The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-11-01
The Jubilee Of Topography.

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The Jubilee Of Telcgraphy.
The jubilee OF electric telegraphy,
says the London Railway News, was
celebrated at a dinner in the Holborn
restaurant. The Postmaster. General,
Mr.. H. c. Raikes, N. p, PRECEDED, and
was supported by a large number Of
scientific and other gentlemen.
Mr.. Raikes, giving the progress OF
Telegraphy," said that by the perse.
vering efforts of many successive scien.
tific workers, the laws which gov
erned the action of that marvellous
force commonly called the electric cur
rent had, in 1887, become sufficiently
known to admit of it's being employed
Tor practical purpose. On the 25th
OF July, 1887, Messrs. Cooke and
Wheatstone succeeded in conveying a
message from Easton to Camden
Town. The instrument used display
ed five needles, from the different
movements of which the alphabet was
made up. This method, though
crude and imperfect. was the forerun-
ner OF the present system.
For some years after 1887 progress
was slow. The requirements of the
railways gave the first impetus. Tele-
graphy was first used on the London
& Blackwell and other railways
for signaling purposes. In 1914
the government of Sir Robert
Peel conceived the idea OF
using the telegraph for other than
railway purposes, and of seeing how
far it could be employed in the service
OF the state. The success of the rail-
ways and Of the Admiralty led in 1s4e
to the establishment of the first tele.
graph company-the Electric-for the
purpose of applying t~elegraphic COM
munications to commercial and do.
mestic purposes. In 1850 the first at
tempt was made to lay a submarine
cable. A guttapercha wire without
any covering was laid between Dover
and Calais. This cable was broken
shortly afterwards, and another, pro.
tected by iron wires, was laid between
the same points in 1851. In August,
1858, the first Atlanticcable was laid.
1t must be a great satisfaction to any
one connected with these works to
have lived to see the enormous devel-
opment of telegraphy in the serv-
ice of mankind. Telegraph COM
panies multiplied throughout the
length and breadth of the
land, but the competition, though in
some TespeGts advantageous. was i'm
perfecf 3nted, and in 1870 thesys.
led by the Government,
connection with the
"a numhfosrso1w1res uss
were next employed, an
eventually it was found that one We
/ sufficient. Ultimately it was disco
cred that four messages could /
transmitted on a single wire, two
= either direction. and at the preser
time q single wire was being used
the Post Office in such away SO as t
! admit OF six messages In one directio
or one in one direction and five in tt
other, or six in any combination.
Those who had perfected these wor
derful operations might be thankfl
that they lived in the reign of on
3 3 present queen-for had they lived i
the days of good Queen Bess the
!, would have expiated their s~cientif
! offenses by being burnt at the stak,
The first five needle instrument wa
succeeded by the double needle, an
the double needle by the single, all b.
ing visual. Then came the system q
> enclosing the letters on a banG
: followed by the Hughes printing il
, strument, by which the actus
letters were printed in ink. Th
Sounder instrument was afterward
introduced, and the message transmit
ted by sound without any record
The speed OF transmission had rise
) from four to five words q minute o
the five needle instrument to a rate {
462 words q minute-on the Whei
stone automatic instruments spec
IN practical use FOR press messages bt
! tween London and Dublin. The rat
OF speed had, therefore, been increase
! q hundredfold in half a century. I
the year ended June 3Oth, the nun
| Der OF kilograms transmitted throug
the postofice in the United Kingdor
was 81 IL millions, Of which Al l.
millions were in land messages.
very great proportion were pres
messages, the rate OF which did no
average more than twopence q hun
dred words. The cost to the publ
revenue OF this reduced rate was no
less than 100000 q year, whic]
newspapers practically received as
subsidy in order that the Goyernmen
might assist in the diffusion Of intelli
gence. Two years ago the averag
value Of a telegram to the State wa
3d., whereas withtho present reduced
rate it was only Sd, as compared Will
I2s. I'd. before thegovernment acquired
the system. As one OF the public h
regarded these figures with satisfac
tion, but as Postmaster General b.
was bound to look upon them witt
somewhat mixed feelings. In conclu
sion. he touched upon The influence o
biography in binding together races
Of mankind and spreading civiliza
ton.
MI. j. Fender spoke, not as 4
scientist, but as a. commercial man
III mh0 with nthara hnd faRnn rciann<