Monday, Aug. 23, 1926

Red Waves

Can Soviet Russia force recognition from the U. S. by any conceivable means?

Suppose a radio station were set up at Moscow of sufficient potency to drown or "crash through" the programs of U. S. broadcasters. Suppose radio listeners in the grain and hog belts of the U. S. found their favorite station blotted out by an ether tidal wave of Communist propaganda. Would, or would not, the millions of U. S. listeners-in force the Administration into contact with the Soviets?

The cables touted last week that there is being erected at Moscow a broadcaster powerful enough to "crash through" any European station. Reputedly Soviet propaganda will be released daily at the hour, in the language, and on the wave length of the principal European stations. At the pleasure of the Third International, the new station may assumedly be used to produce "radio tidal waves" of "artificial static."

Though the U. S. stands in no immediate prospect of a Moscow station powerful enough to "jam" stations across the Atlantic, European statesmen were distinctly vexed, last week at the probability that millions of Godfearing, Capital-revering Europeans will soon be listening to such siren-tongued orators as the Soviet regime can muster.