Radio operation by steamship companies

The sinking of the Titanic brought out clearly some of the strong and weak points of the radio service at that time. Many of the weak points have not as yet been remedied. There is apparatus on many vessels, which is a disgrace to radio-communication. Much of it was out of date four to eight years ago. A possible explanation of this fact is found in the following considerations. The government departments usually get the best available apparatus because they employ experts who understand the science and art. So that high class apparatus is usually specified and bought from the manufacturer who provides the desired apparatus at the most reasonable cost. Apparently the steamship companies know very little about radio apparatus. Some of their vessels are equipped with apparatus which would not have been accepted by the navy ten years ago. In suggesting radio operation by the steamship companies, we should consider the matter of profit or greater profit. Paying and boarding the operator is probably the main expense in all cases. But there should be more or less work which could be done by the operator while listening for calls. At present, the radio operator on a steamship is a somewhat undefined position. He is paid by an operating company and carries on the business of that company; he signs with the steamship company; he takes his orders from the operating company; he is supposedly under the captain; he has charge of important work; and finally, he gets little, if any, more pay than an ordinary sailor. This confusing state of affairs should cease to exist if the steamship companies operated their own radio equipment. Let us contrast the conditions now existing with those which we might expect to exist if steamship operation of radio communication were generally adopted. Suppose at present the steamship companies are paying between one hundred and one hundred and fifty dollars per month for two unprofitably occupied operators, an inferior equipment, and inferior service. If now the steamship company were to buy a first class equipment (for which it would pay, say, three thousand five hundred dollars), and were to give two first class operators profitable work which would reimburse the company for their salaries and accomodations, the company should insure for itself and its passengers prompt and correct radio service under ordinary and distress conditions. It could secure a share of the message tolls received from the passengers, dividing the remainder of these tolls between the shore stations and the operators. It would place the operators in a definite relation to the remaining of the ship's crew. And it should be protected against patent suits by the manufacturer of the radio apparatus. It seems to me that the latter arrangement is far more satisfactory and profitable. With the salaries of the operators eliminated from the expenses to be charged to the radio service, the former rental of one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per month certainly should be more than sufficient to cover interest and depreciation on the thirty-five hundred dollar investment.