed, although every effort was made, both on the Deutschland and the light-ship, to establish communication.
    In the second place, the proposal, even if technically possible, would impose upon the Government the necessity either to accept money for the service or to transmit messages without cost, in direct competition with commercial organizations whose business it is to transmit such messages. This would seem to be not in accord with the generally established policy of the Government.
    There appears no good reason why the Government, if it desires to use a light-ship for experimental purposes, should not use one of the other light-ships situated outside the field of the Nantucket station as, for instance, farther north or farther south along the coast. Experiments could be carried on without hindering the commercial use of the Marconi system and without interfering with the established communication between the great transatlantic liners and the shore. The Marconi Company is not asking the protection or assistance of the Government of the United States to establish its system as against other systems of wireless telegraphy, even though it firmly believes that it is the only system which has thus far proved commercially practicable, and it is the only system used by the mercantile marine which trades to this country.
    It is therefore respectfully submitted that the action of the Government in removing the Marconi apparatus from the Nantucket light-ship is a detriment to commerce, and, in view of the great benefit to mankind and the possibilities involved in the inventions of Mr. Marconi, it seems an unnecessary stopping of experimental as well as practical work of the highest value to the public. The shipping interests, so far as I am aware, are united in the hope that the Government will not remove the Marconi apparatus from the light-ship, and it is hoped that no final position will be taken by the Government which would prevent the reestablishment of what has thus far worked so greatly in the interests of both commerce and the public.
            Very respectfully, yours,
JAMES  R.  SHEFFIELD.    
.     President THEODORE  ROOSEVELT,
                                           Oyster Bay, N. Y.
________

APPENDIX  A.

Copies of letters written to the Hon. George B. Cortelyou by the various steamship companies, etc., in re discontinuing wireless telegraphy on light-ship.

NEW  YORKApril 14, 1904.    
    MY  DEAR  MR.  SECRETARY: An intimation comes to me that there is some effort to disturb the privileges heretofore granted on the Nantucket light-ship to the New York Herald for operating the Marconi wireless-telegraph system in reporting the arrival of incoming steamships. I write to say that the Associated Press is a large beneficiary in this matter, as well as the New York Herald, since we receive a duplicate copy of all messages announcing steamship arrivals and transmit them throughout the country. Naturally, I am greatly interested, and hope that, if consistent with the duty of the Government in the matter, the privileges may remain undisturbed.
          With all good wishes, I am, sincerely yours,
MELVILLE  E.  STONE, General Manager.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
________

NEW  YORKApril 14, 1904.    
    SIR: We have just been advised that a suggestion has been made to have the courtesy of having a reporter of the New York Herald stationed on the Nantucket light ship abrogated, and wish to inform you that the services rendered by the New York Herald to the shipping people generally have been of great value and have been given without any remuneration.
    Speaking for ourselves, I would say that we have a large line of tank steamers employed in exporting petroleum from this country, and all our steamers are instructed to approach the Nantucket light ship for the purpose of receiving any orders which we may have for them. By this arrangement we have been enabled to communicate important instructions to our ships, and we feel that the stoppage of this privilege would be a serious detriment to the operation of our fleet.
          Very respectfully,
PHILIP  RUPRECHT,          
Manager of the Foreign Shipping Department of the Standard Oil Co.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
________

NEW  YORKApril 15, 1904.    
    SIR: We beg to inform you that through the courtesy of the New York Herald & Co. have been receiving reports of our incoming steamers when passing Nantucket, and we understand that an order has been issued whereby the Herald will be prevented from rendering this service.
    As this would cause us great inconvenience and, in fact, also to the public who await friends and merchandise, we would respectfully request you to have said order rescinded.
          Thanking you in anticipation, we are, very truly, yours,
BOLOGNESI,  HARTFIELD  &  Co.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary of Labor and Commerce, Washington, D. C.
________

NEW  YORKApril 15, 1904.    
    SIR: I understand that influence is being brought to bear to have the privilege withdrawn from the New York Herald of using Nantucket light-ship as a station for its wireless-telegraphy marine reports.
    In the interest of shipping generally, and especially of the trans-Atlantic mail and passenger steamers, I write to say that such action, it taken, might almost be called a public calamity, as the good work done by the Herald in reporting all ships passing the station has been of incalculable value, and it would be a very difficult matter to find a substitute that would show the same enterprise and ability in carrying out this important service, which, as before mentioned, has been so admirably conducted under the supervision of the Herald for the past year.
            Very respectfully, yours,VERNON  H. BROWN,          
Agent the Cunard Steamship Co. (Limited).    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary of Labor and Commerce, Washington, D. C.
________

