Long Distance (1941)

long distance long distance long distance millions of times every day in America a voice on a wire briefly and simply identifies itself in two words long [Music] distance these words form one of the most familiar phrases of our language it is a phrase that announces an unseen personality an alert young woman who needs to know only who or where in order to make a path for speech to town or Countryside Over the Horizon it suggests naturally a watchful feminine Presence at a switchboard and the supplementary agency that in a few seconds can select from countless Roots the one that best can take this speech to far away [Music] places these two words long distance represent more than the activities of switching and rooting they refer first of all to the roots themselves these roots are special ones supplied with equipment to make far speaking possible however great the distance many of them provide direct wires for communication between busy centers as modern substitutes for switching interruptions of an older Day by connection with the local systems of every area in the land they form the unified Network that pulses with the flow of talk expressing the activities of Industry agriculture government and the home life of the nation [Music] a quarter of a million miles of these specially equipped circuits are underground and the lines above the ground are so extensive that no man has ever seen them all a million poles parade across the landscape bearing the graceful drapery of the cables packed with wires or spreading the wires themselves along their tiers of cross arms some of them March beside the rolling traffic of the highways other columns head straight across the fields or through the forest Wilderness or over Desert [Music] Sands rivers are no barriers for the cables cling to Bridges or dive beneath the waters flowing on to the acor ocean at times ingenious structures take the wires over River beds that may be either dry or white with foaming water as the season Wills there are highways of wire that Bridge the entire land between the seaboards of the nation these vital transcontinental arteries scale the mountain ram parts of the East that once hemmed in the Builders of the infant Republic they stretch across the Prairies where the covered wagon made its plotting and heroic way they climbed the lofty ranges of the West to spread their circuits thousands of feet above the level of the sea they traversed the land where once the cry rang out Remember the Alamo they span the deserts of the Great Southwest where Coronado's men once bore the banners of old Spain the romance of America's growth speaks from the vast expanse now crossed so easily by the flying words of [Music] men it is an epic story for it tells of the creation of an Empire as vast territories were added to the new nation in less than a lifetime until its lands stretched from Ocean to [Music] ocean this romance is the story of explorers who Brave the dangers of an unknown Western Wilderness that they might discover for America what was encompassed in her new boundaries [Music] all [Music] [Music] it is the record of the Traders and trappers who are the Pathfinders of a coming civilization of the Pioneers who follow the Setting Sun to cross a continent making history with every weary mile it is the thrilling heartwarming story of faith and courage that faced without flinching the uncertainties and D ders of isolation a courage that laughed away the hardships that sang away the heartaches as the wagons creaked and lumbered along the Pioneer Trails [Music] and it is the story of still other Pioneers whose Enterprise and genius met the human need for links that would bind together men and families and communities though a continent was between [Music] and so a land was peopled so a scattered Society became a homogeneous one as obstacles to The Interchange of intelligence and ideas were conquered and so did Builders engineers and scientists give new meaning to a word that once meant months but now means seconds that once meant isolation but now means Unity to that arresting and significant word transcontinental [Music] [Music] but long distance means more than wires it also means waves waves that are tossed by antennas through the invisible ether so that the voice of America May leap over the seas to six continents and to ships at Sea while other wire fingers reach up to catch the waves that answer waves bringing news of exciting happenings in other lands waves holding reports from the nation's far away embassies waves that may carry the message of a king or a joyful greeting of a mother to a distant child and besides these wire and wireless channels to distant places long distance also means the art whereby the wires and wireless are brought together stationed like Sentinels along our country's eastern and western Shores are the houses of magic where sensitive apparatus and skilled attendants form and guard The Unbroken Pathways that span the seven seas in the telephone's conquest of time and space there are other houses of magic too hundreds of them placed with the Precision of engineering science without which the land wires would fail in their word bearing Mission just as the cry in other days was Fresh Horses for the stage coach so now must there be new energy for the electric currents that speed our speech to distant places repeaters are what these energizers are called it is because of them and the experts guarding them that the precious Freight of words upon the wires may be delivered undelayed and unharmed despite the distance of their travel nor are words the only freight that rides the wires there is music too that must travel unimpaired by the length of its Journey for long distance is each wire Network that brings to broadcasting stations the songs of the day the music of the Masters the voice of Statesman humorist newscaster it is the technique that links together with Split Second Precision the ever changing station groups it is the responsibility to judge Electric each spoken word each tone of Orchestra or singer before far off radio transmitters receive them but more than speech and music is Flowing along the wires there is the written word as well at many a switchboard is the sound not of voices but of tapping Keys as operators provide wire channels for typed Communications and so long distance means the circuits over which written messages may pass between telet typewriters it means other circuits too for carefully planned teletypewriter systems to the machines of great news Gathering organizations come the reports of what a busy world is thinking and doing and hoping there is sifting checking editing and then a million words a day are sent along 300,000 miles of wire to feed the waiting presses again there is special news for those who protect communities the alarms that tell of lawlessness and crime the warnings that help to trap and capture Public Enemies to meet the speed of Escape long distance gives the speed of the flashing word in one great area of the Northeast larger than that of all of Great Britain the police organizations of many states cooperate to utilize a special wire Network in their alert activities [Music] and who does not know of the federal agency whose vigilance and efficiency must be Nationwide in scope to its headquarters lead special circuits from every nook and corner of the land to report investigations to carry back instructions orders decisions to Interchange Vital Information for the protection of the public welfare and there is other vital news it is that which is compressed in the tur language of coded reports to guide the flying men of this modern day whose confident Passage through the air depends on what the wires tell of fog or wind or rain or sleet or Landing field ahead finally there are the organizations whose trust it is to defend the nation their Protective Services rest on the coordination of widely scattered units their far-flung activities are unified and mobilized through the Swift transmission of information of instructions of commands long distance is here too call to the colors and serving with pride and so long distance means many things waves wires antennas buildings many Arts many skills many functions a composite instrumentality ready for the task ahead and giving this instrumentality life and energy is the spirit that moves men and women everywhere who undertake the duties of [Music] communication it is the spirit that fights the storm and keeps the wires working come sleet or snow or hurricane or flood it is the spirit that speeds in routine or emergency alike the words that question that answer that decide that summon Aid or give it it is the age-old tradition of the message [Music] [Music] Bearer long distance long distance [Music] [Music]