The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-05-04
THE TELEPHONE.
DIFFICULTIES WHICH SURROUND
LONG, DISTANCE COMMUNICATION.
Absolutely Perfect Condition of the EIe-
ments Required-The Telegraph More
Reliable and Less Troublesome
Liability to Error.
[Cor. Cincinnati Commercial Gazette

/ lCOr. Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
Granting that long distance telephone
| will be forthcoming. it will require an
absolutely perfect condition of the ele-
ments along the route over which the wire
runs; there must be no RAIN no fog, no
sleet, nor mist no moisture in the atmos-
| phere, no electrical storms. and, besides,
! there must be invented a more perfect
system of insulation of the wires where
! they come in contact with the poles than
is used or known at the present time. "A
means must also be devised to entirely
overcome induction (the influence exerted
by the current on one wire over another
running parallel with and in close prox-
Unity, or, in other words, overcome
Itself, for wherever you have a current
you have also induction, or an induced
current
After all these difficulties have been
overcome there still remain many reasons
why it will not be a success.
If an inferior means of communication
attempts to supplant superior one, what
must be the result?
For long distances the telegraph is as
much superior to the telephone as the
limited" express trains are superior to a
canalboat-not for a single isolated case,
but for the volume of business that is
daily sent over the telegraph wires.
A telephone wire between Cincinnati
and New York would be capable of &C
commodating not to exceed six customers
per hour, allowing ten minutes to each,
Including the time necessary for calling
the exchange here and for the exchange
to call New Y ork, and for that exchange
to ring up the party with whom the
Cincinnati customer desires communica-
ton.
At this rate-a very liberal allowance
only six communications per hour would
no nT NfN- odd for
twelve hours. The great bulk of COM
munications between these cities is of
commercial nature and generally of much
importance, nearly all of them requiring
transmission between the hours of a. m.
and p. m. mine hours. This would ne
cessitate one wire for every six persons
using the telephone per hour during that
time For the accommodation of the Gin
Cinnad customers alone there would have
to be no less than ten direct wires. and
then the anxious customers would have to
almost constantly face tie usual cry of
Wire in use; call again. "
Now, taking into consideration all the
cities west and south of this place which
would look to Cincinnati for their eastern
communications, the number of wires
would reach well up into the hundreds.
At Pittsburg lover the middle route, at
Cleveland (oVer the northern route) the
number would be more than doubled; and
this. to for wires actually needed to sup
ply the western demand for connection
with New York city; not taking into con-
sideration the great demand that would
arise for wires to all the other important
eastern cities, such, for instance, as Bos-
ton, Philadelphia, Washington, Balti-
more, etc. It would require the duplica-
ton of the present number of telegraph
wires throughout the United States and
Canada ten times over.
No sir. the telephone will never become
q competitor of the telegraph for the trans
mission of the telegraph is quicker, more
reliable, less troublesome to the customer,
and, besides, it Is, or should be, RESPONSE
bic for all errors.
The coming long distance telephone will
be a plaything, nothing more Put a
mark on the assertion.