NEW  YORKApril 15, 1904.    
    MY  DEAR  SIR: About two years ago the New York Herald obtained permission from the Light-House Board to install a wireless system of telegraphy on the lightship stationed off Nantucket Shoals. It chose the Marconi system. Since then, through the courtesy of the Herald, the Marconi company has been enabled to send us not only messages from such of our ships as are equipped with the wireless-telegraphy apparatus, but also to report to us the arrival off Nantucket of other vessels of our line. I understand that the Department has notified the Herald that it is considering the advisability of removing the wireless apparatus from the light-ship, and therefore take the liberty of pointing out to you that such a step would be a great detriment to the public at large, which looks to the Herald for news of incoming vessels.
    But besides this the wireless system established on our steamers has been a great convenience to the public generally, as it enables us to report the arrival of our steamers to those expecting the ship while it is still a considerable distance east of Nantucket. The benefit to anxious friends, to bankers and merchants, and the public, does not need to be enlarged upon. In the same manner the notice of arrival of such ships as are not provided with the wireless system eight to ten hours before they can reach Sandy Hook is a similar benefit. The discontinuance of this service would, therefore, suspend an improvement which has been much appreciated and valued by the public generally, and if it should be really the intention of the Department to remove the wireless apparatus from the light-ship, I beg leave to ask for a reconsideration.
            Yours, very truly,EMIL  L.  BOAS,          
General Manager Hamburg-American Line.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
________

THE  MARITIME  ASSOCIATION  OF  THE  PORT  OF  NEW  YORK,              
New York, April 15, 1904.    
    DEAR  SIR: We learn that your Department has under consideration the possible withdrawal of the privilege under which the Marconi wireless telegraphy system is operated on board the United States light-ship on Nantucket Shoals, but we hope that our information is incorrect. The entire shipping world is deeply interested in the development of this new system for the transmission of news, and the station at Nantucket Shoals is one of the utmost value to the maritime interests of the country in general and of the port of New York in particular, the cessation of which would cause a loss in the prompt transmission of valuable information that would be annoying to many people.
    We are unaware of any objection to the continuance of the station in question. In any event, should it be your purpose to withdraw the privilege now enjoyed by the Marconi system, we beg to request that in advance of final action the commercial and maritime interests that would be affected be permitted to be heard more in detail by you. Pending such a hearing we would respectfully ask what objection, if any, has been lodged with you to the privilege enjoyed by the Marconi company on board the light-ship on the Nantucket Shoals.
            We have the honor to remain, very respectfully,C.  B. PARSONS,          
President.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
________

NEW  YORK  PRODUCE  EXCHANGE,              
New York, May 6, 1904.    
    DEAR  SIR: Information has reached this exchange to the effect that intimation has been made to the New York Herald regarding the advisability of its withdrawal from the Nantucket Shoals light-ship, and the consequent discontinuance of the Herald's wireless telegraph service from that point.
    While this service is, as yet, by no means as reliable as might be desired, it seems to be improving in efficiency, and, even in its present imperfect state the shipping interests, and we believe the country at large, have been materially benefited by the information thus obtained through the courtesy of the Herald. Therefore we would like to see the service continued.
            Very respectfully yours,EDW.  G.  BURGES,          
President.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
________

COSMOPOLITAN  SHIPPING  COMPANY,  305  WALNUT  STREET,              
Philadelphia, April 16, 1904.    
    DEAR  SIR:
Advices concerning incoming trans-Atlantic steamers, when off Nantucket shoals light-ship.
    For some considerable period our company has been greatly convenienced by receiving word when our freight steamers pass Nantucket light-ship. The fact that we were thus enabled to obtain earlier knowledge of our transatlantic steamers being on the coast than was practicable in any other way has been of decided advantage to us, as well as frequently relieving us of anxiety as to the safety and whereabouts of vessels, say after a delayed passage, or occasionally after they had been previously reported at sea and signaling "vessel not under control," etc.
    The speaking, as above, gives us from eighteen to twenty-four hours earlier information as to the positive whereabouts of our steamers than it would be possible for us to receive if we were compelled to wait until they had passed the Delaware Breakwater.
    With the foregoing advices of passing Nantucket light-ship in hand we are at once able to make various arrangements for the reception and handling of their inward cargoes, and also it enables us to substantially determine with positiveness when the steamer will ultimately take her departure on her east-bound voyage from this port.
    The services referred to have been rendered us through the medium of the New York Herald, and we should very much regard as a decided step backward if we were hereafter to be deprived of this obtainable early knowledge of the whereabouts of our steamers.
    Only this morning we were interested to note in one of the daily papers, under the caption "Steamship arrivals, New York," the following: "Campania, from Liverpool and Queenstown (Nantucket light-ship, 3.40 p. m).; Pretoria, from Hamburg, Boulogne, and Plymouth (Nantucket, 4.30 p. m.); Columbia, from Genoa (Nantucket, 6 p. m.). Arrived out. Havre, La Touraine, from New York."
    In each instance, you will notice, namely, the Campania, Pretoria, and Columbia, none of them had probably reached Sandy Hook, but it was able to announce their substantial arrival at New York by means of advices from the Nantucket light-ship, and probably many thousands of readers of newspapers were interested in just that early information, which we can so well appreciate when applied to our personal and selfish business interests, as connected with our own steamers.
    In closing it would be proper for us to state that we have heard an intimation of the possibility of the service above referred to being withdrawn or discontinued, and unless there are some excellent reasons in the possession of the Department, and to us unknown, we should sincerely regret a step which to outsiders would look like a distinct backward move in the way of the early promulgation of certain maritime advices, unless the Government has some more effective or comprehensive scheme in their mind as a substitute.
          Yours, very truly,PETER  WRIGHT  &  SONS,          
General Agents.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
________

COSMOPOLITAN  SHIPPING  COMPANY,                      
305  WALNUT  STREET,              
Philadelphia, July 11, 1904.    
    DEAR  SIRS:

    Reporting under signals of inward bound trans-Atlantic steamers, when off Nantucket shoals light-ship, by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company.

