The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-05-10
Cipher Codes High.
$40. 600 Paid for One and $50, 900 for Another.

should be fixed by a convention to be
held in London In 1901.
1t is one of the requisites of sat
iSfactory cipher code vocabulary that
there should be topographic ana teie-
graphic dissimilarity in the words useo,
and that each word should differ from
every other word by at least two let
| tiers and three elementary Morse signs.
Otherwise the error of single ietter
or the similarity of telegraph1c signals
might convey a word totally different
in meaning from that handed in by the
sender. For example, "generallze
might be rendered 'mineralize. ace
lyle" might be made to read actyle,
and so on. 1t was found, on eXamlna-
ton. that the official vocabulary as
adopted at Budapest did not meet itS
own requirement, and that out OF IT'S
oS6 600 words, over 10000 words were
given in which the dissimilarlty OF at
least two letters and three telegraphlc
signs did not exist
John c. fairfield, a New YORK COM
piler of codes, was the first one to weed
out the faulty words by a system OF
double checking. A force of women IN
New York and another in London were
enploved to make the search, ana
their labors We're then compared. In
this way 10000 words were eliminated
from the official vocabulary and its
total reduced to 226,000 words. 1t is
understood that the enlarged Vocabu-
larly to be adopted at the London con-
ference in 1901 will contain nearly $780,
000 words, and in order to obviate as
far as possible the objections urged by
persons already possessing codes OBJ.
tanned at large expense, the lnterna-
tional bureau will introduce into the
new collection such words now found in
private codes as shall meet the general
oil no oh q
be dictionary words in either the Eng
lish, French German, Spanish, Port
uguese, Italian, Dutch or Latin Ian
guages, and shall be dissimilar in let
tiers and Geographic signs, as already
stated. Owners Of such codes have
only to send them for collation. to the
bureau at Berne, which then charges
itself with the execution of the work.
Many people imagine that business
code is merely a printed book, die
tionary, or an encyclopedia. 1t is true
that a cipher code having for it's OBJ
ject the concealment of the meaning
of a message from all persons except
the one to whom it is addressed is
constructed on these relative simple
lines. but complete business code is
a very difficult affair. Some of the
code works now used by business
houses are vast complications Of fig
ures and special arrangements Of
words designed to cover the multi
farious details of business in reference
to a single article, to say nothing OF
the variety of subjects that can come
UP in connection with every kind of
merchan dise which the United States
buy abroad and sci! abroad, as we'll as
financial and speculative matters Of
the utmost Importance.
Among the business houses which
have paid big prices for private codes
the more conspicuous are Flint, Eddy
& Co., of New York, and Armour &,
Co., of Chicago. The code used by
Flint. Eddy G Co. is said to have been
procured at a cost of $4,000, and the
cost of Armour e Co.'S code is given as
$4,000. The last named figure is prob
ably an exaggeration, as the size and
compleXity of a code govern its cost,
and the system used by an importing
and exporting house dealing in mer
chandise of almost every known de-
scription would naturally be more
elaborate than that used by a company
which handles relatively limited num-
Der of it's own manufactured products.
The code used by Flint, Eddy & Co.
contains a general vocabulary Of 1885,
600 words, and a special vocabulary Of
0,000 words, making a total of 256, 600.
1t is estimated that by the use Of this
code the firm will save from $4,000 to
$15, 200 year in telegraph expenses.
This does not mean necessarily that the
receipts of the cable companies are to be de-
creased in that proportion. 1t means that by
the use of code systems the cables are util-
lied for the transaction of business which
could not be handed by telegraph at all If
full-word rates, had to be paid and 1t may
happen that in the long run the receipts of the
cable companies are increased rather than
diminished, by the use of cipher codes. Every
large shipping house and many of the leading
financial establishments, are provided with
separate code systems which guarded
closely and carefully from the knowledge Of
outsiders. The gross sum of the money saved
by the code is enormous. An ordinary mes
sage, sent to a remote part of the world to
which the cable rate is So a word, would cost
from $50 to 500 if sent in the language of
conversation, whereas the code message in
wolves the expenditure Of only small sum.
An example of the extent to which words and
their numerical co-agents can be used in tee
graphing detailed information was furnished
to the Sun reporter as follows:
New York, May Ito Smith & Temp
kins Cape Town, South Africa: We Offer
cost, insurance and freight, at $1.27 per case
15 600 cases of kerosene oil; shipment by sail
er early next month; with deck load of staves
! freight rate to Cape Town, $40 per LOCO feet,
subject to reply by wire before 70 m. to-
| morrow. To other points add l cent per case
! on OIL
| This message of ffty-eight words, aside from
| the address and signature, was conveyed in the
| following code words and figures:
"Reportabam-041335. AQueduct-56S432.'