The evening times., 1898-05-23
HOW THE NEWS Is. BROUGHT.

who read in their morning papers Of the
movements Of the American fieets in
foreign waters or crowd around in the
streets summing up the information in
the various bulletins realizes the enter
news everybody Is 10 Impatient to hear. or
stops to think Of the enormous expense
involved. There are but few. indeed. who
take time to conslder that dispatches from
Admiral Dewey have to travel close to
200 miles to reach Washington. and that
they cost fully = a word They do not
consider that obtaining news from Samp-
sons feet involves the employment Of
numerous swift dispatch boats and the
payment Of cable calls that are little less
than bankrupting. News that comes
over the cables comes exceedingly high.
but the people demand It and the news
papers have to pay for 1t.
Dewey's action in Manila Bay follows an
Interesting course, In getting to Wash
ington. II has to be laid and relaid and
repeated from one cable once to another.
IT comes across oceans, seas, gulfs, bays,
straits. mountains, plains and valleys.
As matter Of fact. 1t comes over twelve
stretches OF cable. having total length
telegraph OF about 1.sO0 miles. The total
distance Travelled by news dispatch
from Monila to Chicago, therefore. is more
than. 1900, miles. And yet 1t comes all
that distance frequently in less than one
hour. When Dewey's fleet lined up for
battle with the Spanish squadron before
Manila the fact was known in American
cities thirty-five minutes later. 1t took
Time fourteen hours to make the run.
--
The cable between Manila and Hong
Kong. was laid In 1850. 1t Is 60 miles
loong.
From Hong Kong to Washington a
news dispatch has an interesting and
somewhat roundabout trip. 1t is first put
on a cable Of 400 miles long and sent down
the China Sea to the cable station in
Cochin. China. From Saigon another ca.
BILE $50 miles long conveys the message
farther down the China Sea and just
outside the Gulf OF Siam to Singapore.
British possession down at the end of the
Malay peninsula in the Straits of Malac-
ca. The message may be sent. however.
across the China Sea from Saigon to the
Island OF L0buan. Borneo. and then to
Singapore From there 1t runs on a cable
up the Straits Of Malacca to the littls ISL
and Of Penang. on the western coast of
Siam, the distance being 3sS miles. AT
Penang the message Is repeated on a -
Bile that crosses the Bay Of Bengal, l. ,49e
miles to Madras. on the east coast of
Hindustan.
At Madras the message comes above the
surface Of the water the first time after
leaving the Island Of Luxon. and starts
on Its first ride on an overland telegraph
line. The next stopping place is at Bonn
bay. on the other side of the Hindustan
Peninsula, the distance from Madras being
a little more than 500 miles
At Bombay the dispatch is relaid on a
cable and gets under water again to be
sent 1.S50 miles across the Arabian Sea to
Alden. on the Gulf Of Alden. down at the
bottom of the Read Sea From Alden
to Suez at the north end of the Red
long. At Suez the message comes
out of the water again, and Is sent
by overland wires about 200 miles to AL
exandria In Egypt. and down at the south
eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea
1t requires two cable jumps to 20 from
one end of the Mediterranean to the
other the midway station being on the
Island Of Malta. The length of the ca
BILE from Alexandria to Malta is l.12s
miles. From Gibraltar a comparatively
short cable. one only 337 miles long. car
ries the message up to Carcavellos, near
Lisbon, the Portuguese capital The
trip from Lisbon up to England Is made
on an s56-mile ocean cable. the northern
end OF which runs to Porthcurno, the ca
BILE station at Lands End.
Between America and Europe are elev-
en- cables. connecting the English. Irish
and French stations with those on this
side. The message from Manila on reach
ing Lands End may be sent to America
over almost any one of these.
Not all of the cables come across the
Atlantic by the route described. Some
OF them are sent direct from Sermon
Cove, near Lands. End. to Dover Bay,
near Canso. the distance being 2,ssl miles.
From there the dispatch is repeated to
New York over the coast.cable, SIS miles
more.
There are six cable lines connecting with
various islands Of the West Indian group.
where the gaze of the world is now CEN
tered. Not all of them are open for the
af