One end of the wire is placed in the earth and the other is elevated in the air. The height to which it is carried determines the distance to which the messages may be sent. The operator presses his key as in ordinary telegraphing, making his alphabet in dots and dashes. As the waves shoot out and reach the distant station, the filings in the tube cohere and the current passing through them draws up the armature of the relay magnet. This closes the circuit of the recording instrument. It is broken constantly by the tapper and instantly re-established by receiving waves. The towers employed in 1920 for the transmission of wireless messages were very high. The manifest advantages of the system were apparent and long before 1930 wireless telegraphy came into general use. The new system proved the death-knell of telegraph poles, as well as ocean cables. Old telegraph stock faded in value like the morning mist. The supreme importance of communicating with vessels while at sea alone guaranteed the success of the wireless system. Wireless telegraphy proved to be one of the crowning scientific achievements of the twentieth century, but the ambition of scientists [Chatting with the Boys in Mars.] in 1969 knew no bounds. In that year they were busy sending messages to Mars, utilizing starbeams for that purpose. For thirty long years they repeated the same messages or signals to Mars every night. In 1999 the canalers up in that bright Yankee planet had not yet responded but hope was still entertained that some sign of recognition might yet be secured from the Martians. Telescopes in 1999 had been vastly improved. The network of canals in Mars became far more distinct to the human eye. The moon, our nearest neighbor, looked as though only one mile away. Neptune, the giant of the heavens, grew on more intimate terms with our mother Earth, but on Mars was centered the greatest attention. Fervent were the hopes that Martians would acknowledge the ceaseless signals sent from earth. The growth of the electrical machine industry in 1999 was enormous. The United States of the Americas led the world in their manufacture. The dawn of this vast industry was already manifest, even in 1899. The capital invested in electrical industries in that year was as follows: Invested Capital. 928 electric railways, aggregating 14,850 miles, $883,000,000 2,838 electric light central stations, 335,486,518 25,000 private electric lighting plants, 87,500,000 Power transmission (750,000 motors in use), 150,000,000 Electrical apparatus in mining, 125,000,000 Telegraph, telephone, &c. 600,000,000 -------------- Total, $2,180,986,518