New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-30
CODES FOR CABLING.
INGENIOUS METHODS OF SAVING TOLLS
WHERE THE COMPANY DRAWS THE LINE ON
FANTASTIC COMBINAIloNS


FANTASTIC COMBINATIONS
With the cost of sending cable hispa''n''
other PARTS OF the world varying from '"''S -
cents to more than s. word. internauon'' s"P
zinc firms have made study of IN" most CO..
r,.S ,at r,otbods of woudng their messages. ane
GRO to-day on the lookout for a code that VIII '''
nine simplicity with economy IN the most S"''
factory degree. -,,,,,
rho Introduction Of the code system oi "or"'"s
ca bic dispatches has been accompanied "l ~"
70 minimize the cost In ways not calculate" ="
cor,rihute materially to the profits of tie cane
comnanos 4 practice which provoked opposition
was the forming Of = code in which comh'r''''
terms and phrases were represented nN s'"-" ~
tors of the alphabet In this way long ""SS"rs
could be- sent in only few so-call"d words 'o"r
posed Of letters which spelled nothing but meant
Volumes 10 the receiver acquainted with inc 'sn"-
canoe of each letter III the code
The absolute refusal 10 transmit cao' "i'fn'''
containing these Irregular SERIES OF letters put
stop to that species OF con'' -.
Whom = Tribune reporter saw Mr.. 'lapp'f''h NJ
the Commercial Gable Company regarding the rex
,,r,tiors now i'm force he said that the CONNER
ciaI has rule requiring all code WORDS 10 nav
no more than ten letters each ana 10 h' o''
such words as be found III Stah""i" W.
tionarv. Mr. Clapperion illustrated the mportanc'
of connnng the codes to legitimate words oy III
ing an instance in which an American h hone
wrote tie following II essage.
brown Newly ork-Desolate detrimental lc"'e
for Genoa tonight
The words dcsolate' and detrimental p'lpahy
apncared as part Of A code and were accepted -
such pv the receiving clerk in the Roman olh''.
Rut when the native searched through the 'o"s
vocabulary ne could not md any oi IN" "''''
words whose meaning was Il blank TO me- l'''"
mind except Genoa" which he recognized AS
native lppelation. consequently. he refused nc
message maintaining that there were no Su'h
~ ,rds Tho Arlerican naturally indignant. insisted
that the words were pure. Undecided English tn"
clerk was obddrate. The American protested 10
the officials IN charge. who recognized ih' Jusile
Of hi, claim. and the clerk WAS admonsh'd sun
seauentv when code message containing alleged
words made Of letters having separate meanings
were offered to ,ho Roman clerk. he accepted them
as pure English. although they would look some
thing like this Ygpqrzt. Rather than run inc r-k
Of another reproof from his chief. the clerk no
longer questioned messages and this encourages
the senders OF code messages to write dispatches
in g, nbinations OF irtiers which reduced the cable
tolls TO a minimum. The result WIS th' otp'r pro,
hibiting codes which do not consist OF standard
words and by this regulation no neS-ag" ~ r.
fused whose words can be found IN 'l'u"h'v ~
the clerk
The devices TO ovade cable tolls A. much A. pos
sible included scheme Of " I@tln COZ. Nn.n
OF code words which were ALLEGED 10 h' LAIN ~
the sendcrs close investigation was in-ntnt,i.
which resulted in the discovery that IA" words,
Will. ~, airing some faint resembling" 10 LAM
were in reality related to no languag" ON "auh.
from a so-called Latin Combination code" com
pied by Mr. I.nde. and privately printed Al cal
clltta Examination showed that IN" compiler had
not attempted TO select his roots or termlnaiion-
any principle Of etymolosy; but thr'w tos"ihcr
fictitious roots" 10 which he added imposshl"
Organizations" either invented by himself 81 pro-
miscuousy taken from Latin. Spanish and italian
The only principle which appeared 10 have guild
ed the compiler was desire To obtain code words
differing from each other as much as possible. and
i'm order t. arrive at this result ho IN most cases
their character without hesitation in order 10 attain
tho required variations Ills code contained lp"o
NJ Iha Ind. code
are shown in the following: "Polbuclos. fuxiles"
in India informed MIR Ilnde that his code was in
combinations have been extensively adopted by
Another code which encountered opposition from
the cable companies was the A GO code IN
which whole phrases were represented by letters
a multitude OF combnat lions formed Of two letters
each. a "onsonant and the other vowel when
joined looked like a legitimate word at cursory
glance some. for instance. were 'epi'arides y
"oxodic, "penaburase NowHls and consonants
regularly alternated The arrangement OF these
combination was effected by III" method employed
I'm an old Greek cipher The letters wer" placed
I'm ten columns numbered from to O. When II
or sold the sender found thu column OF letters un
der the first figure of the desired number. and FOL
lowed the letters down to the two which appeared
on the horizontal line marked with the name Of
horizontal rows Of letters and each row rcpresen'ed
Il different criticize. chests of tea. bales or
erers and p1t T gS ten in 40 Word me limit al
lowed by the cable companies quantity OF soo cs
few teims that the expense Of the dispatch MA wa
considerably reduced. The cable tolls aoinlt th.rs
dgures ~ Il word. which Is different from a IN
charges for domestic messages whcn coo"' '"N"
figure i'm A number as a word 49,, ...,,o, ~
The most elaborate cable code ~ tne cr'a'.yh =,
Iohn & fairfield an expert In that me, AZ NJ =.
Hroad-st He has compiled vocabulary on "Vbas
,,"n,hrred from Coz eO to 225 oc. The book ma
nor. than 1000 pages and = AS iarge as ' 20 ~
i,I,srs used I'm business offices. There ar lIS,''
words devoted dialogue There are s's1 "oo o
\, M GENERAL phrases As specimens OF lh' con-
dcnsaiions the description OF a market AS ,aen Ns
-, ia In me single term "balobo. An adNah'"
~ tOIu , III exnected later IL described by "banan-
ssoia The message. III foreign advices continue
strong we shall certainly advance Is condensed
briefly into "bankhouder ,,,
house has a separate syst"m. guarded closely Tho
money saved by the use OF codes l. enormous. ana
the comparative cheapness secured has enabled
American merchants TO operate IN every country on
the globe to far greater advantage. An ordinary
message II sent In the language of conversation.
would cost 500 for a few dozen words. but 10y tho
use Of "A code the dispatch r. shortened untl the
cost is "A mere bagat,llc to large nrn.
The makers OF codes have not been famous for
wealth. however. .One little code which has been
popular for years'with many shippers. and which
has saved fortunes Ia cable tolls VAS complied by
n man who died In the streets Of London from
starvation.