The Washington times., 1903-07-02
Manila Cable to Be For
maIIy Opened Saturday.
PLANS FOR THE CEREMONY
President Roosevelt, Governor Taft,
Emperor William, and King Edward
to Participate in the Event.

President Roosevelt and Governor
Taft, King Edward Of England. and En-
peror William OF Germany will be the
chief actors on Saturday. the Fourth of
July. in the opening Of the commercial
Pacific cable between this country and
the Philippines. in the transmission Of
their words of congratulation the arst
telegraphic messages will be sent around
the world
1t viii take about four minutes to do
this. The message Of President Roose-
welt, which will be the first sent, will
be put on the wire at his Oyster Bay
home by George H. Usher. general man->
ager OF the Commercial Cable COMPANY.
From Oyster Bay it will go direct TO
San Francisco; thence TO Hawaii. TO the
Midway Islands. to Guam. and to Manila.
Given to Governor Taft.
Copied there from its fifth relay. the
message will be given to Governor tart.
whose congratulatory reply win be
ready on the moment. The sixth relay
will bring the message to Hongkong.
the seventh to Bombay, the eighth TO
St. Petersburg the ninth to Moscow.
the tenth to Berlin, the eleventh 20
London. and the twelfth and last hack
direct TO Oyster Bay. where General
Manager Usher win copy it,
Following the sending OF this message
Emperor William and King Edward will
exchange greetings. and then each will
send to President Roosevelt congratuIa-
tions on the completion of the cable
and best wishes for the nations holiday.
Simple ceremonies win attend the
transmission Of the messages at Oyster
Bay. There will be a gathering OF lis
tinguished men. representatives OF the
National Government and officials of
the cable company, aud short addresses
VIII be made.
Eight Thousand Miles Long.
Tho new Pacific cable is about 6 COO
miles long in its four sections and about
twice the length of the next longest
cable in the world. 1t saves about 900
miles from the old cable route between
Washington and the Philippines. Then It
was necessary TO send from Washington
70 New York. to Canso TO Fayal in the
Azores. 10 Lisbon. to Gibraltar. TO Nal
ia. to Singapore. 10 Saigon in Cochin.
China: to HonglSong. and to Manila.
with fifteen relays as against four.
On the new cable from San Francisco
to Manila. or to China. the rate. under
the agreement made between the late
John ". Mackay with Secretary Of state
Hay, viii be not more than 81 word.
The uniform rate until the new cable
was proposed had been $2.35 word be-
tween New York and Manila. and then in
November. 1901. IL was reduced to the
European cable companies to s1.Gs
word. Under the old conditions the Gov
ernment was paying at the end OF the
insurrection in the Philippines about
100000 a year for its own messages,
and the newspapers Of the country we're
other large contributors during The
nghting in the islands. The rate will be
80 cents a word from san Francisco 10
Honolulu, with a reduction 10 35 cents
within two years.
Mr.. McKinley's Message.
Pacific cable projects may be said 10
have received the final impetus in tho
message Of President Mckinley TO Con-
gress IN February OF 1899. urging the
establishment OF a cable between the
United States and the Philippines Via
Hawaii and Guam.
The late John W Macksy in the sum
mer OF 1901 wrote TO Secretary Hav.
Il beg leave to state that 1 wish 10
LAY and operate a submarine cable. or
cables, from California 10 the Philip
pine Islands by the way of the Hawaiian
Islands, by means Of an American cor
poration 10 be organized hereafter.
ask no subsidy or guarantee in connec-
tlon with the same If the conditions
could be substantially the same as those
upon which the Atlantic cables were
landed and If the same should be indi-
Gated to me without delay. would ar
range Immediately Tor the manufacture
and have the first section between Cali
fornia and the Hawaiian Islands com
Fieted by September. 1902. unless pre-
vented by force majeure"
Without waiting for legislation. the
Commercial Pacific Cable Company was
chartered in New York on September
%. 1901 Arrangements were made
forthwith for the construction OF the
different sections OF cable. and Con
gress, after a long struggle. gave au-
thorization 20 the project.
Surveyed by the Government.
The route chosen. which had been sur
veyed by the Government engineers. had
four long stretches: From San Fran
cisco 70 Hawaii 2.276 miles. at a mean
depth Of 2,500 fathoms and maximum
Of 3.O26; from Hawaii 10 Midway. .254
niles. with a mean depth Of 1000
fathoms and a maximum OF 3.O2G; from
MFcway to Guam. 2.0g3 miles. with
mean depth Of 1900 fathoms and
maximum OF 1900. and from Guam TO
LUzon. 49O miles. with a mean depth
OF 200 fathoms. and a maximum Of
3.4OO
The third stage OF the route was not
only that OF the greatest maximum
depth and greatest distance. but in that
stretch were encountered the greatest
fluctuations in depth. complicating the
problem before the engineers. What
laying a cable at such depths means.
may be judged by this illustration: In