H THE TRAIN DESPATCHER
Or The Mystery of the Pay Car

RALPH ON THE ARMY TRAIN
Or The Young Railroader's Most Daring Exploit

GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, New York

COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY

GROSSET & DUNLAP

The Radio Boys at the Sending Station

* * * * * *

FOREWORD BY JACK BINNS

Since this volume was written an epoch making invention has been announced
to the radio world. It is the super-regenerative system developed by E. H.
Armstrong, the wizard of Columbia University. This system is bound to
revolutionize the art of wireless communication in every branch, and is in
itself the most important discovery since Marconi put into operation the
first crude form of wireless apparatus.

I am mentioning this fact because there is the romance of youth overcoming
every obstacle placed before it tied up in the history of Armstrong's
remarkable achievements, and the story of this romance should stand
forward as an incentive to American boyhood.

Fifteen years ago when radio amateurs first began to send out wireless
telegraph messages, the federal authorities in Washington were at a loss
to devise some means that would regulate them. It was then that a bright
official conversant with radio said: "Put 'em down below 200 meters, and
they'll soon die out."

He knew perfectly well that it was almost impossible to operate on those
low wave-lengths with the apparatus in existence at that time--hence his
sardonic proposal. The amateurs, however, refused to "die out." Faced
with the inexorable regulation, they set to work to devise apparatus which
would operate successfully. Among them was E. H. Armstrong, a youth who at
that time was attending Columbia.

It was a really lucky thing for the world that the official in Washington
thought of his clever scheme to kill the amateurs, because it provided
just the incentive needed to set Armstrong to work. The result has been
that within ten years he has produced three epoch-making inventions, any
one of which would have been a remarkable life achievement in itself.

Such, briefly is the story of one radio boy overcoming difficulties, but
of course in this case it is a real story. It emphasizes the fact that
even in these highly developed and organized times there is always an
opportunity for boys to improve upon existing conditions, and since this
is the theme of the adventures of "The Radio Boys," I am very glad to
write the foreword to the