The San Francisco call., 1903-01-11

vent interruption.
Then young Mr.. Businessman Is seizen
with an inspiration. Scrioollng te~
words on a piece of paper he hands 1t 10
a clerk with a hurried order. Five hours
later: just as the brief IS finished, mes
senger meanders into the lawyers on1ce
with a cabegram. Although the young
attorney has attained no little local as
tinction, cable dispatches are still rare
enough with him to excite his eager
curiosity He tears open the enVeloPe
and this Is what he reads:
Come my office Immediately. Am foot
loose for dinner, ETC., tonight
The message is dated via Hongkong'
Ecmbav. Azores and New York. showing
that it has travelled completely around
the world. The result may be arrived at
In less than the conventional three
ruesses such a speculative episode is
purely ina ginary, of course, but wholly
pcssibIe. or will be at least within few
months. For the matter Of that, the ruse
could be worked even to-day, Tor the
world is already belted with electricity'
though in a very roundabout way. Inc
time Of transmission, too, is much longer
than II will be by the shorter and more
direct line via Manila and Hongkong
Last July cable communication was
opened by the British Pacific Company
between Victoria, B. c., and Brisbane.
Australia by the way of Tanning, F11l
and Norfolk islands. From Brisbane
there is an overland wire TO Adelaide.
There another cable system reaches OUT
to Durham, Cape Town and the Cape
Verde Islands, where connection Is maoe
with q third strand to the Azores, which
Is the distributing point for large volume
of fntercontinental messages In this way
O disnatch can now be hurtled around the
world from Victoria across the Paclno
and Indian oceans. up the west coasts or
fO n
back to the starting point, via New 1orA
and Montreal.
The stretch between Victoria and Fan
ming Island by the way. is the longest
single piece Of cable ever laid. spanning
as IT does a fraction under 1000 nautlcal
miles A special vessel had to be built to
lay it. as there was none in existence
large enough to carry the massive weight
Of its almost endless coil. The next long
est are probably the Atlantic cables, of
which there fourteen within a com
patatively short distance of each other.
the first of these was laid In 1888 by
the Great Eastern. This one and its three
immediate followers are now dead ana
imperative, representing loss 10 theAl
ovrers of over s15.OOOO 900.
The ocean cable was an expensive ex-
pertinent in those days. science not yet
/. having discovered effective means OF
protecting the copper core from the acllol
of the salt water and a consequent leak
age of current. Even a pinhead puncture
, was sufficient to cause endless trouble
and II seemed practically impossible to To-
. cate the injury let alone repair 1t. A!
/ late as the early '7os fully equipped
catieship, at an expense of hundreds o.
r dollars daily, spent over eight month!
) irving to find one of these punctures ant
finally had to abandon the attempt al
3 together as a complete failure
A few years ago, however, a system
was devised for recording the number o
4 vibrations necessary to send a curren
z through one mile of cable. Then 1t be
= came possible for an expert operator I
r figure out approximately the point wher
the current went astray. The method
4 of manufacturing cables have also vastl,
e improved and many Of the defects o
e early days have been entirely eliminated
t Still the expense entailed Is enormous
y for each company is compelled to kee
I one or more costly cable ships In con
t slant commission.
o The large number Of cables across th
l. Atlantic in such close proximity woul
undoubtedly lead to the most mtschioV
;. Gus confusion were II not for the fac
: that each cable Is made after dlf-
= ferent pattern, which renders
: them easily distin- ~