Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-04
CABLE CODES.
A Telegrapher's suggestions as to
Errors in Transmission.


During the present trouble in China"
said expert teegrapher, Il have OBJ
served in The Star that government off
Gals have experienced much difficulty in
deciphertng some Of the messages received
from our diplomatic agents and naval off,
GERS in the Chinese station. In fact, one
or two were reported to be SO mixed and
mutilated as to be quite unintelligtble save
for few sentences. Naturally this places
the government in an embarrassing posi-
ton. as 1t is of the first Importance that
such messages should be received and when
received deciphered and read with the ut
most dispatch.
THE public has undoubtedly wondered
since these incomplete dispatches have
been given out often why 1t is that the
messages cannot be transmitted correctly.
There are several reasons.
Government messages. are, Of course.
transmitted in cipher This cipher code is
intricate and known to but few; in fact,
there are several clerks in the War, State,
Navy departments, respectively, who are
known as cipher code experts. and If these
men can t make out the intelligibility of the
words of the dispatch, they were pretty
thoroughly jumbed route. or else the
code Is excessively intricate, or both.
Let us follow a dispatch from T1en Tsin.
Suppose it should read: Long. Washington.
1t Is imperative that brigade of troops
and powerful fleet Of war vessels be sent
at once. Our forces repulsed with heavy
loss. Act quickly
This dispatch is filed at Tien Tsin as
above 1t is In cipher. The operator re-
ceives merely a lot of words without con-
secutive connection or meaning to him.
| He goes 1t blind far as accuracy is con-
| cerned. He ticks it off to Hong Kong, to
the cable station The English have two
| complete cables from Hong Kong to Lon
| don. by relays. 1 will describe. From
| Hong Kong the dispatch is sent to Singa-
pore either by way OF Labuan, on the Is
land Of Borneo. or by the Cochin China re-
Sipy L.,
| relay station at Penang. also on the Malay
| peninsula. 1t then penetrates India being
| caught up at Madras and hurried on to
! Bombay. From thence 1t files to Alden in
| Arabia, to be put on the cable to Suez,
| Africa 1t then speeds toward Europe via
Malta. Gibraltar. Lisbon and finally wind
! ing up on that side OF the hemisphere at
| the central office in London. From thence
1t Is licked to New York. to be once more
Transcribed and sent to Washington.
The dispatch has. consequently, been
! transcribed no less than fifteen times at
the various relay stations. II 1t is sent
| overland from Marseilles, France. one or
two Of the relay stations I have named
| would be cut out.
! "It is reasonable, therefore, that a code
| dispatch handled by SO many different
hands and in different countries. even as
! Stunning that all OF the operators are Eng
fish. should be a little the worse for wear
when 1t reaches the big pile of granite OF
| Pennsylvania avenue. lengthy dispatch
in correct Ineligible English sentences
might nave a rev words tranSpoSed or I'M
properly given. but the sense could be de.
termined. 1 can understand how a code
message with mixed and missing words
> would make the experts here sweat rea
| blood to translate 1t.
| 1T may be of interest to know that the
rate per word from here to Hong Kong is
$1.63. A rebate of 12h cents per word /.
| allowed the GO rnment.
Another eau for delay and error 1.
that at present the cables to China ar,
crowded with dispatches to and from OF
private and official business from all coun
tries. l don't suppose that governmental
code could be devised into which error,
| could not Creep.