The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-01-02
HAWAII 5 ELECTRIC SPARK
GENERAL GREELEY GIVES HIS
OPINION.
There will be No Difficulty to Lay
Cable Under the Ocean to Uncle
Sans Annexed Dominions.

General Adolphus w. Greeley, chief
of the signal service of the United
States, says IA recent Call, knows a
good deal about cables, and impaired
little of that information lately
in the interesting style of a man who
enjoys his subject. He talked of the
cable system for San Francisco. He
talked of the cable system for San
Francisco and the Hawaiian Islands,
U. S. A., and the line between those Is
lands and the Philippine Islands.
THE whole question so far as the
bay is concerned" said he, sis one of
administration 1t is a matter of con-
Meeting the military stations so that
man may control the fire of the har-
Dor. The system proposed is the very
same as that in existence in the har-
bors of New York and Boston, and has
the objects in view, primarily, as l in
dicated to allow the fire control Off
Ger to command every gun, and sec
ondarily to allow the commanding
whereby 5000 words may be transmit
ten in one minute. | believe i'm eXpe-
rimental work, and the officer who
merely does his duty is only an ordi-
nary officer and will not be the aid to
his country that he should be. The
army of today which does not go in
! largely for experimental work is. to
use the language of the street, going
to get left when it faces a first class
power.
"Now as to the Hawaiian cable.
have no special interest in it other
than that of an American citizen. 1t
is very evident that with an extension
of the limits of the United States.
Congress must encourage American
companies and corporations. As it is
now, we can reach the Hawaiian Is
lands only by steam or sailing vessel.
The United States is morally bound to
afford the speediest communication
possible with the Islands in the near
future. James Scrymser, one of the
ablest cable men living. in fact a Sec
ond Cyrus Field, is interested in the
proposition. He is the president of
the Mexican Cable Company, which
operates a line from Galveston to Vera
Cruz. Colon, Panama and the West
Coast of South Africa.
THE construction any laying of
such cable presents no difficulties.
There is no Typographical popularity
in the sea bottom and everything is
known as to the conditions to be en-
countered. Congress appropriated the
money for the survey; now the ques-
ton is, will Congress subsidize a
company to lay the cable?
"A far more difficult problem. one
which most people regard very light
ly, is the laying of cable to the Phil
| ippines. We know nothing of the to.
Biography except that it is an ocean al
tremendous depth. 1t will probably
cost S10000.000 to Law cable and take
between four and five years to do it.
Only Great Britain can reach all her
possessions by her own cables. and
the Eastern Telegraph Company, the
greatest corporation of its kind in the
world, has twenty years exclusive
concession for a cable to the Philip.
pines, or at any rate to the Island OF
Luzon. This corporation is backed by
the British government, and after the
declaration of war Spain granted the
concession to the company on condi.
ton that the cable was laid in thirty
days. The condition was fulfilled and
the twenty years begin to run on Jan.
uary 1, 1900. Whether the United
States will recognize the concession is
of course, another question"