MAGIC OF SATELLITES

_ Transistors assist scientists

to unravel-m

eens by the Soviet.

Union of the first artificial
satellite has aroused tremend-
ous interest in the instru-
ments being used fo measure
ultra-violet and cosmic rays
and transmit the information
back to earth.

The reports indicate that
this first Soviet satellite car-
ries only a limited number of
instruments. but there is no
doubt that the future Soviet
satellites will be more elabor-
ately equipped with intricate
electronic gadgets — each ‘far
more complicated than any
ordinary radio set.

Perhaps you have been
wondering how fragile radio
valves can possibly survive
the shock of being rocketed
hundreds of miles above the
earth; how all this electronic

' gear can be packed into a
sphere no bigger than a medi-
cine ball;
sure the equipment will- not
break down.

Now, radio valves don’t last
for ever. But radio valves, as
we know them, are _ not
being used. Transistors, which
do the same job, are being
used instead.

Transistors are very tough
— unlike ordinary’ valves
there is no vacuum in a glass
bulb. To look at they are just
pieces of grey metal (germa-
nium) with wires attached.

They are very small—half
the length of a matchstick,
and not much thicker.

Moreover ttheir electric
power requirements are much

simpler than -for ordinary
valves, No bullky ‘power
pack” or H.T. batteries are

required.» A small flashlight
battery is all that’s needed.

So altogether there is. a
great saving of space with

- transistor equipment.

Again, transistors have long
working lives. Many have
been operated in laboratory
tests continuously for years
without breakdown.

be tt xt

A recently published book,
Transistors Work Like This,
“by Egon Larsen, while in-
tended for young people, is
recommended to all who
have an interest in the tech-

~ nological revolultion in which
we live. aie

Fascinating examples are
-given of the small, compact,
more reliable electronic ap-
paratus that is possible whet
transistors are used.

Among the first practical
result was the production of
small inconspicuous deaf aids,
One type is concealed in a
pair of spectacles.

A section of the book is de-
voted to detailed instructions
for building a transistor radio

s

how .we can be’

’

receiver in a small cigar box,
with electricity provided by a
4%-volt flashlight battery.

However, as Larsen points
out, smaller- and more reli-
able radios and television sets
will not be the most signifi-
cant results of the use_ of
transistors.

It has been realized, es-
pecially since the great ad-
vance in electronics during
the war, that a high order
of automatic control could -be

built into many machines by”

the addition of electronic
devices..

But “old fashioned” elec-
tronic equipment is far too
bulky, heavy and liable to
break down. Transistors make
such automatic control a
practical proposition.

xt be x

Transistors make it pos-

_sible for the artifical satellite

to send back information on
its position by radio and en-
able scientists to track it as
it hurtles around the earth.
They enable the complicated

ysteries of space

electronic recording apparatus
to be packed into the small
space available and guarantee
that the apparatus will sur-
vive, in working order, the
severe stress of the launching
rocket.

The most useful application
for transistors that can be

forseen is in the automation

of industpy.

The automatic factory of
the future will depend on the
electronic “brains” controlling

mechanical “hands” freeing
human brains and human
hands for more interesting,

less tedious work. :

Thanks to transistors the
development of small, reliable
electronic control units, re-
quiring little maintenance, is
now possiblle.

Transistors will play a key
role in the 20th-century in-
dustrial revolution and in
creating the super-abundance
of manufactured goods that
will make Communism an
electronic reality.

TED ROWSELL

‘Way to the heart’

[X= every other intellec-

tual force in a monopoly
system, the American press
has become almost a mon-
opoly itself. Anybody is
free to start a competitive
daily newspaper in New
York, San Francisco or Los
Angeles—he is free as hell
if he has four or five mil-
lion dollars, He must also
be able to get department
store and other big adver-
tising.. It is this advertising
that makes the papers pos-
sible — without it, they
would quickly die.

So what chance does a
small radical paper have,
sans millions, sans adver-
tisers? Yet .there has al-
ways been a valiant radical
press in America, some-
times up, sometimes down,
but always, by the laws of
capitalist bookkeeping, a
financial bankrupt.. It has
been the sacrifices of the
readers, .their hard - won
nickels and dimes that have-
maintained this radical
press, which by default to-
day, bears the main burden
of a democratic press in
America.

No genius of a promoter
can hope to bring an im-
mense circulation to the
radical press, Only the
swelling of some great na-
tional emergency can ever

.

do that. But to me there
has never been a doubt
that a bigger circulation
was always possible if we
would learn to develop a
lively and popular style in
our. journalism.

Too often has our politi-
cal literature and daily and
weekly journalism been
couched in the jargon of a
sect, Sects always tend to
develop a private language
that cuts them of from the
main stream of humanity.
If I had my way I would
demand that every writer
for socialism in America be
compelled to study Marx
and the Marxist classics, as
well. as American writers
like Mark Twain.

