The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-15

to be transmitted over q very unsatis-
factory and roundabout route, first
/ over the Atlantic cables to London, and
from London with many relays to Glib
/ raltar, Malta, Alexandria, Alden, Bonn
I nay, Madras, Singapore and HongRons
/ 10 Manila, over the lines OF the East
ern Telegraph company and the eastern
extension
; With the American Pacific cable.
however, a wire will fash direct from
! San Francisco to Manila. with relav
4 stations only at Honolulu, Midway and
1 Guam, each an American possession.
ana the expense per word viii be re-
/ uuced 10 81 for commercial messages
/ while the postmaster general. will have
J the right to fix the rates for govern
mental messages. For messages from
/ san Francisco to Honolulu the cable
company proposes to charge only so
cents per word, and promises to reduce
/ tHdt rate WiInln two years to So cents
/ These immense reductions from pre-
Valilng rates via Europe and Asia mean
a substantial gain to all American mer-
| chants doing business in the far east
not to mention economy to the govern
ment- 1t is not expected that the ini-
/ tial link from San Francisco to Homo
/ lulu viii pay Indeed, il is foreseen
/ that it must be operated at a loss On
| this account alone, If for no other rea-
/ son, II Is to the pecuniary advantage OF
/ the cable company to hasten with all
speed the extension and operation Of
| the line TO Manila, so as to avail itself
! OF the vast business that awaits it from
I the Philippines and from China and
1 Japan.
The Honolulu link will be completed
/ early in December and then both ter
minaIs will be connected with inshore
lines anc the cable put into active ioper-
| atlon- The California shore end comes
/ IN Just south of Golden Gate, touching
near the Cliff house, and thence UNDER
ground to the Market street Offices Of
the company, across the street from the
Palace hotel. San Francisco.
Gable Ship at Work.
The cable ship Silvertown is now
reellng on the first section from San
Francisco to Honolulu. A second ca
bic ship, the Calonia. which last month
completed the laying of a link Of the
British cable from Vancouver to Fan
nlng Island, IN connection with the ca
bic ship Anglia, IS now on her way
home 10 England to get q load of cable
for the second link Of the American
cable from Honolulu to Midway island
As soon as the SilvertOEEn finishes
the first link she viii return to Eng
| land also. to load up with the cable in
tended for the third link from Midway
/ to Guam By that time the Calonia
VIII have finished the link between
Honolulu and Midway, and VIII return
again to England for the cable designed
]
ION. The cable company iSE under the
necessity of conducting some deep sea
surveys between Guam and LuzOn, and
these viii interpOse a considerable de-
lay, but it is believed that the surveys
can be completed in time to allow the
laying of the final link to Luzon not
| later than July 1, 1904.
Last spring, when the cable officials
we're dealing with our government.
they expressed a desire to lay an all
American cable-that is, a cable
touching only on American soil, under
the control Of the United States. but
they had some doubts as to whether a
safe landing could be made at Guam,
owing to the presence of deep sea
abysses lying between Midway island
and Guam The navy department per-
mitted them. under certain restrictions.
to examine the surveys Of that region
in the possession of the department,
and those surveys convinced the cable
people that the landing at Guam was
perfectly feasible. Accordingly, the
route was determined by way Of Guam.
Longest in the World.
The total length of the cable from
San Francisco to Manila viii be 6,S71
miles. plus 10 per cent allowed for
slack to follow the contour Of the
uneven sea bottom, or 1858 miles in all.
This will be the longest single cable
line in the world. The link between
San Francisco and Honolulu viii meas
ure 2.17S surface miles. The next link
between Honolulu and Midway Will
measure !, lao surface miles The third
link between Midway and Guam win be
the longest of ALL 2,293 surface miles
The last link between Guam and Ma
Mia will be 1850 miles. 1t viii reach
the island Of Luzon a its northern ex-
tremity, and THENCE viii be trailed
along the west coast southwark TO
/ Non
land the fiusI link on the eastern shore
of LuzOn and connect it with a land
telegraph running across the island
westward to Manila. But a consider
alton Of the dangers that would con-
stantiy threaten the land line from ir-
responsible natives, ignorant of the ne
ceSsity of keeping the line in perfect
trim, and from other unavoidable ac-
cidents. convinced the projectors that
it would be cheaper and safer IN the
end TO extend the cable itself around
the northern end Of the island, since
/ the line when submerged would be
practically out of harms way.
II is estimated that the entire cost
of the completed cable from San Fran
cisco to Manila Will be in the neigh-
borhoOd of So. GOO, goo, including the
various cable statiO2s and regular ex-
penses Of installation, and such eXig-
encies as experience shows must be
met lIdSuluCn As the EdDlE company
has filed with the postmaster general
/ its acceptance of the act OF congress
of July "A, 1866 relating to teiegFaphs,
/ it is under moral obligations 70 sell its
cable and property to the government
at any time at its appraised value. The
postmaster general has the right an
nually to TX the rate 10 be charged for
the governmental messages that viii
be transmitted over the cable, and
governmental messages viii enjoy
precedence in transmission over all
other messages. Under these cIrcum-
stances the enterprise was believed 10
meet all the legitimate requirements
of the public for Pacific cable. and,
taking this view. congress last summer
struck out the enacting clause OF the
bin to authorize the construction Of an
exclusively government cable at the
expense of the public treasury. con-
tending that it would be contrary TO
good policy for the government to en-
bark upon enterprises which private
concerns are willing to undertake at
their own cost.