Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1898-06-16
Cost of Cable Messages.
New York Sun.

new lOrK sun.
The many cable lines and the
resultant competition h a v e
brought the cost of cOmmunica-
ton between New York and Lon
don down to a fairly low figure,
25 cents per word, but when one
tries to reach more remote parts
of the world, where the line iscon
trolled by a single government,
or COMPANY, or where there is
little business to support it, the
cost of sending messages mounts
to alarming figures. TO send 10
words from New York to Manila,
for instance, costs S23,5O or
$2.lO per word beyond London.
This is he commercial rate.
Newspaper dispatches go for half
this sum. but even so, the cost OF
bringing Il column Of news from
the Philippines mounts up to
nearly four figures. Even from
q point so near as Curacao,
which became for q short ime,
the centre of news interest the
commercial rate by the cheapest
route is 81 .9S. These two sam
pies will give a tair intimution of
the immense sums being eXpend-
ed by the newspapers in gather
ing information about the war.
1t may seem at first thought
that $2.3 is a large sum to pay
for sending a singlr word from
New York to the Philippines, but
when one reflects that such a
message travels 10000 miles,
and it must be received and trans
mitted oyer score of different
lines or branches, he is more like
" to come to the conclusion that
it is very cheap, all things con-
sidered. From New IOrl; the ca.
ble9ram goes first to Halifax,
and from there by another loop
to Hearts Content, Newtound
land, where it dives beneath the
Atlantic to reappcar onthe ecoast
of London. which is the great cen
tire Of cable and tele&raphic com
municatiOn for the whole world.
From London to the East there
are two great routes. The first
via either the Eastern or lndO
European Company's lines, vii
take the messages across the
channel and overhead to Mar
sellies, of by the all-water course
around the Spanish peninsula
stopping at Libson, t h enct
: through the Mediterean to Alex
, andlia, across Egypt by land
t down t he Red Sea to Alden
through the Arabian Sea to Bon
bay, over India by land, across
= the Bay of Bengal to Singapore
. along the cost of Hong Kong
and across the China Sea to Ma
!. nila.
The other route from LOndOl
is even longer and covers Il mucl
greater part of the journey b,
| land. 1t takes the message iron
: London by the lines OF the Grea
+ Northern Company across Russia
+ and Siberia to VladlvostOck, ant
: thence along the China coast tt
g Hong Kong.
In it's long voyage, occupyin!
:, from three TO twenty-tour hours
6 according to it's urgency, tn
message las crossed or skirted
countries, representing almos
y as many different nationalities
and yet the sender may rest as
. sured that it will be transmittc'
J. with pl omptness and secrecy, AM
j at a fixed ahd known charge
n This assurance is provided b.
:. the Bureau of International Te'
eeraphs, which has it's headqual
, ters at Berne, Switzerland. 1t wa
4 inaugurated thirty years ago fo
J. the porpose of "collecting, al
!, ranging and publishing informa
e ton" on this subject, regulating
), accounts, and guaranteeing tn
I interest of senders and receivers
\ 1t brought order out ofthe chao