    Confirming our letter of April 16, 1904, to your good selves and to our communication of the same date addressed to the Hon. George B. Cortelyou, Secretary of Department of Labor and Commerce, Washington, D. C., we now have before us your communication dated July 8, 1904, stating that the Light-House Board having withdrawn its permission to the New York Herald to retain an observation station on the Nantucket light-ship, your apparatus has been removed and in consequence you will be unable to continue to send us reports of sighting of line steamers inward bound, in which we are interested.
    As you will have gathered from our previous communications, we regret the circumstances which have thrown your services out of commission, and unless something equally good or better is substituted for the service which has been discontinued ,we should think that the demands of commerce might reasonably require a reconsideration of the Department's action at some subsequent date. Meanwhile, if the commercial and traveling community are to be deprived of this advice, it would be natural to result in a demand for an efficient service being maintained through the medium of Nantucket Shoals light-ship.
          Yours, very truly,PETER  WRIGHT  &  SONS,          
General Agents.    
    MARCONI  WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA,
                      Mr. J. Bottomley, Secretary, 27 William street, New York.
________

BALTIMORE  MD.,  April 21, 1904.    
    SIR: We have been informed that you have suggested to the New York Herald a discontinuance of the Marconi wireless telegraph system at present installed on the Nantucket light-ship.
    Without knowing anything of the merits of the case, we beg to say that we should consider the abolition of this service of considerable detriment to the steamship line for which we are agents. Our vessels--the Neptune Line--while not provided with any wireless system, make it a point to pass near enough to the light-ship to be reported, which gives us information of their position a considerable time before they pass in Cape Henry.
    We should regret, therefore, to have this service discontinued unless replaced with something better.
          We have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servants,
DRESEL,  RAUSCHENBERG & Co.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary of Labor and Commerce, Washington, D. C.
________

NEW  YORKApril 21, 1904.    
    SIR: I have just learned that the question has been raised to withdraw from the New York Herald the privilege of using the Nantucket light-ship as a station for its wireless marine telegraph reports.
    In this connection, I wish to state that all the steamers of our line are now equipped with the wireless system, and since the establishment of the Herald's wireless station at Nantucket the prompt and efficient service rendered by that paper has been of such assistance to us and has given such universal satisfaction to patrons of our line and their friends that any action looking to a discontinuance of this privilege would be deeply regretted by my company and its clients.
    Besides this the Herald's marine news would be incomplete without this service, and the wireless reports published are of such a help in the way of information as to probable time of arrival of ocean steamships that they are highly appreciated by the traveling public and business men in general.
    Trusting this matter will receive the consideration it deserves, I am,
          Yours, very respectfully,
COMPAGNIE  GENERALE  TRANSATLANTIQUE,          
EUG.  DE  BOCANDE,
General Agent for United States and Canada.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
________

GULF  REFINING  COMPANY,                    
110 STATE  STREET,          
Boston, Mass., July 12, 1904.    
    GENTLEMEN: We are in receipt of your favor of July 8, and note that your apparatus has been removed from the Nantucket station.
    Would say that your reports from that station were very satisfactory and of greatest assistance to us, and we regret very much that same must be discontinued.
          Yours, very truly,
J.  M. GUFFEY  PETROLEUM Co.,    
MATT  TAYLORAgent.
    MARCONI  WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  COMPANY,
                                            27 William street, New York.
________

NEW  YORK,  May 26, 1904.    
    DEAR SIRS: I am informed that you are considering the rescinding of privileges granted the New York Herald in connection with the reporting station at Nantucket, and should regret very much if this station were to be abandoned, as it has proven of the greatest utility to me, as the Marconi company, who also have stationed there an operator of their wireless system, are accustomed to report the arrival of our steamers, and I sincerely trust that the service which at present is most satisfactory be permitted to continue without interruption.
    Asking your kind consideration for my above request, I beg to remain,
          Respectfully,
A.  S. GOUVEA.    
    DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE  AND  LABOR,
                                            Washington, D. C.
________

ITALIAN  ROYAL  MAIL  STEAMSHIP  COMPANY,  11  BROADWAY,                    
HIRZEL,  FELTMANN  &  Co., GENERAL  AGENTS ,          
New York,  April 16, 1904.    
    SIR: We understand that the Government proposes abolishing the wireless telegraph at Nantucket, hitherto operated by the New York Herald, and as such measure would be deeply regretted by everyone interested in the shipping off the port of New York, we herewith respectfully suggest that the Government reconsider said decision.
    As general agents of the Italian Royal Mail Steamship Company, we beg to point out the great advantage afforded by the Nantucket wireless service signaling steamer arrivals several hours ahead, and, therefore, sincerely trust that this valuable service will be permitted to continue for the benefit of both the trade and the public.
          We remain, sir, very respectfully,

HIRZEL,  FELTMANN  &  Co.,              
General Agents,    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary Department of Labor and Commerce, Washington, D. C.
________

PHILADELPHIA  TRANSATLANTIC  LINE,                    
CHAS.  M.  TAYLOR'S  SONS,          
454 Bourse Building, Philadelphia, April 18, 1904.    
    SIR: We have learned that a suggestion has been made to the New York Herald that the installation of the Nantucket Shoals light-ship should be discontinued. We desire to say that valuable services have been rendered to our line through the courtesy of the New York Herald, and that our steamers have been instructed to get as close to the light-ship as possible in order to be reported. We may further add that if this service was discontinued it would be a serious inconvenience to our own line, as with this advance information received from the Nantucket light-ship we are able to make arrangements for ordering cattle from interior points and to prepare for docking the steamers. We therefore trust that the present arrangement will be continued without disturbance.
          Very truly, yours,
CHAS.  M.  TAYLOR'S  SONS.    
    Hon. GEORGE  B. CORTELYOU,
           Secretary of Labor and Commerce, Washington, D. C.
________

APPENDIX  B.

Note on the impracticability of intercommunication between our ships and ships equipped with other apparatus.

    On the 14th of May, 1903, our apparatus was sent by our English company to Cuxhaven to equip the Deutschland in substitution for the Slaby apparatus, previously carried by that ship. The apparatus, however, arrived just too late to be installed, and the ship went away with Slaby apparatus on board.
    Meanwhile all our shore and ship stations had been advised that the Deutschland would leave Hamburg on May 21 newly equipped with Marconi apparatus. This course is always adopted by us when a ship is newly equipped, in order that a special watch may be kept. Every effort was made, therefore, by our stations to get into communication with this ship under the impression that she had Marconi apparatus on board.
    The ship crossed to New York, but failed to communicate with any of our ships in transit, or with our shore stations in the United States, which were keeping a special watch for her in view of the fact that she was supposed to be newly equipped with Marconi apparatus.
    Owing to carelessness the ship was not inspected in port as she ought to have been, when it was known that she had not been in communication with any of our stations on her voyage out. We were accordingly still under the impression that she was equipped with Marconi apparatus when she left here. The ship ran aground off Sandy Hook, and our offices were besieged by persons desirous to send messages to passengers on her. No communication could, however, be made with the ship, and it was not until a day or two afterwards that our company learned that the ship had Slaby apparatus on board.

[From the New York Herald, Thursday, July 14, 1904.]

W

hy the Herald stopped wireless Nantucket news--Requested by the United States Light-House Board to take its Marconi plant from the light-ship at that place--Germany asked that its system be used.

    Those who acclaimed the Herald's enterprise in establishing a wireless signal station on the Nantucket light-ship, and all of the numerous interests which have been benefited by the service which gave the first news of westward bound craft and the last word from the eastward going, will be interested in knowing why this important station has been abandoned.
    The story which tells of its discontinuance begins with a letter which the German ambassador addressed to the Secretary of State and ends with a resolution adopted by the Light-House Board requesting the Herald to remove its wireless plant from the Nantucket light-ship.
    In his letter to the Secretary of State Baron von Sternburg, acting under the direction of the imperial chancellor, called the attention of the State Department to the fact that German vessels fitted with German wireless telegraph systems were precluded from communicating with the wireless station on the Nantucket Shoal.
    "As far as known to the Imperial Government," wrote the ambassador, "the Marconi Company has no right in the United States of America to refuse to communicate with vessels by means of other systems. * * * I have the honor to bring this matter to your excellency's notice and to ask, if existing legislation permits of such step on the part of the Government of the United States, that proceedings be instituted against the Marconi station at Nantucket."

SECRETARY  CORTELYOU'S  REPLY.

    This letter was referred to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, who wrote:
    "I have the honor to state that this Department recalls no law requiring the station to receive messages according to German wireless system. By courtesy of the Light-House Board the New York Herald has been permitted to conduct wireless telegraphy according to the Marconi system from the Nantucket Shoals light-ship to the Nantucket shore."
    To the Herald Secretary Cortelyou wrote, saying his Department would be glad "if you will have the kindness to do what conveniently can be done in receiving and transmitting messages written according to the German system of wireless telegraphy." The correspondence was referred to the general manager of the Marconi Company, Mr. W. H. Bentley. In his reply Mr. Bently said that it would be practically impossible for operators of the Marconi system to communicate with other systems with the slightest degree of certainty.

