Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-05-20

I Co. is said TO have been procured at
| cost OF $4,000. and the cost OF Armour
& Co.'S code IL given as 10000. The last
named figure Is probably an exaggera-
ton. as tho size and completely OF a
| code govern It's cost, and the system
| used by an importing and exporting
house dealing I'm merchandise of almost
every known description would natural
ly be more elaborate than that used
| by company which handles relative
| ~ limited number OF rs own manufac-
tured products The code used by Flint,
Eddy & Co. contains a general voca-
bulary of 226000 words, and a special
vocabulary OF 10000 words making a
total OF $4,000 1t Is estimated that by
the use OF this code the firm will save
from sl2.500 to $1,000 a year in telegraph
expenses This does not mean neces-
sarily that the receipts of the cable COM
panies are TO be decreased In that pro-
portion II means that by the use OF
code systems the cables are utilized for
the transaction Of business which could
not be handled by telegraph at all II
full-word rates had to be paid, and II
may happen that In the long run the
receipts of the cable companies are In
creased rather than diminished, by the
use of cipher codes. Every large ship
ping house. and many OF the leading
financial establishments are provided
with separate code systems, which are
guarded closely and carefully from the
knowledge of outsiders. The gross sum
OF the money saved by the code is enor-
nous. An ordinary message. sent to
remote part Of the world. to which the
cable rate is 50 a word, would cost from
$50 TO 800, is sent In the language or
conversation, whereas the code message
involves the expenditure Of only a small
sum. An example of the extent to WHICH
words and their numerical co-agents can
be used in teegraphing detailed informa-
ton was furnished to the Sun reporter.
as follows:
"NEW YORK, May Ito Smith &
Tompkins. Cape Town. South Africa:
We offer cost, insurance, and freight at
s1.27 per case, 1900 cases of Kerosene oil;
shipment by sailer early next month;
with deck-load of slaves, freight rate TO
Cape Town $40 per 1000 feet subject
to reply by wire before IL NJ. tomorrow.
To other points add 1 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:
Observation-Disclosures Aqueduct-J6siS2"
words are cabed and that the figures
are contained i'm the key-book in the pos
session of the person receiving the mes
sage. and are used by him to translate
the message. The system by which all
this Is given In two words Is one OF ex-
traordinary complexty. but the cable
code experts employed In the large shio-
ping houses are so skilled In their work
that not above ten minutes would be oc-
cuped either in sending or translating
this two-word message. In the office OF
representative Broad-street firm four
clerks are employed in the cable code
department, all of them high-priced men.
From ten TO fifteen messages from diff
ferent parts OF the globe are received
every day, and the cable-book has COM
pletely displaced the letter-book in i'm
portance. The following are average
types OF one and two-word messages in
the grain trade:
"Fracasando." Translation-"We offer
5000 quarters No 2 spring wheat ship
ment by steam to your port, at 37s 4l4d."
"Remixed. Fastidiar" Translation
1--WE offer 1000 quarters No 2 spring
wheat. In force for reply Wednesday.
Shipment this month. Others have sold
at this price. a 26s 3D."
In the single-word message the saving
is nineteen words out of twenty and in
the two-word message twenty-six out of
twenty-eight words. The average saving
i'm the larger codes is estimated at % TO /.
The importance Of this savics can be
gathered from the fact that by one route
the cable rate to Cartagena in Colombia
is 1919 per word; to Puerto Cabello, in
Venezuela. $3.l5 per word, and TO points
i'm the Cape Colonies of South Africa Sl.iS
to $50 per word. This is why a bust
ness-house can pay $4,000 for a cipher
code, and save its price IN less than one