The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1902-11-06

Washington, Nov. THE annual
report ot Gen. \. ". Greedy. chief sig
nal officer of the army. says the corps
have actually built and put in work
ing order l,lal miles of land lines and
submarine cables within period Of
- months. The accomplishment of
such results he SAYS. would hr most
crcditable to officers and men con-
cerned therein If Alaska was an ordi-
nary country, for this work included
NOT only surveying, constructing and
installation of this length of line.
but also involved the manufacture
and inspection of enormous ouanti-
Ties of material, Instruments. etc,
many hundred tons i'm weight, and
their transportation over distances
ranging from 1000 To 1000 miles.
When one considers. however, the cx-
cecd'ngly difficult physical conditions
within the territory. he saws, the
work must be considered simply phe-
nomenal rs in all parts of Alaska
rrarerscd by this great length of line
there are not dozen miles Of wagon
road and much of the region is unrX-
plorcd. Speaking of improvements
effected by the corps in Cuba. ten.
Greeley says 1T is unqucstiunrd
that on occupying Cuba the Amrri-
can army found a few diapidatrd
telegraph lines operated by anti
quated methods, with tariff rates in
creasing in proportion to the length
of the message without free dcliy-
cry and with grave uncertainties rs
To espionage, secrecy and delivery.
This system, bad as it was. served
only the western half of the island.
In leaving Cuba there was turned over
10 the government 4 system Of 3,jo0
miles, extending from San V Marti-
neg, in the west, to Cape Naysi, in the
extreme east with every seaport or
town of Importance electrically con
nected. The present instruments are
of the best modern types. the trans
~isSion speedy and reliable, and the
tariff rates exceedingly low. while
the certainty of delivery and inNiola-
bility Of messages are beyond qurs-
tom"
Of the work in the Philippines the
report says: "lhc magnificent sys-
TEN of telegraph lines and cables was
very largely constructed and installed
under Col. Allen. This system. in
creased during the fiscal year by p
GOO miles, consisted on June 50. 1909.
of 81 submarine cables. 1.22j miles in
length, and land lines 5,1OS miles in
length, making an aggregate of 6.434
miles. 1t is almost needless to say
that the work of construction and
installation under the disturbed and
conditions existing in the ar
demanded talents of the
highest order. The system stands
to-day as monument to the encr-
gy, skill and reSourcefulness of the
soldier. On entering the
Philippine islands the American ar
my found practically no existing tele-
graph lines as the few land lines con-
Meeting the Visayan cables of the
Eastern Extension Telegraph COM
pany had been destroyed by the in
as well as the lines in Luzon
when they retreated before the adj
vance Of our army. The only lines Of
any Importance that came into our
possession were several hundred
miles of dilapidated and antiquated
lines in the Cagayan valley and along
the west coast of tuzUn.
Gen. Greeley calls attention to the
necessity of Pacific cable. Owing
to the great pressure of work he
says not as much time has been given
to wireless biography tests as Gen.
Greeley desired, but he reports that
progress has been made. He again |
calls attention to the necessity for
cable regulations and |
recommends that the war department |
be represented at the International |
Telegraph conference to be held in
London next year.