Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-01

4 q
WS5SSSSsscSl2SN San Francisco to China
| fMA IN across the Pacific will
| -WIM An it is said, be proposed
IN There are now half q
dozen cables across the
| Gurus ". Field. Atlantic, and the whole
world has been Joined together by cable
connections. The man who laid the first
cable lives here in New York, and called
upon him yesterday to ask him as to the
possibilities of the line across the Pacific.
His name. as everyone knows, is Cyrus w.
Field. He organized the company for the
building of the first Atlantic cable in 1854.
His line was 1900 miles long. 1t cost more
than 81 SOC, 900, and was failure. He tried
it again in 1885, and the cable spoke few
words and was silent. Then the war came,
and for eight years nothing was done.
FAILURE DIDN'T DISCOURAGE HIM
As soon as it had closed, however, Mr..
| Field again took up his scheme, and in 1866
the first successful cable was laid. Now
we have cables laid everywhere and there is
in Mr.. Fields Office great case filled with
sections of wire rope cut from the great
cables of the world. Mr.. Field told me
that there was no doubt that successful
| line could be made across the Pacific, and
he showed me q map which he had had
made in support of a similar scheme pro-
posed by him to Congress more than II
years ago. At this time Mr.. Field pro-
| posed cables for Japan, Australia and the
| Sandwich Islands, and the map shows that
| 1900 miles of cable would give us two
cables to Japan and one to Australia.
Taking the Northern route, running from
Puget Sound to Vladivostock and thence
down to Corea the distance is 1000 miles,
and to this adding 20 per cent for slack
would make cable of this kind extend
4, 300 miles from one continent to the other.
It is 2, 100 miles from San Francisco to the
Sandwich Islands and more than 8, 400 miles
from the Sandwich Islands to Japan.
With
THE SLACK IN THE CABLE,
for the line has to accommodate itself to the
hills and valleys on the bed of the sea, the
cable along this route from San Francisco
to Yokahoma would have to be 6,700
miles long. and branch line from the
Sandwich Islands running down to
Australia would be 5000 miles more, max
ing a total of II, 900 miles in all
found Mr.. Field in his office in the big
Field building at the foot of Broadway.
He is 72 years old and his hair is gray, but
he is full of vigor and he is as bright in
tellectually now as when he planned the
Atlantic cable nearly half century ago.
He is about six feet tall and rather spare
than otherwise. He has the same fine silky
hair, and somewhat the same features as his
brother, Judge Field, of the Supreme
Court, though he is more nervous and less
judicial in his aspect He is still one of the
rich men of New York, and is worth his
elevated road, and I asked him as to the
cable which was being put down on Broad
way. This brought up the wonderful growth
of New York City.
WILL BE THE GREATEST SEAPORT.
IT came to New York when I was Is, and
my first work here was in A. T. Stewards
York had only 26O, 900 people. I have seen
it grow right along from year to year until
now, with its suburbs and Brooklyn, it con-
tains more than 100000 people. London
has only 100000, and believe that this
will be the greatest seaport Of the world"
Chow about the growth of fortunes"
said L
sour great fortunes" said Mr.. Field, "are
among the wonders of modern times I
don't believe there was millionaire in the
country at the time of the Revolution and
now you may find one in almost every
county and in every city of the United |
States. 1t is not very long ago that the
richest man in the State of New York had |
only an income of 81 500 year in money. |
This was Van Rensselaer,, Of Albany, who |
died about so years ago, and who had at one
time 900 farms of 150 acres each under !
cultivation. He rented these out at per |
cent on their valuation and he had good |
deal of an income that came in kind, in the |
shape of farm products, etc His money |
income was, however, only $1,000 and he |
was considered the richest man of his day."
WE MAY HAVE A BILL1oNA1RR
'eWill we ever have billionaire?"
II can't say as to that" was the reply.
"New developments in nature and new |
elements in fortune making are coming in
to the field every day. This nitre king of
South America has, it seems, jumped to the
front as one OF the rich men of the time
and what can you tell as to the future"
II don't see why the chances for young
men are not as good now as ever. It is true
much is done by combinations of capital,
still, the field is larger and the possibilities
are fully as great AS to my advice to
you undertake. Be punctual in your ap-
pointments, be honest and be brief Re-
member that time is money and that brevity
and punctuality are among the best eIe-
ments Of success. I don't believe in long
business letters. There is no business so
important that you can't put the whole of
it on one sheet of paper. have cultivated
brevity throughout my life and think it
has paid me to do go. I believe in early
rising and find that my brain works best
between the hours Of six and eight in the
A STORY OF GLADSTONE
No man in the United States has more
friends across the water than Cyrus w.
Field. John Bright called him the "Co-
lumbus of modern times, who by his cable
had moored the New World along-si the
DID," and he knew Disraeli and has for
years been we'll acquainted with Gladstone
"Mr. Gladstone" said he, 'is great man
and q wonderful man in many respects. He
has one of the quickest minds in the world
to-day, and he has the power of reading a
book faster than any man I know. 1 re-
member an incident in connection with him
which illustrates this. 1t happened during
our civil war. Mr.. Gladstone was then
Chancellor of the Exchequer. I had come
10 London and had some business with him.
[ had been reading book which had greatly
me. 1t was entitled Thirteen
Months in the Rebel Army took it
With me when I went to see Mr.. Gladstone,
md told him thought he would be in
,erested in it. He asked, rs the book true?
Do you believe the statements in it can be
;rusted? Do you know the author?'
";No,' replied, L do not. But know
MS father, and think he tells the truth
REVIEWED IN A FEW HOURS.
'The author was young man who had
been in the South for his health at the time
he war broke out, and had been forced into
Ill |