The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-09-25

| perlty winch tne HERALD mas received ana Is
receiving from processing Christians of every
denomination, the position of truth and their
own utter insignifcance.
Immense Development OF the Telegraph
| System-Prop0sed Line from Moscow to
| st. Louis.
| We publish this morning the details of an
| enterprise which, if carried out, will do more
to change the relations of the world, so far as
they are governed by time and space, than any
which the adventurous spirit of modern science
has as yet attempted. Since the capabilities of
the submarine telegraph have been demon
strated by the success of the European lines,
and the partial realization of the Atlantic tele-
| graph various projects have been suggested
| for the connection of the four great divisions
| Of the earth by chain Of wires The first of
these plans -which seems to have been traced
out with conscientious appreciation of the
difficulties to be overcome and with something
like an approximative estimate of the cost of
construction and maintenance-is that which
we present to our readers today. Unlike most
of the schemes of similar character, which
have dazzled without convincing the public
mind, it emanates from man who is personally
acquainted with the entire route from Moscow,
one of the termini of the proposed line, to its
point Of submarine connection with the Ameri-
can continent Major Collins, the author of the
| plan, in his quality of Commercial Agent Of
| the United States for the AmoOr, made such
explorations in that region as entitle his state
/ in 70 ha ina Of ha
| route to the mouth of that river to the fullest
credit His report, made to Congress before
! the present project was thought of, contains in
| itself conclusive evidence on that point.
From the mouth of the Amoor two submarine
routes are laid down in this plan-one by
Behring's Straits and the other across the Sea
of Ochotsk to Kamschatka, and from thence
over a chain of convenient island posts to Sitka
New ArchangeI, the capital of Russian Anne
RIGA From this point no difficulty is antici-
pated in continuing the line by Vancouver
FRAZER river, Washington and Oregon to
Sacramento, San Francisco and ST. Louis.
Retracing the line back to Eastern Siberia,
we take in two other principal features of the
plan. BY making sudden detour to the south
| of Lake Baikal, and reaching Kyachta, it can
| be extended to Pekin, thus forming lateral
branch of thousand miles. At Sak-hah-lin,
| on the Pacific, which the main trunk traverses,
| another lateral line can be extended south.
| crossing the Straits of La Perousa and ira
versing Yesso to Hakodadi, which would then
become the great rendezvous and point of COM
munication with home for our Pacific whaling
| feet. These accomplished, the capitals Of the
three great empires Of Russia, China and ia
pan would be brought within weeks distance
of New York.
Having thus briefly touched upon the geo.
graphical features of the proposed route, we
have now few words to add in reference to
its estimated cost. Taking Behring's Straits
| as the point Of submarine connection between
the two continents, Major Collins calculates
the distance from Moscow to st. Louis at
| 14,040 miles. The cost of construction for the
whole of this distance, he estimates, would be
in round numbers s250O,0OO nearly fifth of
this amount being set down under the head of
contingencies. The cost of maintenance and
working would be about S675,0OO yearly, and
the annual receipts (minimum) S1,502, 900,
leaving clear annual profit of 1927 900. If
the business Of the line is not calculated at too
high figure, he is of opinion that it would
maintain a cost of ten millions Of dollars, and
pay eight per cent upon that amount of capital.
We will not enter into the question as
to how far Mr.. Collins estimates in re-
gard to the cost of construction and the
| pf Ia
His report is before our readers, and
they may be able to form some opin-
ion for themselves upon these points. This
much, however, we do say, that even if the
project were to cost five millions more in the
shape Of preliminary outlay, and half million
additional of annual expenditure, the vast in
tercsts that will be affected by the scheme
Justify the expectation that the returns which
the enterprise will yield will exceed the most
sanguine hopes of it's projectors.
That the plan has reasonable prospect OF
being carried out we are led 10 infer from the
encouragement it has met with from the Rus
sian and Canadian governments It is stated
that steps are also being taken to procure from
the Emperor Of Japan avd0able consideration
of the project, and the same efforts will no
doubt be made at Pekin, as soon as our rela-
tons with that court are placed on such foot
ing as will hold out a hope of success. 1t is to
be presumed that our own government, in
view of the rapid development which our trade
with these two great empires is taking, will be
disposed to do all that lies in its power to pro-
mote the scheme.