WHY  INTERCHANGE  IS  IMPOSSIBLE.

    "Attempted operation," he explained, "would merely mean almost hopeless experimenting, with the inherent necessity for either the Marconi or the other company to change its entire method and system to make the two mutually operative. At this date the Marconi company could hardly afford to overturn its system and undo the work of years for sentimental reasons. Furthermore, we hardly need remind you that there is not a single transatlantic liner equipped with wireless apparatus other than the Marconi.
    "As there is no transatlantic vessel equipped with the Slaby-Arco apparatus, the issue raised by the German Government is academic rather than real, and shows the intent of the German Emperor to attempt to accomplish through diplomatic channels what could not be accomplished in business competition.
    "The Herald shipping reports have become almost indispensable to marine and other business interests, as well as to transatlantic travelers and their friends, and if the reports are discontinued serious inconvenience and trouble will be caused to those interests."

TECHNICAL  DIFFICULTIES  DESCRIBED.

    Mr. John D. Oppe, vice-president of the Marconi company, described technical difficulties of the operation of two systems within the same area, and in an interview said:
    "Not a single Transatlantic liner trading to the United States is equipped with any apparatus other than the Marconi. The basis of the German ambassador's request that proceedings be instituted against the Marconi station at Nantucket is therefore not apparent in considerations necessary for the ordinary protection of German shipping and commerce in the United States.
    "So much confusion of thought exists generally in regard to wireless telegraphy that it may be well to state, briefly, what the position is. In order that navigation may derive the fullest benefit from wireless telegraphy, especially from the point of view of safety, it is essential that only apparatus suitably designed for efficient communication should be adopted at shore stations and on vessels. To render this practicable, all ship and shore stations intended to communicate with each other must carry apparatus suitably adapted for such intercommunication. If each ship carries a differently designed set of apparatus it can not communicate efficiently with other ships, and if each shore station is differently equipped the value of wireless telegraphy for navigation would, of course, be enormously reduced.
    "Although intercommunication between apparatus of different systems is impossible without reducing the scope and utility of the more advanced system, the operation of two systems within the same area results, generally, in mutual perturbations--called interferences--which evidence themselves through the conversion of intelligible messages into unintelligible signals, and it is therefore of the utmost importance to navigation that one system in general use should be adopted throughout.

QUESTION  OF  REAL  IMPORTANCE.

    "The question, however, of greatest importance is not whether interferences are possible, but whether different circuits can be operated within the same area simultaneously without interferences. In other words, is it possible for naval stations and commercial stations to work simultaneously within the same area with apparatus designed for different purposes and communicate independently without mutual interferences? That is the question which faces the Government of the United States of America to-day, and which has been faced by Governments of other countries.
    "In addition to the technical difficulties there are considerations of a commercial nature which are opposed to the adoption of the German Government's proposal. In the first place, the Marconi company claims that it has received advice from patent lawyers of the highest standing in the United States, in England, and in Germany that it holds the fundamental patents controlling wireless telegraphy, and that it has further been advised that, in some countries certainly, an agreement to work with apparatus which it is contended represents an infringement of its patents would deprive it of any chance of success in an action for infringement of patents with respect to the installation in question.
    "In the second place, it is claimed by the Marconi company that it would be a commercial injustice to that company were it compelled to put at the disposal of every ship or shore station equipped with other wireless telegraph apparatus, which may be in direct competition with its business, its organization, which it has been enabled to develop by the ownership of the Marconi inventions and the expenditure of large sums of money.
    "So far as the Marconi company is concerned, it does not claim that its wireless telegraph system can not be interfered with. It merely claims that by virtue of Mr. Marconi's more recent inventions the apparatus is capable of communicating reliably over long distances and of communicating within the same area between stations equipped with apparatus designed for different purposes without interference.
    "The Marconi company communicates with the Campania throughout her voyage crossing the Atlantic; and while vessels equipped with apparatus designed for that purpose communicate within the same area with shore stations and each other, they do not receive the Campania's messages, nor is there any mutual interference. Other Marconi circuits are also operated simultaneously without interference.
    "It is therefore not surprising that the Marconi company is disinclined to adapt its apparatus for the purpose of communicating with other systems, when by so doing it reduces enormously the scope and utility of its entire organization and renders interferences possible within its own circuits.

NO  OBLIGATION  TO  JOIN  OTHER  SYSTEMS.

    "The German ambassador refers to the common-carrier law, apparently as indicating an obligation on the Marconi company to connect with other systems. The Marconi company does not discriminate in favor of or against any private persons, and takes all messages handed to its proper officers in the proper manner without discrimination. No law exists which requires one telegraph company to make a physical connection between its system and that of another company, or which requires one railway company to give running facilities to another railway company.
    "If manufacturers of German apparatus desire to establish stations for the purpose of wireless telegraphy, it is open to them to put up stations on the United States coast for that purpose.
    "The result of the German ambassador's action will bring to the attention of the United States Government the fact that communication will be severed between Nantucket light-ship and about forty vessels constantly trading to New York, and that if it is decided to equip the light-ship with apparatus other than the Marconi, interferences will be caused between vessels attempting to communicate with each other and with other Marconi shore stations when in the neighborhood of the light-ship. It will be seen that a convenience and factor of safety to navigation will be removed, and that the interferences resulting from the operation of another system will be disastrous to communication and dangerous to shipping."
    A resolution adopted by the Light-House Board concludes the chapter:
    "On motion it was ordered that the proper measures be taken to suggest to the Herald the propriety of discontinuing further experiments (sic) with wireless telegraphy on the Nantucket light-vessel, and that it be suggested to the Department of Commerce and Labor that the German ambassador be informed of what we propose doing under the circumstances."
    The Herald has therefore discontinued its wireless reports from Nantucket.

VIEWS  OF  MARITIME  ASSOCIATION.

    The subjoined letter, which Capt. C. B. Parsons, president of the Maritime Association, had addressed to Secretary Cortelyou before it was actually known that the Herald had been asked to discontinue its service from the light-ship, shows the views of that body:
    "We learn that your Department has under consideration the possible withdrawal of the privilege under which the Marconi wireless telegraphy system is operated on board the United States light-ship on the Nantucket shoals, but we hope that our information is incorrect. The entire shipping world is deeply interested in the development of this new system for the transmission of news and the station at Nantucket shoals is one of the utmost value to the maritime interests of the country in general and of the port of New York in particular, the cessation of which would cause a loss in the prompt transmission of valuable information that would be annoying to many people.
    "We are unaware of any objection to the continuance of the station in question. In any event, should it be your purpose to withdraw the privilege now enjoyed by the Marconi system, we beg to request that, in advance of final action, the commercial and maritime interests that would be affected be permitted to be heard more in detail by you. Pending such a hearing, we would respectfully ask what objection, if any, has been lodged with you to the privilege enjoyed by the Marconi company on board the light-ship on the Nantucket shoals."
    Mr. Vernon H. Brown, general American manager of the Cunard Line, said:
    "In this age of advancement it seems a step backward to curtail or discontinue the use of the Marconi wireless telegraph system at Nantucket, which has for the last two years been of such inestimable convenience and value to all shipping interests, and especially to all patrons of the great transatlantic liners. We always look forward to and receive with wonderful promptness and regularity the first report of the Herald showing that it is in communication with vessels from twenty to fifty miles away, which information is generally received some twelve hours before it would be possible to get it through any other channel. And it always was a great relief to the shipowner as well as to those having friends on board.
    "The abandonment of this service is greatly to be regretted, and its discontinuance might be the cause of calamity which would be provided against by the receipt of prompt notice of any ship in distress.
    "When I say that I hope the Government officials will reconsider their decision and renew this privilege to the New York Herald, I believe that I voice the sentiment of all American and disinterested interests."

DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE  AND  LABOR,              
Washington, D. C.,  July 29, 1904.    
    SIR: In obedience to your order of the 21st instant, a copy of which is appended, and pursuant to the call of the chairman, the Inter-Departmental Board on Wireless Telegraphy held a meeting in the Light-House Board room to-day. Present, all the members except Brig. Gen. A. W. Greely, U. S. Army, who is on an inspection tour to Alaska. After maturely considering the letter from Mr. James R. Sheffield and its inclosures, which are returned herewith, the Board has the honor to make the following comments:
    The action of the Department of Commerce and Labor in suggesting to the New York Herald the discontinuance of its wireless telegraph station on the Nantucket Shoals light-ship was taken without reference to this board. It is of the opinion, however, that under the circumstances it would have been a great mistake to allow the continuance of that station. The Nantucket Shoals light-ship occupies a position of greatest importance, not only to commerce but to the Navy. To allow the Herald to maintain a station there operated by the Marconi company, and that company declining, as it did, to transmit messages from ships using other systems of wireless telegraphy, would amount to giving that system powerful governmental aid in its effort to obtain a monopoly to the detriment of other systems. The board is of the opinion that, had the station on the light-ship been operated so as to permit it to receive and transmit messages from ships equipped with other systems, there might be a number of trans-Atlantic liners so equipped. It is shown in Appendix B of Mr. Sheffield's letter that the Deutshland was at one time equipped with the Slaby-Arco system, and the board is of the opinion that the cause of the change to the Marconi system was not due to inefficiency of the former, but probably to the fact that the latter controlled the shore stations in the United States and Great Britain.
    Learning that there was some probability that the Herald station on the light-ship would be discontinued as a result of the complaint of the German ambassador, the Bureau of Equipment, Navy Department, requested permission to establish a station there having for its object service in connection with the ships of the Navy, the transmission of news of interest to the merchant marine, and transmission of wireless telegraph messages received from ships equipped with any system whatever. Permission was granted and the apparatus will probably be installed by the middle of August. It is intended to make Newport the shore connection, and the distance covered will be about double that between the light-ship and the Marconi station on Nantucket Island.
    The board is satisfied that it is only necessary for different systems to tune their apparati to the same wave length to obtain satisfactory communication between them, notwithstanding Mr. Sheffield's statements. The Navy Department communicates most satisfactorily between stations equipped with Slaby-Arco apparatus and one equipped with a combination belonging to different systems. In the tests in the vicinity of New York, conducted by the Navy Department, no difficulty is experienced in communicating between different systems. The station at the New York yard can take messages from various sources, and Slaby-Arco apparatus in the hands of navy operators has recorded messages from Marconi stations unknown to them. At least one of our naval ships using Slaby-Arco apparatus has been in communication with the Marconi station on the light-ship.
    The incident referred to on page 3 (see page 26, paragraph 9, this print) of Mr. Sheffield's letter and described in Appendix B in the opinion of the board fails utterly to sustain his point. The fact that the Marconi stations tried to get into communication with the Deutschland without success does not prove that the Slaby-Arco system can not easily communicate with the Marconi system.
    As stated above, the Slaby-Arco system was probably removed from that ship because the Marconi stations on the light-ship and elsewhere would not transmit messages sent by it. As the substitution was to have taken place at Cuxhaven before the Deutschland left Europe, and did not only because the Marconi apparatus arrived too late, it is not at all likely that the Slaby-Arco operator, if there was one on board during the voyage, tried to communicate with the Marconi ships or shore stations, or was on the lookout for messages from them. There is no evidence presented that there was a Slaby-Arco operator on board the Deutschland. Under the circumstances it would seem very doubtful if there was one on board, although it is stated that the Slaby-Arco apparatus was still there. If the operator on the Deutschland was an ordinary Marconi man, unskilled in the Slaby-Arco system, the failure to communicate is easy to account for. There are other ways to account for it, and in view of many facts known to the board and from theoretical considerations, it attaches no importance to the incident.
    As to the objections that this service would impose upon the Government the necessity either to accept money for it, or to transmit messages without cost, in direct competition with commercial organizations whose business it is to transmit such messages, the board sees no objection to a reasonable charge being made for this service, but it does not admit that there would be competition between a department of the Government and private companies. There can be only one station on the light-ship and it is not believed that any company would station a ship on the shoals for the purpose of maintaining a wireless telegraph plant there, even if it were permissible to do so.
    The board fears that Mr. Sheffield confuses Government competition with Government action which permits of private competition. The maintenance by the Government of a wireless station on the light-ship to be used by all systems alike permits of some competition with the Marconi company by other systems for the business of equipping ships. This is why Mr. Sheffield's objections "seem fatal" to him and the Marconi company. Their remedy is that the Government shall give them the exclusive privilege on the light-ship, which will go a long way toward helping them to establish a monopoly of the wireless business.
    Even conceding that the Marconi system is superior to any other, which we do not concede, that the Marconi company excluded itself from any chance of having the Navy Department adopt its system for installation on the light-ship will be seen by the extraordinary conditions which it requires for the use of its apparatus in the Navy, as set forth in its letter of the 21st ultimo to the chief of Bureau of Equipment, a copy of which is appended.
    The Navy Department proposes to publish such information as will enable the Marconi company and all others to tune their apparatus so that communication with the light-ship may be easily obtained. The board is satisfied that there will be no difficulty in obtaining good communication with the Marconi apparatus over distances as great as has been obtained with the Marconi equipment just removed from the light-ship if that company honestly tries. It is thought that both the Marconi and the Navy Department's apparatus will have sufficient range in tuning to permit of their being tuned to the same wave length without any new apparatus being required in the Marconi stations. The Marconi company, however, surrounds its system with much mystery, and it is to be expected that it will make many difficulties over the light-ship station if they decide to attempt to communicate with it, judging from the nature of the unjustifiable claims which it makes, such as are given in the first two paragraphs on page 3 (see page 26, paragraphs 8 and 9, this print) of Mr. Sheffield's letter. If they adhere to their plan of not exchanging messages with other systems, the trans-Atlantic liners should install other apparatus on board, even if the Marconi system is retained.
    This company has played a bold game, calculated to "hold up" the Government in this matter and in its negotiations with the Navy Department, and the board is of the opinion that its action in regard to the light-ship and its refusal to receive messages at any of its stations from other systems are strong arguments in favor of Government supervision of private stations.
    Very respectfully,
 R. D. EVANS, 
Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy, Chairman,            
Representing the Department of Commerce and Labor.    
                                       H. N. MANNEY, 
Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy, Representing the Navy Department.    
 WILLIS  L. MOORE,              
Chief of the Weather Bureau,            
Representing Department of Agriculture.    
 J.  L.  JAYNE, 
Lieutenant-Commander, U. S. Navy,            
Representing Navy Department.    
    The PRESIDENT.

