The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-11-09
cAeLE RATES AND RULES.
How They May ne Utilised to Trsnsf
Cash At Small Cost.


How They May 10 Utilized to Transfex
Cash NJ Small Cost.
t. ia possibls 10 take advantage OF the
rules otthe cable companies regarding pre-.
payment of messages to transfer small
amounts Of money by wire. C~ablegrauns
will not be sent collect, neither may the
sender guarantee the payment Of tolls upon
q reply to u message, but he can prepay
puch reply 10 tie extent Of 30 words by de-
posittng cash to that amount at the origi-
Mating Office and stA&ing in his cablegram,
Reply. 10 words prepaid" or whatever
number It words hs may mention within
the limit
Fer this phrase he pays usual tolls.
When tbs message il delivered to the per
son addressed, the cable company at the
same thine hands him in cash the amount
Of prepayment. The party getting tho mon
ey Gun use 1t to send the reply wanted or
otherwise ms be sees fit. The smallness OF
the amount involved prevents my undue
advantage being taken Of this system.
which has been found Of great convenience
in a legitimate way. rs even the shortest
cablegram is expensive, while prepayment
reasonably guarantees q reply.
Considering the fact that very few cable
grams are Ineligible to the operators, the
mistakes made are surprisingly few, and
such as do occur are quite as often due to
the poor penmanshfp Of the writer as to
carelessaoss on the part OF cable employees.
When mistakes do creep in, however, the
result may be serious If not detected, as an
error il a snale letter may radically alter
the meaning Of . message.
For example, cheaper may be used to
signify, Send 5000 bags of coffee to III
careatBoston," while cheaper may stand
for the same phrase, except the substitu'
ton Of Philadelphia for Boston.
A careless writer or negligent operator
would here have an excellent opportunity
to make q costly biunder. The codes are
arranged 40 far as possible to preclude mis-
ty Of cipher words. but risks cannot be on.
tirely eliminated.
1t costs nothing to register an address
with the telegraph and cable companies In
America and Great Britain, whereby one
word will stand for the full name Of the
firm, and thus reduce the cost of cable
grams, out OH the continents the various
governments impose a yearly tax for the
privilege, small as it is.
The average citizen has no doubt often
.speouIated how the cable people handle
messages written in foreign languages
that is, bow q native operator at, say, St.
Petersburg or Mecca can intelligently trans
init teleRrams written in English. The ex-
PLANTATION Is exceedingly simple.
The only requirement. Of the cable lines
is that all messages must be written in
Roman letters. This being done, it is as
easy for the operator to send or receive the
French word ''guerre' as its English equiv
alent, war" etc.
A telegram written In Russian or hen
track Turkish paralyzes the Morse alpha.
bet until it is translated into equivalent
French, English or other Roman text, when
it can be licked off merrily by an operator
absolutely unfamiliar with these languages,
out who knows the telegraphio signs for
the letters,
The tariff books issued by the cable
companies make interesting reading. The
rate per word from New York to South
Africa is G.. 40; to Cape Colony and Trans
vaaA, ss.4B; Mozambique, $2.41, and Zanzi,
bar, $g.15. To New South Wales via one
route the rate is $1.6 per word and via an.
other lineGS3.57. To Burmah 81. 81 is charged,
and to Baloochistan, $l,l3. The rate tc
China is 81 90 and to Japan $~2.21.-Phila
delphia Times.