 The Conquest of Time and Distance in Communication. A miracle of the modern age. Messages flash from ship to shore, from cockpit to control tower, from news agency to editor's desk. Instantaneous communication, a primary need of our complex society, made possible through intricate systems of wires, cables and radio. Telecommunications have made the whole world neighbors. Yes, I would like to send a telegram to Tokyo, please. Tokyo, Japan. Samples approved. Expedite shipment. Operator, I would like to make a call to Stockholm, Sweden, please. 6-1-1-2-3-5. Thank you. The story of telecommunications is an impressive record of constant technological advances and of a century of growing cooperation among nations. But how did it all begin? Following the work of several pioneers with electrical telegram systems, Samuel Morse in the year 1837 succeeded in using the metallic wire as a carrier of coded words. His invention, called the electromagnetic telegraph, started a technical revolution. The tapping of this simple key marked a giant step forward from the drums and smoke signals of earlier times. In 1844 Morse opened the first public telegraph line. His invention was a dramatic success. It enabled man to communicate with his fellow human beings over great distances. Human messengers were soon replaced by the wire, but only within the limits of national boundaries. Before wires could cross boundaries, there had to be international agreements. In May 1865, delegates from 20 nations assembled in Paris to create the International Telegraph Union. This organization became the first international agency to coordinate a public utility. It brought into effect international standards of operation, a uniform tariff system, and the use of the code of dots and dashes devised by Morse. Soon distant parts of the world were linked by land lines and undersea cables, and the telegraph became an integral part of the commercial, political, and social dialogue among men. In 1878, another remarkable invention was born in the laboratory of Alexander Graham Bell, the telephone. It was a phenomenal achievement at the time. The criss-cross of telephone wires soon changed the face of big cities all over the world. Millions of young men and women went to work in the new industry. The end of the 19th century signaled another landmark. Tireless experiments by pioneers such as Marconi and Popov brought radio, the most versatile means of communication. The wireless transmission and reception of electromagnetic impulses offered unlimited possibilities. The work of the International Telegraph Union now embraced the telephone and the radio as well. In 1932, it was renamed the International Telecommunication Union. With its affiliation to the United Nations in 1947, the Union assumed the longest ancestry in the United Nations family of specialized agencies. This modern building in Geneva, Switzerland, now houses the Union's headquarters. The broken, 8,000 broken visibility, nine or miles. Temperature 7, 8, 2.72, wind 1,900 degrees, eight knots. Expect an approach to one way, one, three, right or left. This is WA-2TDH, WA-2 Thomas, David Henry in New York City, Midtown Manhattan following. The worldwide expansion of the various channels of telecommunications presents one serious problem. Telecommunications make liberal use of radio waves. The radio spectrum is overcrowded with waves scrambling around the earth every second of the day and night. This poses a constant threat of harmful interference. A primary role of the International Telecommunication Union is to prevent this potential chaos through international agreements on the use of radio frequencies. This is the task of the Union's International Frequency Registration Board, which maintains a record of radio frequencies in use throughout the world. Member countries are required to notify all their frequency assignments to the board. Each week, more than 1,700 such notices are received, submitted to a technical examination, and published in the board's International Frequency Register. Computers help to sort and tabulate this voluminous data.