The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-01-18
People Testify.

Owing to the great distances to be
covered the cable will be extra thick.
| the copper conductor being unusually
| large, SO as to secure rapidlty OF trans
| mission. AS is well known the practi-
! cable speed of sending messages varies
directly with the size of the wire. This
! rope, which is to wriggle its way be-
meath 1000 miles of ocean, bringing two
| continents into close touch and COM
munication, will be an inch and a quar-
| ter in diameter, and will weigh a ton
and a quarter to the mile. Its central
core will be a bundle of twisted copper
wires, surrounded with an envelope of
gutta percha. This will be wound with
hemp, and, finally, with an outer coat
of steel wire. The bill introduced in
the house by Mr. Corliss of Michigan re-
quires that the cable shall transmit at
least fifteen words minute, at not
more than 81 a word, press matter to be
at half rates.
At present telegram sent from Man
lila to New York must go by way of
Hong Kong around Asia, across Eu-
rope, and under the Atlantic-13 800
miles under water and 700 miles over
land. The cables being controlled by
a monopoly, the price is about SO a
word. This monopoly will be smashed
by the new transpacff1c line, which will
be of great service to the Chinese mer-
chants at seventeen ports. All these
ports, of course, will be connected with
the American wire, and British mer-
chants in England will doubtless use
it largely, messages being flashed from
London to Hong Kong by way of the
United States and beneath two great
oceans. A very picturesque notion this,
by the way.
1t is altogether likely that an Ameri-
can cable will be laid before long from
Manila to Hong Kong, in order that
it may not be necessary to depend upon
the present British line between those
two points. Such dependence would be
very awkward in case of trouble with
England. The distance is only $50
fn no hT mol
line to Yokohama, Japan.
The survey of the route of the con-
templated cable from Honolulu to Man
lila will not require many months The
track to be followed will be as straight
as possible from Hawaii to ITALIAN, again
from ITALIAN to Guam, and finally from
Guam to the gulf of Dingala. This
would be modified only where the bot
tom was found unsuitable Drowned
mountains may be discovered in the
path, and it would be necessary to go
around them; or there might be sub
marine volcanic regions, which are to
be avoided not only because of fear of
future commissions, but also for the
reason that the territory in such sub
aqueous territory is apt to contain
chemical ingredients that have a de-
structfve effect upon the cable. Apart
from these matters, there is nothing
complicated about the surveying, which
consists merely in taking Soundings at
regular intervals and obtaining samples
of the bottom materials
The sounding line is piano wire, and
has a 60-pound sinker on the end of it.
The wire is wound on a reel, each turn
of which registers one fathom, while
dial keeps record of the number of
turns, a scale showing the tension and
indicating the moment when the sinker
reaches the bottom When this happens
a valve in the bottom of the sinkeR is
forced up, and it's interior is filed with
soil At the same time an automatic
thermometer takes the temperature Of
the water, undue heat of which would
indicate volcanic conditions.
When this work has been finished the
experts of the photographic office in
Washington will make a profile map
hundreds of feet in length, and drawn
exactly to scale, showing the depths at
regular intervals all across the Pacific.
1t will be like a sectional view of the
ocean along the whole route, the water
being represented prettily in blue and
the bottom in brown. That part of the
track which extends from San Francis
co to Honolulu has already been map
ped in this profile fashion, and it makes
a very interesting panorama picture
Locking along it one sees that at a dis