The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-02
CIPHER CODES COME HIGH.
$4,000 o ONE AND $4,000, IT rs
SAID, FOR ANOTHER.
Cable Code ESperts in Every mtg shipping
House Nowhdays-The Moncy which They
ana tho Code save shippers-Onicini Ctphers
lSomo EHnmnlca Of Amazing Connenantinn.

"' A"aA'"s oohoeh'n'e"
The extent to which the use Of the telegraph
enters into the transaction Of business at the
close OF the century is In sonic measure indi.
Gated by the fack that prominent shipping
house OF New York has recently paid SIC. 000
for a cipher code TO DO used in the transmission
OF business messages, and that the cost OF this
code will DO moro than made mp in tho saving
effected on teleRrapAic messages in one year.
Owing to the rapid extension of land wires and
submarine cables within the last few years, all
parts Of the globe are now connected by cleo.
trioity, and the bulk OF the worlds business is
dono by its aid through tho medium Of codes
which have been constructed TO meet the re-
quirements OF the commercial and hnan cial
world. Where formerly the mails were used
for the ransmissio of commercial messages.
Eli. n
.heir outiness use Is nowadays chieny hmiteu
10 the veriication and elaboration Of communi.
cations previouslv sent nv w,ro. Thu teleoranb
,,oo,n. -. -.
ae'ouh' On " "erchant oaiahce eheeti is. tnere'
son that cInhar codos 40 inr.n,o, rho ,nno-
~.
''on Q a ooue a. emp'oyeo IN commercial Trans
economy. thor 9Th both reapIts are accon,o,i,ned
,,h. -" 80 60.
at the same time. Codes having particular ref
erence to concealment and privacy are used ex-
t,nsively nv Governments and ;pdiv,dua,, I'm,
those ,rTptoeraphIo systems are simple and
lucid as contrasted with the ella borate and
complicated forms that serve tho purposes of
economy III the business world.
To such nn extent has the code System Of to.
" oo't periee.eu nat inc majority Oh inc
eaoiegrams passing between new hork ana the
, u ."s enaS Oh inc EARN CONTAIN no more
- .' ~
hame anu aooress' "hiie large NUN oers con-
tain but a single word each. Names and ad-
drassos = o,.o ,o,aons.a IT,, o,nh., D.. 80.
u.o''e' t > oonuensou n'o eipher . reouce
sage addressed to Clarence Munroe. Paris,'
wopld he delivered ., Mr. C1,rono. Eldr ~.
e,n,s, caro- % sJrnros &. cn ~" Sor,S.
lars, trance-a saving OF eleven words out OF
ioaTteen. ~
states Government arc each supplied with
different cipher systems. and these are used
nee why concealment Is necessary when the
treasury pepartment T. transmitting direc-
stock iobbins PURPOSES, sna that secrecy would
pe essential IN sending out the announcement
that a train loaded with cold bullion would
at Carson City for san Francisco. The Navy
D~epartment's ciphe- Is a very extensive and
ence pertaining to the movements Of vessels
and heets; Wien the Trenton and V~andalia
min. years ago a cipher could NOT be used in
advising the department at Washington Of tho
iatasirophe., as the code book was on board the
.hib'
mission by way, OF Auckland cost the United
Ises a climber code for economy in the transmits
SION OF reports from the 100 signal stations
code for the use OF the War Dep,r ;,nrnt. early
IN 1871. ana the ffst Key to II was IN trusted to
Allan finkerton. the detective; Wilkes Booth;
the assassin OF President Lincoln. was captured
by means OF Q cipher message sent TO WASH
ineton. aud the operator who teleGraphed the
message received $500 out of the reward Of.
fered.
It's a rule OF the cable companies that no
out an extra cfarre. and that in cipher mes.
sages coined words shall not be- used. An on
cial code vocabulary for universal use was
adopted by the International Ielegraphic Com
vention sitting at Budapest In June and July
OF last year. and steps were taken toward max
out tho world. commencing with Jan. I. 1898.
rms measure called out q storm OF protests
mercial bodies in the United States. and tho
plan OF MAKING the new voca oulary compulsory
was abandoned. Ihe convention DECIDED not
TO enforce the use or the hrst edition OF the new
ana ordered me international Bu-
reau Of Te!erraphic Administration at Berne.
iarsed and modified edition. 1t Was also do
cided that tn" date Of the compulsory use of
this second edition should be fixed by a con-
1t Is one Of the requisites of 4 satisfactory
CIPHER code vocabulary that there Should DO u
TOPOGRAPHIC ana Geographic dissimilarity In
The words used. ana that eesh word shout"
diner rom every other word oy at least two
" oaa tAAoS VIZ oikA1.
Otherwise. the error or a single letter or the
familiarity or teleRraphlc Signals might convey
q WORD totally dtnerent In meaning from that
handed in by the sender. For example. gen
might be rendered "minera!iZe.'
'acetrle" might DO made TO read 'actyle." and
SO on. 1t THs found. on examination, that the
Official vocabulary as adopted at budapest did
not meet Its own requirement. and that out OF
Its 25b.0O0w words. over 30 1000 words were
given In which the dissimilarity or AZ least two
letters ana three teleRrapnlc signsdld not exist.
John G. Fairfield. q New York compiler of
codes, was the frst one 70 weed out the faulty
Eords by q system 81 double checking. A force
Of women In New YORK and another in London
wore employed TO make tho search. and their
:atJrs were then compared. In this way 5000
words were eliminated from the onicial vocabu-
larry and its total reduced To 100000 words. 1t
Is understood that the enlarged voca bulary to
be adopted at the London conference in 1901
Sill contain nearly 100000 words, and In order
TO oeviate as Tar as onsslole the objections
urged by persons already possessing codes OBJ
At large, expense. the International Blu
rean VIII Introduce into the new collection such
words now found In private codes as shall meet
the general, requirements. namely, that they
shall be dictionary words in either the English.
German. Spanish. Portuguese, ltalii n.
Dutch. or Latin LANGUAGE. and shall DO dis.
In letters and telegraphic signs, as al
ready stated. owners OF such codes have only
20 send them Tor collation 70 the bureau at
Berne. which men charges itseit with the exc