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World Speeds Its Messages By Telephone Ocean System ‘Scrambles’ , Voices to Foil the Eavesdroppers Prepared by National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C.—WNU Service. A NETWORK of through telephone circuits be tween cities and sections of the country makes it as easy now to telephone a relative across the continent as to telephone your local grocer to send up a peck of potatoes. Today 92 per cent of all long distance calls are completed while the person calling re mains at the telephone, and the av erage time taken for putting through such calls is one and one-half min utes. In early telephone days, when service wa» informal and lines were few, it was not at all unusual for an operator to receive a call from a housewife and hear her say: “Mary, please see if you can find Charles and have him bring home some hamburg steak for dinner.” Today you seldom know your op erator by name, but she still will find people for you, across a state or across a continent. A subscriber said: “I want to talk to a man down on Cape Cod. I don’t know his name or town. But lie raises Bedlington terriers and has chin whiskers like Horace Gree ley’s.” The operator found him. Telephonic Posse. I A prominent business man was killed in an accident. His wife was in California, but no one knew just where. The chief long-distance telephone operator in New York set to work to locate her. Hotels in the southern part of the state were tried without success. Finally she phoned the society ed itor of a Pasadena newspaper, and learned that the lady was visiting a .Pasadena family. Calling that fam ily, the lady was found, just 22 min utes after the hunt began. Queer things go into making Amer ica’s telephone service so efficient— jfrom soapsuds to the lack of scratches on a steer’s hide. ( If you see a workman painting soapsuds on a section of telephone Icable it means he is meticulous, not At London, Maj. George Clement Tryon, postmaster gen eral, is seen inaugurating the world’s first mobile telephone exchange. The new system will be used in places where addi tional telephonic communica tions are needed. human eardrum—it vibrates. Be hind the diaphragm, instead of bones and nerves, are tiny grains of roasted coal, smaller than a pin head, in 8 little chamber. Through the grains an electric current is flowing. Wiien the diaphragm bends in ward, the grains are pushed tighter together, and more current flows. When it bends outward, the pres sure on the grains is released and less current flows. So the flow of current is varied as the diaphragm vibrates. The transmitter with its battery supply is an amplifier as well. It turns the energy of your voice into electrical energy a thou sand times greater. Through the wires current flows to the receiver, on the other end of the line. The re ceiver is an electrical mouth which utters human sounds. In it is an electromagnet. Another Diaphragm Moves. The incoming current flows through wire coiled around the core of the electromagnet and the strength of the magnet’s pull varies with the strength of the current. It pulls on a thin, flat disk of iron, another diaphragm, which bends I \ i ,\ < A hopeless tangle to the layman, intricate networks of under ground wires are the plaything of telephone workers like this man. Every wire goes somewhere—and he knows where! about cleanliness, but about leaks. Even the tiniest pinhole may admit moisture and cause trouble. So ni trogen gas under pressure is pumped into the cable, and if it leaks at any point, a bubble of soap suds will tell the tale. Safety First in Safety Belts. If ever you see a steer scratch himself on a barbed-wire fence, be assured that that portion of his hide never will go into the making of a telephone lineman’s belt. Scratches weaken leather, and linemen climb ing poles trust their lives to their belts. The telephone works in very simi lar fashion to the human ear. In fact, the ear itself actually was the first “telephone,” and an electrical one at that. To make a man hear, you push and pull on his eardrum, causing it to vibrate thousands of times a sec ond. You do the pushing and pull ing, not by grasping his ear, but by using the energy of your voice. When you speak, the tiny particles or molecules that make up the sur rounding air are set in motion. They exert the push and pull on the man’s eardrum. They press on it only as heavily as a snip of hair l-1000th of an inch long—but that is enough. Behind the eardrum are tiny bones and chambers of liquid which are set to vibrating as the eardrum vi brates. In the inner ear the vibra tions are changed, scientists now be lieve, to electrical impulses that travel along nerves to the brain. Has Electrical Ear. A telephone works the same way. It enables you to push and pull on a man’s eardrum from a distance. The telephone transmitter is an electrical ear. It hears what you