WIRELESS TELEPHONES

Waikato Times, Volume 95, Issue 14949, 20 May 1922, Page 6

WIRELESS TELEPHONES

1,000,000 AMERICAN USERS. A new era in political life in the United States is promised by the amazing developments of the use of wireless : telephony which have taken place dur- j ing the last few weeks, writes a New York correspondent under date March 31. The other day the prediction was 1 made by an engineer that the next Presidential election would be fought largely with the assistance of wireless telephony. Yesterday Senator New, who is offering himself for re-election in the State of Indiana, delivered a' speech from his room in Washington to thousands of his constituents 600 miles away. Mr Nc'w had been detained in Washington by the debates on the Pacific Treaties, and his opponent, profiting by this circumstance, made a whirlwind campaign through the State. Recalling that hundreds of farmers, as well as dwel- 1 lers in towns, are the owners of wire- I less receivers, Mr New arranged for the temporary erection in his office of a powerful transmitting apparatus and delivered the speech mentioned. j The growth of the use of the wireless telephone has astonished even those responsible for - its popularisation. It dales from last Christmas, when the first portable receiving sets, intended as gifts for boys, appeared in Ihc shops. They have been purchased by hundreds, not only by boys, but “grown ups.” Since January 1 over SOO.OOO of these sets which vary in price from £5 to £3O, have been sold. It is estimated that there are now ',000,000 amateur receiving sets, of which about 100,000 are situated within 500 miles of New York. There are 25000 amateur sending stations.