Socialist in content,
‘ American in form and style
—that should be the form-
_ula,I believe. There should
also be a little robust west-
ern fun in our journalism
a — few surprises now and
then.

How often have Isheard,
in arguments, that the cor-
rect political line was all
that mattered, style was
nothing. But literary style
is of great political import-
ance — it is the key to
the heart of the people.

—MIKE GOLD in the San

This sounds familiar

Francisco People’s World.
@

TEEN AGER, Vancouver,

B.C.: Grandma was probably -

quite a girl in her day, and
mother often talks of the
“flapper” age after the First
World War. My older sister
was crazy about Johnny Ray
a few years ago.

Yet none of them seem to
understand my generation, and
most of them seem to have
very little confidence in us.

It is true that we have bro-
ken many taboos of other gen-
erations, but that doesn’t mean
that we are “going to the
dogs.” In grandma’s day no
“nice” girl would wear slacks
smoke or use lipstick. Still,
she used to go on hayrides and
the “sparking” she talks about
seems to prove that some
things haven't changed so
much since her day.

My parents are always harp-'

ing on the fact that I have more
money to spend than they
ever had at my age. Well, why
not? If I make as much money
baby-sitting for an evening as
my grandfather made for
working hard all day, is that
my fault? There is more money
around now (even though a
dollar buys less) because un-
ions helped workers get a big-
ger share. If my grandfather
worked for two bucks a day,
does that mean that I should
want to go back to such con-
ditions?

Young people today are per-
betually criticized, but if we
are as bad as they say, what
will happen to the world? At
least we aren’t the generation
that made the atom-bomb.

The ways of one generation
are never suitable for the next,
and I suppose in twenty years
we'll be giving all the orders
to our sons and daughters,
and telling them how good we
were back in the “Presley
age.”

Conditions at laundry

READER; Nanaimo, B.C.: I
watch television once ‘in a
while, and sometimes take
note of the commercials and
the programs they sponsor,
that’s how I ran into “Cru-

\sader,” sponsored by Nelson’s

Laundries, the series about the
exploits of a Yankee super-
man news reporter who res-
cues’ people from behind the
“Iron Curtain,” defeating’ ail
armed pursuers with his bare
fists.

Sponsoring such programs
costs some dough and I began
to wonder how the men and
women who worked for Nel
son’s fared financially.

So I talked to some of the
workers at the Nelson’s plant
here, and learned something of
the sweatshop conditions
they toil under.

With an incentive plan that

© : e i é (5
Prizewinning letté!
Each week the 7 i
fic Tribune Will et
a book to the Wr on.
the most interesting al

; textaining ant re
letter pu re
page. Contributors let

ir J
urged to keep the |
Hate to a reasonab

length. ' et
The prize-winnlaé
ter in our last iss” or,
written by Steelwo
Vancouver, B.C.

is based on the usual PI
work and cut-throat be f
an efficiency expert US. {0
imported from the ok es
“sell” this plan to the ed that
He tries to convince the ra
the company is very * .
that old machinery (4 yp
ployees) must be spect and
in order to produce ™ "tne
make more profits nual!
company, so that eV" | ig
newer machinery ¢@?
stalled.

Well, the long and
it is) the workers © ye
very hard, but the pe
pay seems to be MWe
little out of reach

rt-0
ee

for the af

jority. After highbal fof
reach the basic quota chin?
start of a bonus, 4 :

breaks -down, or they e ant
up on material to be dor nats
have to go home with vie of

‘six hours’ pay, A guar

a full 'shift’s pay seems ©
unheard of. og Well
_ What about the pe jes
there is a union — # gree
there is a signed union ee
ment. In my opinion the @
ment isn’t one of the P®
a three-year contract ais?
with a nickel hourly
each year. Y
The vicious piece-work .
tem and incentive plan ?

: 0
“eration at Nelson’s canm®

changed for the better au
out the cooperation 0°
whole union moveme?” tbe
cluding the parent body:
Canadian Labor Congres
In. my humble opiniO® 4
this age of the mete
strength of the trade un
no community should be Wand
out its influence in corre? nd
such intolerable wages ef”
working conditions a5 ~
tioned above. :

Science fiction?

L.A., Vancouver, B.O¥ og
man - made satellite cif 4
the earth reporting to 4 ie
humanity — dead from at?
fallout! : of”
Yesterday, had anyone ©,
jured up such a picture, 98
should have regarded it 1h,
science fiction. Today? We
after reading American © ial
tary comments on artifi¢
satellites I think we should :
redouble our efforts to get M a
H-bomb banned and prev®
this grim picture becoming

* reality.

October 11, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE