The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-06-20
HOW FAST DO TELEGRAMs TRAVEL ?

The question is often asked, How long
does it take for a telegraph message to
travel from San Francisco TO New York
People who are transacting business with
the other side Of the continent not Unfre-
Guently complain of the delay which inter-
venes between the dispatch of a message
from here and the receipt of the reply from
the Atlantic Coast. AS q matter of fact
the sender of a message from San Francisco
rarely gets an answer the same day, though
such things have happened.
The velocity with which electricity
travels through a wire has been Teckoned
by Siemens, BOltZmann and others, and the
results Of their calculations, though vary
ing, have led to the general conclusion that
the time consumed is too short to be apDre-
ciabe, except by instruments constructed
for the purpose. Faraday pointed out long
ago that the interval between the sending
and receipt of a message must vary with the
capacity of the wire and other circum-
stances, but the variations are sure to be
slight. A set of experiments were made
last week at McGin College, Montreal with
a view to arrive at exact results. The Ca
madam Pacific Railroad COmpany's tele-
graph wire was connected at Cans0, Nova
Scotia, with the Commercial Cable Com
pany's transatlantic wire, and a duplex
circuit was arranged by land and sea with
the cable company's receiving station at
Waterville Ireland When the circuit was
complete signals were sent from Montreal
TO WaterYille and back to the point IF de-
parture without break. a distance of about
5000 miles. One hundred and twenty sig
nails were so dispatched, and it was found
by the chrOnograph that the average time
consumed by the signals in their journey of
5000 miles from McGill College and return
was los seconds. In other words the actual
time taken in transmission was so short as
to be scarcely appreciab!e.
If there was no break in the telegraph
circuit between San Francisco and New
York, and no repetition of the message on
the way, it would reach its destination
almost instantaneOusly-afte allowing for
the time consumed by the operator in send
ing and receiving. For instance, the longi-
tnde Of San Francisco being 1929 % SO, and
that of New York being 7i0 90 O3'. and the
consequent difference in time being 3 hours,
Is minutes and 39R seconds, message dis
patched from San Francisco at 10 o'clock in
the morning would reach New York at
about 1 :16 in the afternoon, if we allow two
receiving; and if the party to whom the
message was addressed was standing in the
telegraph Office to receive it, and prepared
to answer on the spot, his reply could be re-
ceived here at about 10 o'clock in the
morning, allowing FIVE minutes for him to
write il, and as many minutes for sending
and receiving the two messages.
As a matter of fact, the telegraph sys-
tens between the two coasts of the con-
tinent, are under one control, but
the circuit is so long that a message
from this city is taken from the wires at
Ogden and Chicago, and perhaps Omaha,
and repeated from these points, all OF which
takes time. Then again, each message is
transmitted in the order of its priority, and
! thus considerable delay may ensue before
dispatch gets on TO the wires, after it has
been received at the office in Montgomery
street.
AS financial and commercial transactions
increase, the necessity for more rapid and
direct telegrapbic communication viii be-
come apparent At present the difference
in time between London and New York is
nearly FIVE hours. Thus when the Stock
Exchange closes at New York at o'clock
in the afternoon it is only 10 o'clock in the
morning in London, and operators in New
| York receive the opening quotations in Lon
! don, upen which they can base their deal
| ings. If our Stock Exchange in this city
should ever become active again, and Lon
don and New York should again begin to
| operate in our securities, they would insist
| on quicker communication between the two
| sides of the continent