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Tonight, for the first time in its history, the Union will present to its members a presidential nominee as lecturer, when Governor James M. Cox of Ohio, Democratic nominee for President of the United States, speaks in the Living Room of the Union at the second meeting of the present season. The definite time of the speech will be posted on the bulletin boards of the Union and the CRIMSON as the progress of the Governor's special train is reported. At present it is expected that the Governor will arrive in time to speak at 8 o'clock.
President Eliot Presides
On the platform tonight, besides governor Cox, will be President Eliot, a firm supporter of the League, who will preside and introduce the Governor; Ellery Sedgwick '94, a member of the Board of Overseers and editor-in-Chief of the Atlantic Monthly; John F. Moors '83, a Fellow of Harvard College and a member of the Boston Finance Commission; Frank W. Taussig '79, former chairman of the U. S. Tariff Commission and a member of President Wilson's Second Industrial Conference; and Michael A. O'Leary, Chairman Democratic State Committee.
When the Governor and his party of 15 reporters and two special stenographers arrive in automobiles from Lynn, they will be greeted by a reception committee composed of the Governing Board of the Union, who invited Governor Cox to speak here, Professors Charles H. Haskins Hon. '08 and William E. Hocking '01, Dean Edward R. Gay '18, Frederick L. Allen '12, M. A. deW. Howe '87, Henry R. Atkinson '21, Charles W. Eliot 2d '20, John A. Sessions '21, M. P. Davis '21, and certain members of the executive committee of the Cox-Roosevelt Club, for whom the Union is reserving 20 places in the front rows of the hall.
Reserve Places for Union Members
Governor Cox's sweep through New England will be part of a whirlwind finish to his campaign. He comes today from New York state, through Western Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire to Lynn, Cambridge and Boston. Tomorrow carries him to Rhode Island and Connecticut, while the week ends with a speech in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Places in the Living Room of the Union will be held tonight for Union members and members of the Cox-Roosevelt Club presenting special tickets until five minutes before the Governor's speech, when other members of the University may be admitted if space permits.
The importance from a news stand-point of the appearance of Governor Cox at the Harvard Union tonight is shown in the preparations made by the Boston Bureau of The Associated Press to report the event. The great wire system of The Associated Press will be tapped at the Boston Bureau and a loop extended to the Harvard Union terminating in front of the speaker's platform. This will mean that the report of the speech will be copied in New York City and elsewhere at the same time that it is copied in Boston and because of the quick transmission the news story will be concluded as the speaker finishes. The A. P. wire system comprises 64,800 miles and provides for an almost instantaneous distribution of news from Houlton, Maine, to Seattle, Washington, and elsewhere through regional ramifications. it is conceivable that a remark of international importance might be flashed from the Union to San Francisco, thence by wireless to the Phillippines and so on around the world passing the same remark cabled East from New York, provoking comment in the newspaper offices of Europe while it was still ringing in the ears of the audience at the Union.
Special Silencer Used
In order that the noise of telegraph instruments which otherwise would annoy the speaker and audience may be avoided a silencer will be used at the Union. The sending key makes very little noise but the "sounder" a good deal. The latter is primarily for the receiving operators who listen to it and the sounders in New York will not disturb anyone in the Union. However, the sending operator must have a sounder in order to know what he is sending and whether all points are getting it. Accordingly, the usual sounder, which is an instrument about 5x3 inches in size, is replaced by a miniature sounder not bigger than a cubic inch. This is placed with an earpiece which rests over the sending operator's ear like a telephone head receiver. The operator thus hears the click of his instrument which is inaudible to others.
This device was used when President Wilson spoke in Mechanics Hall. At that time two wires were used, one carrying a running story of the address and the other a verbatim copy of the speech, which was taken down by four stenographers who worked in relays and transcribed their notes in a room at the rear of the platform. Though the President did not conclude his address until 4 o'clock that afternoon the greater part of what he said was printed in the afternoon papers the same day in the East while because of the difference in time, the papers on the Coast were able to use it in full. The same plan was used when President Lowell debated the League of Nations with Senator Lodge at Symphony Hall. Before the argument had ended, the A. P. had transmitted 4000 words on the event throughout the country, a second wire with extra equipment is usually installed and an expert "lineman" is in the building to watch the circuit and make a quick shift to the reserve wire if necessary. At the Boston Bureau, where the loop is connected with the trunk circuits, still another man "rides" the wire, listening to the matter going over it and quickly detecting any sound that indicates that at any point the "Morse" is not being received smoothly and clearly. In this way The Associated Press carries the news to 60,000,000 readers daily.
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