Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-04-05
= SATURDAY PRESS.
APRIL s. tssi
SATURDAY,


Plans for laying electric wires beneath the
earth, surface have been made without nun.
bet rhr method u dnpp,ing Of the telc
graphic condtucor seems indeed 10 have been
thought u by The earliest inventors of prac
iical tclegraphs, even to the exclusion II aerial
wires; and Nor Is in the United States, as we'll A.
Crook q Whcatstonc in England, cables which
have been cdcngiyclyu,ed for acknowledgement
Tor il must not be thought that the attempts
we have already noticed were the only attempts
made to lay wires underground The
English Telegraph companies, and Of late
year the English government have made many
attempts, with moro or less success. to establish
systems " subieuancan conductors. Until
lately, long line, SO laid have not shown
gliucring degree u moccss, al least not Tor
heightened periods put the short city lines Of
London and other large cites and towns have
Tor many years now been very fairly operate,
and have exhibited a very fair average Of durl.
bility. The system adopted has been to cstab.
lish At suitable distances from one another test
boxes and to connect these boxes by iron tubes
through which the insulated wires arc drawn,
these by insulated with gutta pircha and these
wires are with tnucd tape
Insulation was,i those dark days Of clectical
science, an unknown art, and thus these early
attempts became failures. Submarine cable,
have, from 1889 TO the present time, been con.
iinually laid with an ever increasing degree Of
success, and this IS in great measure due to the
suitability Of gutta.pcrcha as an insulating GOV.
cring for The wires.
During the last few years the French DE.
partmcnt Of Tclcgraph5 has constructed some
subtcuanean telegraph lines which are said 10
work satisfactorily. These also were laid rs a
matter Of military cxpedicncy, it being clear to
any one who watches the political horizon that
with any Of the Continental powers Of Europe
the only iudicious course to pursue is in time Of
peace to prepare for war.
Looking to this desirable end experiments
arc on foot, but, owing 10 the essentially
experimental nature Of the test, progress is
slow. Efforts have been made during the
by fiery statesmen to force the question.
but they have failed just as signally as though
they had forced the foundrics to cart pigiron in
tin wagons it could not de done at present
An EXAMPLE OF this kind was afforded in
Chicago in the spring, when the Mayor Of that
city by force Of arms threw down the lines Of
the Mutual Union. The pole .chopping and
wire'cutting was, however, Of no avail, for It
soon became apparent, even to Carter IIar
rison, that Chicago could not, in these
days afford to cut herself off from the outside
world. Still the agitation goes on, and
meanwhile the eompanys are preparing for
the inevitable. The Western Union is giving
an honest and thorough test to the Brook
system in Philadelphia and elsewhere the
Sectional Underground Co. has done con
siderable work in Chicago and Philadelphia,
and the Postal Company is constructing brick
tunnel under Fourteenth street in Washington.
We have heard good deal Of the great number
OF underground systems in operation in Ger
many, France and England, but a COMPARISON
with those in operation in this country expert
mental and otherwise might astonish the
statistician and place us well to the fore in
the record.
The name of the conglomerated underground
companies is legion, but the question OF sub
tenanean conductivity has not been solved and
while several systems have made some very
cTedilablc experiments, the perfect system has
no,yet been shown. Last year was particularly
active one for these enterprise. There is a
harvest in store for some Of them in the near