Besides these radio experiments, a demonstration has been given of the availability of the Bell System and its wonderful potentiality in case of an emergency which would require quick and satisfactory intercommunication between the different departments of the government and its scattered stations and officers throughout the whole country.
From 4 P. M., May 6, to 8 A. M., May 8, 1916, the United States Navy Department and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company co-operated in a general mobilization of the forces of communication. It was a test of what could be done in a sudden military emergency, and was gratuitously undertaken by the company at the request of the Secretary of the Navy.
It was a sort of war game that brought into play the latest scientific developments of telephone and telegraph communication, by wire and by wireless, and demonstrated an efficiency that has not been attained in any other country.
For some time the officers of the United States Navy had been working together with the engineers of the Bell System in the study of wire and wireless communications, and the Navy Department had permitted the telephone engineers to use its towers for long-distance wireless telephone experiments.
So, in the latest demonstration, the land towers of the navy were utilized in connection with a wireless telephone installation on the U. S. S. “New Hampshire,” and Captain Chandler, cruising off shore, talked directly with the Secretary’s office in Washington.
For the time being the operating forces of the telephone company all over the country were placed at the disposal of Captain W. H. G. Bullard, Chief of the Bureau of Communications, and General Superintendent of Plant F. A. Stevenson, of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was assigned as his aide. While all the facilities of the Bell System were available, only about 53,000 miles of wire were necessary to connect all the navy yards and stations for telephonic and telegraphic communication.
The successful demonstration showed that in case of any trouble requiring any such service, because of the central control of the Bell System, the government could have ready-made at its immediate disposal a plant, equipment and operating staff which, for completeness and efficiency, would not be possible in any other way.
Why do They Call Them “Fiddler-Crabs”?
There is one member of the crab family for which the Latin name is Gelasimus, which means “laughable.” He certainly is appropriately named, for he is a very queer little fellow. The male has one claw of immense size, the other being quite small. The big claw is brightly colored, and when he runs he waves it about as if he were energetically beckoning, or playing some very stirring tune on a violin; hence he is often known as a “Calling-crab” or a “Fiddler-crab.”