MARCONI  WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA,          
27 William Street, New York, June 21, 1904.      
    DEAR  SIRS: I beg leave to inform you that our Board is prepared to contract with the Bureau for the use of our system as required by the Bureau on terms based on the following lines:
    1. That the Bureau shall be entitled to use apparatus of the Marconi system having a maximum range of 240 miles, for naval stations on shore in the United States of America and dependencies, and on board United States vessels, at a yearly royalty of $50,000 per annum, which annual royalty shall entitle the Bureau for the duration of this contract, to the use of all the Marconi apparatus and inventions now in use or which may be acquired later, applicable to such stations.
    2. That the Bureau will install apparatus of the Marconi system at their stations, paying therefor the current market price, it being understood that the royalty mentioned above shall cover all claims by the Marconi company for royalty on apparatus installed by the Bureau.
    3. That the Bureau will, as far as may be possible, agree to accept messages from vessels equipped with Marconi apparatus and will make such arrangements at naval stations as will
    (a) Enable intercommunication with vessels of the mercantile marine equipped with the Marconi system.
    (b) As will prevent the interference with vessels of the mercantile marine equipped with the Marconi system when communicating with naval vessels.
    4. That the Marconi company agrees to give the Bureau certain preferential rights in the dispatch of naval messages over ordinary messages from their commercial stations now existing or established in the future, which shall, at the convenience of the Marconi company, remain in operation for the benefit of the Marconi company.
    5. That the Bureau shall use such powers as they may have from time to time to prevent the interference by other systems with Marconi commercial stations and with naval stations, working either together or independently.
    6. Except in time of emergency or war or in the case of war vessels, the Bureau shall not use the Marconi wireless apparatus fitted at their stations for the interchange of signals with vessels or stations not equipped with apparatus provided by the Marconi company.
    7. That the Bureau shall have the use of a long-distance station (which term is understood to mean a station capable of transmitting a message 500 miles and upward to vessels fitted with suitable receivers) at certain periods on certain terms.
    8. That the period of the contract shall be for a number of years, which will be determined after consultation with the Bureau.
    Referring to No. 1, we have considered it advisable to ask for a consideration which does not depend on the number of sets of apparatus actually required, and as we understand that the Bureau may require some hundreds of sets in the course of time, we hope that our proposal will commend itself to the Bureau.
    Re clauses 2 and 3, it is important that shore stations equipped by the Bureau should be able to communicate, when desirable, with vessels of the mercantile marine, and also that the Marconi commercial stations should be able to communicate with vessels of the United States Navy when desired.
    When it is not desired to communicate between the two classes of stations, specially designed apparatus will be used, and we have made reference to such prevention of interference in condition No. 3.
    Re No. 4, this company will be prepared to make such reasonable arrangements for communicating with vessels of the Navy from its commercial stations as the Bureau may desire, which will also enable the Bureau to have the first call on those stations when necessity arises.
    Referring to No. 6, it is in the interests of the Bureau, and more particularly in the interests of navigation and commerce, that the system in general use should be adopted. Various Marconi circuits can be used within the same area for different purposes simultaneously without interference; but we are unable to guarantee that our working will not interfere with the working of apparatus of other design, nor can we guarantee that the operation of other apparatus of other design will not interfere with the apparatus that we intend to install at naval stations.
    The important point is not whether interferences are possible, but whether different apparatus can be operated for different purposes within the same area simultaneously without interference. By the adoption of our apparatus the Bureau will be able to do this, but communication must be confined to such circuits; it is essential, in order that the scope and utility of the Marconi apparatus may not be reduced, that communication shall be so confined.
    In offering our apparatus to the Bureau we desire to say that we are working different apparatus for different commercial purposes in the United States of America, and believe that no tests or demonstrations carried out at stations erected for that purpose can equal in value the demonstrations of such ordinary commercial work as is being carried on every day for different purposes. We shall, however, not only be happy to place at the disposal of the Bureau our stations working commercially, but shall be prepared, subject to an agreement of terms, to make special demonstrations for the satisfaction of the Bureau, and we beg to propose the following:
    1. To demonstrate the reception of messages, in code or otherwise, on board a United States vessel, during the whole voyage across the Atlantic from one shore to the other.
    2. Regular communication both ways between a shore and a ship station up to about 200 miles.
    3. Simultaneous operations within the same area without interference.
    4. The reception in New York of messages dispatched from a station considerably over 200 miles distant.
    5. Such other reasonable tests as the Bureau may require.
    Referring to test No. 2, we understand that it is the particular desire of the Bureau to install apparatus at shore and ship stations capable of communicating reliably, over a distance of about 200 miles. We shall be glad to supply such apparatus, and would accept as a condition, precedent to a contract, that we demonstrate our ability to do so on a United States vessel fitted for that purpose.
    Referring to test No. 4, we understand that it is the particular desire of the Bureau to satisfy itself that our apparatus can efficiently communicate across an area in which is situated a large city with high buildings and various complicated electrical equipments. We have, therefore, included in our tests the reception of messages in New York from a station situated considerably over 200 miles distant, almost entirely over land.
        Yours, respectfully,
      MARCONI  WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA,    
By  JOHN  D.  OPPE,                    
                    Vice-President and General Manager.    
    BUREAU  OF  EQUIPMENT,  Washington, D. C.