Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-11-06
CHINESE TELEGRAPHY.
Numerals Flashed over n Wire and
Translated by a Code.
Seyr XorL Sun

~
China are now connected with one an
other and with Peking, the capital, by
telegraph. Recent visitors to China
say. however. that telegraphing there
is a labOrious and an expensive pro-
cess, and that the lines are a charge
upon the State Treasury instead OF a
source OF revenue.
The dispatches are, OF course, sent in
Chinese, for not one in many
thousands OF the natives knows any
language except his own. But the
Chinese have no alphabet. Their IT.
erary characters, partly Geographic,
partly phonetic. number many thou
sands. 1t is simply impossible to in
vent telegraphic signals that would
cover the written language. Here
was an obstacle in the way OF using
the telegraph at all.
The difficulty was obviated by in
venting a telegraph signal for each OF
the cardinal numbers, and 80 Numbers
or figures might be telegraphed to my
extent. Then code dictionary was
prepared, in which each number from
one up 10 several thousands stood for a
particular Chinese letter or telegraph.
The sender OF the message need not
bother himself about its meaning. He
may telegraph all day without the
slightest idea OF the informatiau he is
sending for he transmits only numerals,
1t is very different with his friend.
the receiver. He has the code die.
tionary at his elbow, and after each
message is received he must translate
it, writing each literary character in
place OF the numeral that stands for
it. Only about an eighth of the words
IN the written language appear in the
code, but there are enough of them
for all practical purposes.
But the Chinese System has its
grand disadvantages. Men OF ordinary
education have not sufficient &C.
quaintance with the written language
to be competent telegraph receivers,
and the literati are not seeking enl-
ployment in telegraph Offices any more
than cur college professors are. So
the Government recruits its employees
with much difficulty. Besides, the
patrons of the telegraph are compare
lively few in number.
There are almost no Chinese who
have business relations all over the
country, as is the case with many
thousands OF our business men. The
public is not invited TO buy stock in
the Chinese telegraph lines, and if it
was nobody at present would buy with
a view to dividends. The receipts do
not equal the expenses, and the Gov
eminent makes up the deficit.
There is another great disadvantage
OF the Chinese telegraph system. All
over the world the movement of rail-
road trains are regulated by telegraph.
The orders received by the station
agent are filed in plain view of the EN-.
ployes, and if it need be the switchman
may take temporary charge and carry
out the instructions from the central
office. Railroads have been introduced
into China to a very small extent, and
there is talk Of greatly extending the
service. But how about running the
trains?
A writer in lie MoHrement Colonial
OF Paris says that if railroads are in.
troduced TO any extend in China the
personnel must be exclusively Euro.
pean or American. or recruited from
the literary class. He says the
Chinese Government will not take
foreigners into its service, and that the
educated men of China, who alone
among the people have sufficient
knowledge OF the written language tc
be intrusted with the actual runnins
OF trains, would refuse most EN-.
phatically to be either train hands OF
station agents.
This is one of the many small
stumbling blocks in the way OF China:
progress, but it is quite effective in it,
way.