The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-05-10

The extent to which the use or the
telegraph enters into the transaction
of business at the close of the century
Is in some measure indicated by the
fact that a prominent shipping house
of New York has recently pald S1o'ooo
for a cipher code to be used In the
transmission of business messages, ara
that ,ne cost OF this code VIII be more
than made up in the saving erected
on telegraphic messages in one year,
saws the New York Sun. Owing to the
rapid extension Of land wires and sub
marine cables within the last few years,
all parts of the globe are now conect-
ed bv electricity. and the bulk of the
worlds business is done by its aid
through the medium of codes, which
have been constructed to meet the re-
Quirements of the commercial and
financial world Where formerly the
mails were used for the Transmission
of commercial messages, their business
use is nowadays chiefly limited to the
verification and elaboration OF COM
munications previously sent by wire.
The telegraph account on a merchants
balance sheet is. therefore, an impor-
tant item and it is for this reason that
cipher codes are invented. The func-
ton of code as employed in COM
mercial transactions has reference less
to secrecy than to economy. though
both results are accomplished at the
same time Codes having particular
reference to concealment and privacy
are used extensively by governments
and individuals, but these cryptograph-
ic systems are simple and lucid as con-
trasted with the elaborate and COM
plicated forms that serve the purposes
of economy in the business world.
To such an extent has the code sys-
TEN of today been perfected that the
majority Of the cablegrams passing be-
tween New York and the uttermost
ends of the earth contain no more than
TWO or three words in addition to the
name and address, While large num-
bers contain but a single word each.
Names and addresses are also con-
depsed into cipher to reduce the cost
o. transmission. For example, a mes
Sage addressed to Clarence Munroe,
Paris would be delivered to Mr. Clar-
ence Eddy, Crganist, care of Monroe
& Co, Rue Scribe, Paris, France-a
saving of eleven words out OF four
teen.
United States government are each
supplied with different cipher systems,
and these are used both for secrecy
and economy. 1t is easy to see why
concealment is necessary when the
treasury department is transmitting
directions or informal ton which might
be used for stock jobbing purposes,
and that secrecy would be essential in
sending out the announcement that q
train loaded with gold bullion would
on a certain day and hour start from
the mint at Carson City for San Fran
cisco. The navy departments cipher is
very extensive and complicated one,
ard Is used in all correspondence per-
tanning to the movements of vessels
and fleets When the Trenton and
Nandalia were lost in the hurricane off
the Samoan islands nine years ago a
cipher could not be used in advising
the department at Washington of the
catastrophe, as the code book was on
beard the Trenton, and went to the
bottom with the ship. The message was
sent in full, and its transmission by
way of Auckland cost the United
States nearly $1,000. The weather bu-
reau uses a cipher code for economy
in the transmission of reports from the
15G signal stations Arson Stager de-
vised the first cryptographic code for
use in the war department early in
1861, and the first key to it was in
trusted to Allan Pinkerton, the detec-
tive. Wilkes Booth, the assassin of
President Lincoln, was captured by
means of a cipher message sent to
Washington, and the operator who tel
egraphed the message received $500 out
of the reward offered.
1t is d rule of the cable companies
that no word shall contain more than
ten letters without an extra charge,
and that in cipher messages coined
words shall not be used. An official
code vocabulary for universal use was
adopted by the International Tele-
graphic convention sitting at Budapest
in June and July of last year, and steps
were taken toward making the use of
this code compulsory throughout the
world, commencing with Jan. 1, 1898.
This measure called out storm of pro-
tests and circumstances from mer-
chants and commercial bodies in the
United States, and the plan of making
the new vocabulary compulsory was
abandoned. The convention decided
not to enforce the use of the first edi-
ton Of the new vocabulary, and order
ed the international bureau of tele-
graphic administration at Berne, Switz-
erland, to prepare and issue a second
enlarged and modified edition. 1t was
also decided that the date of the COM
pulsory use of this second edition