IN POINT OF ACTUAL SIZE THE KANSAS CITY STATION IS THE THIRD LARGEST IN THE COUNTRY Provision made for its expansion may soon place it in the lead. When the new station is opened this belt line will be used exclusively for passenger traffic except, of course, for the necessary switching to industries along it. To compensate the railroads, one hundred and eighty-eight miles of new track must be built along the north edge of the city; to handle the freight traffic nine thousand three hundred feet of elevated double track must be built; as an entrance for one railroad, two large freight yards, and a coach yard had to be provided; and it was necessary to build four freight substations. Under its franchise the depot com pany was obligated not only to rebuild all existing structures across the belt line, but to provide new viaducts and subways in order to eliminate all grade crossings. It had to build, or rebuild, thirty-three viaducts, thirteen subways, and a double track, double deck steel viaduct across the Kaw River. One of the viaducts is nearly four thousand feet long. This work alone cost more than five million dollars. Another costly piece of work was the changing of the route of a sewer which traversed the length of the station yards. This alone cost nine hundred and thirty thousand dollars. BUILT WHILE ETAILS in the construction ing-picture machine, set to take a picture automatically every five minutes. The camera is placed upon the roof of the Service Building, one of the completed exposition structures, and has an inclusive view of the new structure. Under the magic influence of the "Movies" a full grown building will be conjured up, beginning with the bare ground and finishing in eighty minutes with a structure completed to the topmost pinnacle. Like the Temple of Solomon it will be built without the sound of a hammer. YOU YOU WAIT The records will show ninety-six pictures for each working day, or a total of six thousand nine hundred and twelve for the three months required for completing the building. When the pictures are reproduced the reel will be run at the rate of eight hundred and sixty-four pictures a minute, thus showing more than a week's progress in sixty seconds. This is a departure from the usual custom of taking photographs of buildings at different stages of construction, and aside from the interest of the picture, it will furnish the exposition officials with a valuable record of the building operations. They expect to study the effectiveness of various methods of construction through slower reviews of the films. VICTOR LAUGHTER AND HIS WIRELESS TELEPHONE APPARATUS THE VOICE FROM THE AIR By EDWARD J. McCORMACK ism. And now he is abundantly rewarded. In the wee small hours when belated clubmen, cab drivers, chauffeurs, and others of the nocturnal tribe were wend ILL wireless revolutionize the telephone industry? Is the science of man about to perfect an invention that will make the ing their way homeward, there would millions upon millions invested by the telephone companies come to naught? After ten long years of experimental work Victor Laughter, who until a few months ago was hardly known in the world of things scientific, has given his wireless telephone a public trial. Upon the roof of an office building in Memphis, Tennessee, he established his laboratory. In that building there are men who will tell you that the young Southerner is "a fiend for work". Day in and day out, he would work twenty hours at a stretch over some intricate mechan come from the top of the big skyscraper a crackling sound that was as distinct and virile as the snap of a machine gun. Greenish flames seemed to fairly sizzle from the ends of aerials being worked by the man of the wireless. Then there came an evening when Laughter called in the newspapermen. Upon a table in his office rested the mechanism. that represented a small fortune as well as a decade of years of labor. It looks as if in time we might actually be independent of telephone companies. The remarkable results that are being obtained in experiments with the wireless telephone form the basis for this statement. From the wireless station at Nauen, Germany, an operator communicated with Vienna. In Memphis, Tennessee, Victor Laughter, an amateur, by a device of his own, can talk for a distance of twentyfive miles. In this article, direct and to the point, Edward J. McCormack tells of Laughter's remarkable work.