say and sends the words by elec trical impulses over wires instead of over nerves. x The air molecules set moving by your speech strike against a thin, flat diaphragm which acts like a just as you can bend the bottom of a tin pan. As the strength of the current in the wire coil varies, the diaphragm bends back and forth. This also happens from a hundred to several thousand times a second. The current coming over the wires, flowing through the wire coil, thus exerts push and pull on the receiver diaphragm. As it vibrates, it imparts motion to the molecules of air in front of it. They in turn vibrate against the listener’s ear drum. It vibrates, and he hears the sounds that are being spoken at the other end of the line. Has Language of Own. The telephone is a universal lin guist, though some people don’t al ways realize it. Once an enterpris ing Arab merchant in the Near East had a telephone installed, and the first customer who called spoke Greek. The Arab could not under stand Greek, and in high dudgeon went to the company and told them they had given him an instrument that spoke Greek whereas he want ed one that spoke Arabian! The telephone not only speaks all languages, but it also has a lan guage of its own, unlike any other tongue on earth. When your speech travels over a telephone wire, it is as private as if you were talking with someone in the middle of the Sahara. But when your speech goes out on the radio waves of the transatlantic telephone, anyone might listen in to one side of the conversation simply by tun ing his receiving set to the proper wave length. Therefore, when you telephone across the ocean, your voice goes through a device that translates all your words into sounds wholly unin telligible. Your voice really is turned upside down—the high tones are turned into low ones, and the low ones into high ones. Floyd Qi&hoH^ ADVENTURERS' CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFI « Two Wanted Men 99 H ello everybody: You know, boys and girls, in some of these adventure (lyarns I’ve been telling you, everything seems to happen all in 1 a split second. Just one—two—three and it’s all over, with action ■ every doggone minute. Then there are other yarns in which there’s darned little action, and the suspense of the story lies in the fact that some poor devil has to stand still while death comes creeping up on him. That sort of adventure drags out for a long time. But the yam I’m going to tell you today is like both of those above-mentioned types of adventures. It went on for a long time, and every doggone minute of that time was packed with danger and suspense. And at the same time, it was so full of action that you’d have a hard time packing another single movement into it. It’s one of the most thrilling tales I’ve come across in quite a while, and the honors today go to a Chicago policeman—Albert Rickert of Chicago. It was a cool September afternoon in 1927. A1 was off duty, and with time on his hands, he went over to the home of his pal, Emmett Hartnett, for a visit. After he’d been there awhile, they decided it would be a good idea to go for a ride. Emmett got a car and they drove around for about two hours. They were on their way to a restaurant when things began to happen. As they drove along a small sedan passed them. There were two men in the car, and A1 recognized them both as auto mobile thieves! Thieves Recognize AI as Policeman. A1 told Emmett to turn around and follow that car. They were catching up to it when the thieves spotted the auto behind them and recognized Al as a policeman. They stepped on the gas—and the chase was on! The car in front of them leaped ahead. Emmett stepped on it and followed. The faster they*went, the faster the smaller car ahead traveled. Al pulled out his gun and fired one shot. But the car ahead didn’t stop. Both those gas buggies were tearing along down the street at close to top speed. The scenery was fairly whizzing past, and people along the way stopped to stare at a race they had never seen the like of outside of a race track. Gun in hand, Al opened the door and climbed out on the And then he was being dragged along behind the fleeing car. running board to get a better shot at his quarry. As Emmett drove and the car careened *long the wide street he fired again and again. Still the car ahead sped on! Now, Al could see that they were gaining on the crooks. The small car didn’t have speed enough to outdistance the big one in which they were riding. Al ocutinued to fire until his revolver was empty. Al’s Car Nosed Alongside the Thieves. The big car had almost caught up to the little one now. Bit by bit they gained until at last Al’s car was nosing up beside the cne in which the two thieves were riding. They were running almost hood to hood now, and Al could have reached out and touched the other auto, when suddenly the front car turned sharply. Al saw the crooks’ car swerving toward