Evening star., 1898-06-04

terests OF senders and receivers II brought
oruer out OF the chaos previously envelop-
Ing international communication by wire
ana has maze II possible to cable to any
part OF the world as easily as one sends
telegraph message from his Office to his
home.
The seat of War;.
The West Indies and the islands Of the
Caribbean sea. the scene OF the principal
naval operations OF the present war, are
Wei supplied with cables. Messages from
the United States are forwarded by the
international Ocean Telegraph. worked by
the w estCrn Union, from Florida 10 IIa-
Nana- The Cuba Submarine Company car
ries them along the shores Of that island
20 Santiago. which is connected by the
West India and Panama Co1npany's lines
with most of the smaller islands with
harolce and Demerara in British Guiana
and with Colon Panama). Ia Soaiete
FFancalse des Telegraph Sous Marfns con-
meets Cuba with Hayu. Porto Rico. Cura-
Gao, and La Guayara in Venezuela A
branch of this line extends from Porto
Plata to Martinique, Paramariho t'ay.nne
ana Nisue, al the mouth of the Amazon
lheSe points can also be reached from
galveston over the lines OF the Mexican
Telegraph Company via Colon. The con-
necuons of the latter system extend all
along the west coast of Central and South
America.
South America is Joined to Europe by
two lines of the Eastern Company run
nIng from Brazil to Lisbon. The Brazil
IAN Submarine line connects IN. western
terminus OF lhis with the West Indies so
that communication may be had between
Cuba or Porto Rico and Spain over this
route without passing through the terri
tory or Ct Etrol Of the United States at
ALL The Eastern Company's line hairs
at the Care Verde Islands: from here am
other line extends to st. Louis on tho west
coast Of Africa, whence another loon Of
TINS same system which is controlled by a
spanish company, runs north along the
coast of Cadz
1t will be seen that there are a num-
Ger of lines of communication available
ICr the Spanish forces in Cuba and Porto
Rico in reaching Madrid and thai IL would
be difficult to stop intercourse between
tl;ese places except by cutting every cable
.. Line that leads out Of the two islands.
me problem Is not so simple as il was
IN the Philippines. where the severance
or a single line effoctually shut of the
Islands from the outside world.
An International Question.
This question of cable cutting is one that
has received considerable attention siroa
the beginning of the war between Spain
and the United States Has the United
states, for instance, the right to sever q
cable belonging to n French or British conn
pany when 1t is known that the cable is or
may be used to give information to Spafr?
The authorities on international law are
agreed in answering this question I'm the
affirmative. Everything that can give d.
iect dSSiStittce 10 an enemy is recognized
as 'contrahand of war and may Toe seized
or destroyed. Railways. telegraphs and
cable lines come under this head as surely
a. provision or ammunition ships. The only
disagreement among the experts is as to
whether the companies whose lines are
SO summarily interrupted can afterwari
collect damages. On this point authorities
differ. but the consensus Of opinion. unani-
mously supported by the cable companies
themselves, is that they can do So.
W hateVer the opinion of legal experts
there Is no doubt as to the action of naval
ana military commanders in dealing with
a cable which is likely to be of service to
an enemy. Dewey did not wait for legal
opinion when he found that the Spanish
governor of the Philippines was using his
control Of the Manila cable to send infor-
nation to his home government. He cut
the wire and shut the islands off from the
world The same thing has been done in
the West Indies All but one of the lines
connecting Cuba with the outside world
were cut during the first weeks of the
blockade. One of the bravest acts of the
early part of the war was that of the Nash
ville's men, who went into the harbor of
Cienfuegos under a hail of shot from the
shore batteries and cut both the cables
leading out of that port. That the course
of the United States in dealing with the
cables leading to her enemys ports would
have been that of other nations under the
same circumstances is proved by the fact
that the European nayies have ships fitted
with 81 glappling hooks for the especial pur-
pose of hauling up and destroying cables IN
time of war.