-Editor's Note. "Boys," he said, "I have done it!" And then he went on to say that others had talked without wires, but that DIPLOMA FOR THE SCHOOLHOUSE his was the invention destined to revolutionize the business. "I can talk two miles or twenty-five miles with just as much ease," he declared. "As soon as I get in my new aerials I am going to talk fifty. The other fellows talk four and five minutes over the phones-I am going to talk an hour tonight and let you judge for yourselves!" The Laughter device can talk into any wireless receiving apparatus. So the party journeyed four miles out to the home of a Master Vance Thompson, a young wireless enthusiast. There Thompson gave them headgears and they sat down and waited. There was a pause of a few minutes. The slight buzzing of the static in the ear bells was all that could be heard. Then out of the stillness of the night there came a strange sound. It was a strain of music-a far-away, ethereal melody. Laughter had introduced his new invention with a graphophone record doing the talking. The wireless, despite the static, worked so perfectly that the scraping of the needle and the other mechanical sounds incidental to the playing of a cheap talking machine could be heard as distinctly as if it were in the next room. The static began to pop again. It drowned out the music. Then the 85 rhythmic strains of the waltz came back -soft, swingingly tuneful, and yet weirdly strange. The waltz died away. "Hello, Hello, Old Man!" It seemed very wonderful. Here was a human voice apparently coming from nowhere over nothing. Then Laughter played the "Yankee Girl" and "The Blue Danube". He read a chapter from the Bible, told a story from Maupassant, and finally said “Good Night". Laughter will offer his invention to the Government. He is not selling stock. A syndicate of Memphis capitalists have taken him in charge and declare that his invention will not be put on the market until he has so reduced the cost of the apparatus that two hundred dollars will cover everything. Later he hopes to get the cost down to fifty dollars. The peculiarity of Laughter's device consists in a steel cylinder about seven inches in diameter. He has patented this apparatus, which he calls his "oscillator". "All that I care to say about it is that I am getting a frequency of one hundred thousand breaks per second out of it," was his rather terse explanation. His system can be used with any wireless by taking only a few minutes for adjustments. It has been found to possess many advantages. DIPLOMA FOR THE SCHOOL Τ HOUSE EULA E. CORDELL ACKED above the door of a little red schoolhouse in Warren County, Illinois, there is a sign reading: "Superior School". It was put there last fall by the State Superintendent of Education and is an honor that means something. It is perhaps but natural that the Hedgepeth District School, located in that hotbed of educational institutions be the first in the State to be designated as "superior". This mark of distinction is attributed by the school board to the teacher. She, in turn, credits it to the spirit of the community and, in particular, to the free textbook system. While there are operating in the district many public service corporations, they are made use of, not to lower school taxes, but to help with the pay can be complied with, a school is entitled to the rank of "superior". The "superior school" must have a half-acre playground, and, in general, equipment in advance of the "standard school". The State is also carrying on an educative campaign to enable its schools to make the improvements that will bring them into these classifications. The Hedgepeth institution stands on land deeded by Joel C. Hedgepeth. It is modern, complete, and sanitary. Ample cement walks lead one to the south entrance of large double doors. On either side of the hallway within are cloakrooms for both boys and girls. In each ficial light from the big angle lamps un necessary. The separate and adjustable seats and desks are fitted to the children, whenever a change of seats or a child's growth calls for it. Large roomy cupboards, an abundant supply of recent maps, an eight-day clock, comfortable recitation benches, good slate blackboards correctly placed, a thermometer, window shades, extra chairs, a book case filled with well-selected books, a teacher's modern desk and chair add to the convenience of all concerned. The furnace keeps the schoolroom evenly heated with warmed fresh air. MOVING A DONKEY ENGINE UNDER DIFFICULTIES A traction engine is here shown towing a small locomotive across a shallow river in South Dakota. A substantial gravel bottom and a maximum depth of only four feet rendered this possible. BATTLESHIP TO BE TARGET SENTIMENT does not go a long way in the United States Navy, when it comes to the business of preparation for war. The most recent demonstration of this is found in the plan of the officers in charge of gunnery practice to sacrifice the old battleship Indiana, which holds a proud record of service in the Spanish-American War, to the fire of the guns of the new ships whose more deadly efficiency has made the Indiana obsolete. will not be long before the Indiana is lying, a battered hulk, on some shoal along the Atlantic coast, a tribute to a usefulness outlived. Naval officers contend that the Indiana is absolutely worthless for naval purposes today, and that therefore she might just as well be relegated to the scrap pile, to save maintenance expense. They urge that if any good can come out of shooting her to the junk heap, it should be done. Ordnance officers of both the Army and the Navy declare that shooting at an actual vessel as a target is the best kind of gunnery practice for the men. THE PASSING OF A FAITHFUL FIGHTER The Indiana is to become a target to serve in gun practice and armor tests. |