them, but before he had a chance to do anything about it, there was a crash. The crooks side- swiped them, knocking them over to the side of the street. There was another crash as the car lurched into a telephone pole, but Al wasn’t inside the car when it hit. As the two cars came together he was caught between them and knocked down on the running board. Then, as the smaller car veered away again, his right leg was pinched between its rear fender and the bumper. He felt a tug at that leg—felt himself falling to the pavement—and then he was being dragged along behind, the fleeing car. The car was out of control now. The crook at the wheel was trying to keep it going straight, but it shot up over the curb on the other side of the street. It crossed the sidewalk and plunged on over a stretch of bare, water-soaked prairie. Dragged along behind it, Al felt a terrific bump as his body was pulled over the curb. There was a terrible pain in his im prisoned leg where the tire was scraping the flesh away. His back and sides were being bruised and lacerated. The car traveled a hundred feet through the prairie and by that time Al was numb from pain and shock. Then the car bogged down in the mud and came to a stop. Al’s clothes had been literally torn from his body by then, but he still had his gun clutched tightly in his hand. He Struggled to Get Hi£ Leg Out of the Trap. “There was no chance to use it,” he says, “but as soon as the car came to a halt, I began struggling to get my leg out of its trap. The driver jumped out and ran north across the prairie. “At last I got my leg loose and crawled out from under the car. I raised my gun and pulled the trigger, but all I got was a click of the hammer. In the excitement I had forgotten that I emptied the gun dur ing the chase.” As the gun clicked, the second man leaped from the car and started to run. And then Al made the pinch of his life. Helpless and unable to walk, much less run after the fleeing crook, he got up on his feet and threw the empty gun after him. That gun went straight to the mark. It caught the crook on the back of the head and he fell forward on his face—out cold. At the same moment Emmett extricated himself from his wrecked car and came running across the street. He grabbed the crook. Emmett took them both to a restaurant a block away and there he called the station-house. They took Al to the People’s hospital, and he stayed there for three months, getting over the injury to his leg. The rear tire had ground a ridge right into the flesh- as the car dragged him across the prairie. The crook he caught drew a 14-year sentence. The other one was shot down by an Englewood policeman three days later—in another stolen car. Copyright.—WNU Service. ‘Path of Kings’ Changed to Undignified ‘Rotten Row’ Americans in London often won der why tile most fashionable riding path in Hyde park is called “Rotten Row." It was originally called by the French name “Route du Roi,” meaning “path of the kings,” but English pronunciation gradually changed it to its present undignified meaning. London’s famous police headquarters, Scotland Yard, is not a yard at all. It took its name from a short street in the metropolis where Scottish kings used to have their London residence, and where headquarters were established later for the “bobbies.” Household Hints By BETTY WELLS TF YOU’VE read your Arnold Ben- nett, you know a lot about the people who are responsible for most of the beautiful English china we use in our homes today. The spode, for instance, which we cherish with such affection and pride, is made in Stoke-on-Trent, one of Bennett’s “Five Towns.” Josiah Spode found ed this pottery in 1770, and it has been carried on continuously ever since. Spode perfected a method of mak ing a fine quahty of ware by using calcined bones mixed with the clay paste to produce a very fine quality of ware that doesn’t break or chip Cherished spode tea cups. as easily as does fine china of other countries. Most of the English pot ters have since adopted a similar formula which we know as “bone china.” Another important lure of spode is that you can always replace a broken piece in any pattern because no design is ever discontinued. In short, “open stock” in spode really means what it says. And the pat terns themselves are very lovely. Many of the older ones show the influence of the Chinese designs that were pouring into England during the Eighteenth century. Later spode patterns reflect English garden flow ers and chintz floral effects. One of the oldest spode patterns, “Blue Towers,” is a scenic which is said to illustrate the old Spode estate. Other popular spode * patterns in clude “Rosebud Chintz,” “Indian Tree,” “Gainsborough,” “Rose Bri ar,” and the charming “Mayflower” in pinks and lavender. • • • Every Woman Should Have Her Own Desk. Half the trouble with housekeep ing is simply that too many of us try to run the works on the fly. We