on Shipboard--Improved Apparatus--The
Wireless in the World War--The Boy and the Wireless.

With his clear understanding of the possibilities of his invention,
Marconi was not long in establishing the wireless upon a commercial
basis. He is a man of keen business judgment, and as he brought his
invention forward and clearly demonstrated its worth at a time when
commercial enterprise was alert he found no great difficulty in
establishing his company. The first Marconi company was organized
as early as 1897 under the name of the Wireless Telegraph and Signal
Company, Limited. This was later displaced by the Marconi Telegraph
Company, which operates a regular system of stations on a commercial
basis, carrying messages in competition with the cable and telegraph
companies. It also erects stations for other companies which are
operated under the Marconi patents.

With the telegraph and the telephone so well established and serving
the needs of ordinary communication on land, it was natural that the
wireless should make headway but slowly as a commercial proposition
between points on land. For communication at sea, however, it had no
competition, and merchant-ships as well as war vessels were rapidly
equipped with wireless apparatus.

When the great liner _Republic_ was sinking as a result of a collision
off the port of New York in 1903 her wireless brought aid. Her
passengers and crew were taken off in safety, and what otherwise would
have been a terrible disaster was avoided by the use of the wireless.
The utility of the wireless was again brought sharply to the attention
of the world. It was realized that a wireless set on a passenger-ship
was necessary if the lives of the passengers were to be safeguarded.
The United States Government by its laws now requires that
passenger-ships shall be equipped with wireless apparatus in charge of
a competent operator.

One of the early objections made to the wireless was its apparent lack
of secrecy, since any other receiving apparatus within range of the
waves sent forth by the sending station can receive the signals. It
was also realized that as soon as any considerable number of stations
were established about the world, and began sending messages to and
fro, there would be a perfect jumble of waves flying about in all
directions through the ether, so that no messages could be sent or
received.

Marconi's answer to these difficulties was the tuning apparatus. The
elec