![31. Dots and Dashes a Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering Next Wednesday, May 24, [1944], We Understand There Will Be Re-Enacted](http://data.docslib.org/img/7ab1fa41a9abf163a25fa56fe85ad6ad-1.webp)
31. Dots and Dashes A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering
Next Wednesday, May 24, [1944], we understand there will be re enacted in Washington a scene which took place just 100 years ago. A telegraph message will be sent from Washington to Baltimore the dots and dashes will again spell out, "What hath God wrought ?" Today when we hear the word "telegraph" we naturally think of an electrical device, but many other methods of sending messages have been designed by men through the ages. Over 3,000 years ago the Greeks relayed back to Greece news of the capture of Troy, by signaling with fires. The American Indians used puffs of smoke for signals. One of the largest of the mounds they used for this purpose is near Miamisburg, Ohio, about 10 miles from Dayton. Tribes in Africa and on the islands of the Pacific have for centuries had a form of telegraph, using specially made drums; for extreme distances a listening drum is exactly tuned to the same tone as the sending drum. One of the most important developments in visual telegraphy took place during the French Revolution when Claude Chappe devised a semaphore system. These semaphores were erected on high towers about 10 miles apart, and a message could be sent from Paris to Lille, 130 miles away, at the rate of about 100 words per hour. An English writer of the time said, "Telegraphs have now been brought to a great degree of perfection… The whole kingdom could be warned in an instant of an approach of an invading army." However, long before this, a new Force electricity was beginning to make itself felt in the world of science. Almost 200 years ago Benjamin Franklin sent an electric current through a wire stretched across the Schuylkill River, and set fire to alcohol at the other end. Oersted , Sturgeon and Faraday , over a period of years, had uncovered many of the basic principles of electricity and magnetism. In 1831 Professor Joseph Henry strung nearly a mile of wire around one of the rooms in the Albany Academy. By closing a switch at one end of the wire, he could ring a bell at the other. The stage was being set for the electromagnetic telegraph. In 1832 Samuel Morse , a famous artist and President of the National Academy of Design in New York, returning from Europe on the packet ship "Sully" met Dr. Charles Jackson of Boston. One evening at dinner Dr. Jackson mentioned that experiments had shown that electricity possesses the ability to pass instantly over any length of wire. In the course of the conversation Morse said, "I see no reason why intelligence may not be transmitted by electricity." Obsessed with the idea, Morse neglected his painting, using it only as a means of providing funds for his experiments. In a garret in lower Manhattan he slept, ate and worked. He used the best information he could get from Professor Henry on electromagnets. With the help of Alfred Vail he managed to develop an instrument that would receive and record dots and dashes on paper. Later they dropped the recording and used the audible dots and dashes so well known to everyone today. For 10 years Morse tried to interest people in his electric telegraph, and it was not until 1843 that Congress finally provided the money to build a line from Washington to Baltimore. In May, 100 years ago, the first message was transmitted. In addition to providing a new form of communication, the electric telegraph stimulated science, industry, commerce and invention. It opened the way to the development of the Atlantic cable, the telephone, the radio and television. Each of these methods of communication has or will develop a new field of its own, and each contributes to the progress of the others. The public dictates, by the way it uses them, the particular service each has to perform; engineering and management try to improve the service and reduce the cost. Next Wednesday when that first message is again tapped out from Washington, we should all join with the thousands of employees of the communication industries in a vote of thanks to Samuel Morse for his great work. He had the courage to go through all the hardships, poverty and discouragement necessary, not only to solve the technical problems, but also to demonstrate the commercial possibilities of the telegraph. As we review our great communication systems, I know we will not forget that there are thousands of inventions yet to be made. We should always help in their development by keeping open the road for men with new ideas and not allow progress to be blocked by either prejudice or preconceived opinions. ●