depend on keeping all the details in our head and in a jumble. In short we’re operating a complicated and important business in a way that would get us fired from any office we ever heard of. We don’t keep books. We don’t schedule our work. We don’t or ganize. We don’t buy ahead. We don’t keep desk supplies on hand. And that brings us to the root of a lot of our troubles. How many of us have desks anyway? Plenty of women in charge of big households What to The George Washington desk is a handsome useful style. don’t! Those who do are often con tent with little spindly affairs that couldn’t be expected to function properly for much besides personal correspondence. No, it’s really impossible to do a businesslike job of housekeeping without good equipment which be gins with an adequate desk. If we’re to do our work as a profession we'll find that the more we work at our desk with pencil and paper the less actual physical labor will be re quired to run our homes pleasantly and well. That desk will be the center of our organization; from it we will outline our work by the year, by the month, by the week, by the day. Here we will keep records of what we need, what we buy. Here we will make out orders, menus, sched ules. Naturally this desk will have to be kept supplied with sharp pen cils, pen points, note pads, stamps, stationery, rubber bands, clips and all of that—which we’ll buy in quan tity as we do staple groceries and light globes. We favor a flat-top desk for the purpose, for Die same reason that a business man chooses that type . . . it’s more efficient. There are many flat top desks that have great dis tinction of design. The Queen Anne kneehole desk is lovely and grace ful. So is the George Washington flat top desk illustrated today. But a Secretary type desk has its points too. Choose one that seems to suit your needs best. C Betty Welle—WNU Service. Peasant Accent to Room Achieved With Valances One simple way of giving a peas ant accent to a room which you have decorated in the Swedish or Swiss manner is by installation of cut-out wooden valances attached to the inside of your windows. These can first be painted with some colorful floral design in the peasant manner or can have sten cils applied. Then, you may repeat the pattern and color note on the inside of your cupboard doors. d Why To Brighten Brass To brighten brass ash trays, etc., or copper pieces, use household am monia and cleaning powder. With Approach of Warm Weather, C. Houston Goudiss Advises Extra Care in Storing Foods in the Home By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS I T IS the proud distinction of America’s food industries that notwithstanding the infinite variety of perishable foods which are constantly available, and regardless of the dis tances they have been transported, even the most delicate foods are delivered to the consumer in a fresh, wholesome condition, with all their fine flavor unimpaired. The secret of this modern miracle is refrigeration. Vast sums of money have been invested in long trains of refriger ated cars, thousands upon’*’ - thousands of refrigerated trucks, refrigerated ware houses and refrigeration equipment in stores. All this has been done for a single purpose: to keep food fresh and at its best until it reaches the home. At this point the responsibility shifts to the homemaker. And if she falls down on her job, then all previous efforts to keep food free from spoilage have been in vain. Homemaker’s Responsibility As guardian of her family’s health, one of the homemaker’s most important tasks is to see to it that all food is safe guarded against contamination un til it reaches her table. This means that perishable foods must contin ue to be refrigerat ed properly in the home. For only in this way can they be protected from the ravages of micro-organisms which are always ready to attack foods when conditions are favora ble for their growth. Two essentials are necessary for satisfactory food preservation in the home. First, perishable foods must be stored at a temperature of from 40 to 45 degrees Fahren heit—never at a temperature high er than 50 degrees. Second, the right degree of humidity must be maintained. Too much moisture will encourage the growth of bac teria; too little will dehydrate fruits and vegetables and make them unfit for consumption. Home Care of Foods Both requirements are met by a good household refrigerator; and the homemaker who appreci ates the importance of keeping foods sound and wholesome will regard an efficient refrigerator as an investment in good health. It is especially necessary that the food supply be properly refrigerat ed during the warmer weather of spring and summer, in order to prevent the consumption of dishes that may have become contami nated without any marked altera tion in appearance, taste or odor. Highly Perishable Foods Milk is often regarded as the most perishable of all foods, be cause