The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-01

cl1des the usual allowance of 10 per
cent. for SLACK. A short deep cab-e is
not a serious problem, nor IS long ca
De IN medium depCns; bu- the COM
binaCon OF extreme length and depth
adds very much % the hazard and dill
ficulty of any cable undertaking.
UnleS5 a heavy copper core Is used,
long cables are so slow as to be almos.
valueless commercially; but a heavy
core means heavy insulation and heavy
5heathing, resulting in a costly cable,
.fficu.L 10 lay in deep water and
troublesome 10 repair. The core Of the
long French cable * made up OF Uhir
teen copper wires OF d ferent gauges,
weighing 600 bs. per mia: j. is inSu-
lated with 396 lbs. Of gu5.a percha per
mile. The total weight is 10000 tons.
The standard core for submarine
cables under 1000 miles in length isl
107 BIS. of copper per mile.
The iff~rence in cost between long
cables IN deep seas far away, and shC.t
cables in shallow seas near manufac-
turing cenIers, is shown by tle COM
parisOn of the CONTRACT price for the
Denmark-Ice4and cable, and the ezti-
mates of the British Commission for
the proposed Brilish-pacifc cable The
distance from Denmark to Iceland,
with a landing on Scotland, IS 900
miles and the route lies through shall
low northern oceans. The contract
price II 100000 Kroners, 1884 or &27.
los. per mile. The Althing of Iceland
ltr' ties 10000 Kroners and .-e|
Great Northern Telegraph Company, of
Copenhagen, Che balance OF 100000
KrOners. The estimate for the Van
c0uver-New Zealand cabie-a dstanceI
OF 1886 u. miles with one long stretch
Of 1861 'ILles-is { 2,000, 600, equalling
$3.50 or 1920 per mike. In the one
case a mere tilameDt OF copper and in
sulacion IS used, which IS cheap,y laid
by a sma., steamer; IN the other case,
he minimum proposed by Lord K,e.vin
is 90 lbs. OF copper and 368 lbs. Of
gu.ta perc a per mile. 1t is not a
small rem of expense to fit up a cable
s,e2mt- that can carry 10000 tons of
cable and the necessary coal for a
$500 mile trip. The annual mainte
nance cost OF this, long cable, exc us We
of operating expense, is plgt at $3.50, 600
annually. Owing to its one long
stretch of 1861 miles. this cable costs
per mile nearly ten times as much as
he 800 mile Icelan0ic cable in two
stretches. These are extreme examples
one, the cheapest long cable in the
world; the other, tba most expensive.
Several projects subscribing priva,e1
rather than public interests have been
promulgated on both sides of the At
.antic, and SpecioFs arguments have
been advanced in favor of exclusive
national lines. The arguments, how
ever weak, are offered in the hope of
creating an unori;ical enthusiasm ON
lhe wave of which some government
can be induced 20 TpoG financial sup
port.
The ideal Trams-Eaciflc route is the
one promising:
/. To secure the largest amount of
present business.
?. To develop the largest amount of
new business.
3. To cost the least money to lay.
/. To be LAID and maintained most
easy and cheaply.
,. To be operated most rapidly and
with least interruption.
E. To De politically mCst valuable.
y legitimate cable enterprise across
the Pacific is not one depending on
government subsidies as the only pro
lection against bankruptcy, hu, one in
which commercial and government
business will pay both maintenance
and interest.
Four Pacific routes have been pro-
posed, ana the arguments in favor of
each viii now be considered by these
tests-commercial, financial, physical,
electrical and pplItical-and thus an
unbiased conclusion be reached as TO
which IS preferable. Of che four pro-
posed routes one is British (running)
and two are international.
Owing to its length cost, and diff
Guilty, the British cable from Vanc0u-
yer, Is. c., to New Zealand easily ranks
first as an ambitious project. It's
length is 1885 nautical miles. The
American route, wh ch is proposed
from San Francisco to the Philippine
Islands. via Hawaii, is 6,640 miles. The
shortest of all the routes is the inter
national roIte Of 1857 n miles via the
Pacific coast o. North America to con-
nectiCn with Asiatic lines. ard the
fourth route is an international over
land route via the Yukon River and by
short cables TO Asia, a revival of the
Old Western Union overland route 30
Siberia.