it is an ideal medium for the growth of bacteria. It is, there fore, essential that this splendid food be kept at low temperatures at all times. It should be put into the refrigerator as soon as possi ble after it is delivered, and kepi there until the moment it is to be used. Milk should never be al lowed to stand at room tempera ture for any length of time. Fox it has been demonstrated fhal when it is held at 40 degrees—an ideal temperature—before deliv ery, then allowed to stand at a room temperature of 75 degrees for an hour and a half, and again refrigerated, a rapid increase in bacteria occurs. Other types of protein foods aiss present a favorable medium for bacterial growth when they are held at temperatures higher than 50 degrees. These include meat, fish, meat broths, gelatin, custards and creamed foods. It is advisa ble to keep these foods, as well as the milk supply, in the coldest part of the refrigerator. Fruits **nd Vegetables Fruits and vegetables soon lose their moisture content unless they are protected against warm, dry air; and they are likewise subject to the action of micro-organisms which result in decay. But when stored in a modem refrigerator, these mineral- and vitamin-rich foods can be kept in perfect condi tion for considerable periods, thui making it possible to take advan tage of favorable market offer ings. Guarding Against Mold As a rule, warmer weather also increases the problem of combat ing molds. For given moisture and warmth, molds will grow on almost anything. However, the most hospitable hosts are acid fruits, such as oranges, lemons, berries or tomatoes; sweets, such as jams and jellies; bread and meat. While molds are physio logically harmless if eaten, they definitely spoil the taste and ap pearance of food. Mold growths can be killed by boiling. They are retarded by the dry circulating air of an efficient refrigerator. It is to allow for air circulation that berries should be stored uncovered—if possible, spread out so that the air can reach more than just the top layer. Frequent inspection of all food supplies, including those in the bread box, and the prompt elimi nation of any items showing signs of mold, will help to keep it from spreading. Constant vigilance on the part of the homemaker in caring for foods on hand will avoid a needless drain on the food budget and win safeguard the health of every member of the family. * C—WNU—C. Houston Goudiss—1930—83. nr COVER AROUND < SUPPORTS, AND I WITH SNAPS — MAKE SCE OPENINGS^ LONO ENOUGH TO SUP OVER WIDEST , PART OP BACK. ««r)EAR MRS. SPEARS: Your books have shown me how to do so many things that I am turning to you for help. I want to make slipcovers for the living- room furniture because with three young ones the upholstery is soon going to be ruined. The job com pletely baffles me. I am enclos ing a rough sketch of one of the chairs. Can you suggest any way that a removable cover can be made for it? B. A.” If you are prepared to make many neatly fitted openings al most any type of chair may be slipcovered. Either bindings or facings may be used to finish edges where seat and back covers are cut around arms and supports. Where there are so many open ings of different lengths, snap fas teners are generally more satisfac tory than zippers. If snap fasten er tape is obtainable it saves time to whip it to the long edges. The narrow frill for this chair covers a curved line across the front and carving at the top of the front legs. You can make slipcovers, all types of curtains and many other things for your home with the help of Book 1—SEWING, for the Home Decorator. Just follow the pictures, and you learn to make the lovely things you have been wanting for your home. Book 2 is for those who enjoy fancy work on useful articles for the home; and useful novelties, to be made in spare time. Books are 25 cents each; don’t forget to ask for the free leaflet on patchwork quilts, when you order both books; the leaflet is FREE with two books. Address: Mrs. Spears, 210 S. Des- plaines St., Chicago, HL Isn't This Whr ^ Ton Are Constipated? What do you eat for breakfast? Coffee, toast, maybe some eggs? What do you eat for lunch and dinner? White bread, meat, pota toes?/fs Uttte toonder you’re co»- stipatei. You probably don’t cat enough ••bulk." And “bulk" doesn’t mean the amount you eat. It’s a kind of food that forms a soft “bulky" mass In the In tee- tinea and hdpe a movement If this Is your trouble, may we sug gest a crunchy toasted cereal- Kellogg's AU-Bran—tor breakfSLst All-Bran Is a natural food, not a medicine—but It’s particularly rich In “bulk. 1 * Being so. It can help you not only to get regular but to keep regular. You won’t have to endure constipation, you can avoid It Eat All-Bran daily, drink plenty of water, and life will be brighter for you! Made by Kellogg's In Battle Creek. MERCHANDISE Must Be GOOD to be Consistently Advertised \ BUY ADVERTISED GOODS V