The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-02-12
CABLES OF THE WORLD.


graph prepared by the Treasury Bureau
of Statistics which viii appear in the
forthcoming Monthly Summary OF
Commerce and Finance. 1t presents
some information regarding the sub
marine telegraphs of the world which
is especially interesting at this time
in view of the prospective construction
OF an all-American cable across the
Pacific It shows that the submarine
telegraphs of the world number l,150.
Their aggregate length is nearly 200, 900
miles: their total cost is estimated at
s275, 600 900, and the number of mes
sages annually transmitted over them
is more than 10000 All the grand
divisions of the earth are now con-
nected by their wires. and from coun-
try TO country and island to island the
thoughts and words of mankind are
instantaneously transmitted. Beneath
all oceans the universal language which
this system has created flows uninter-
ruptedly, and man talks as face to
face with his fellow-man at the an
llDOQGS. OdI6GSI AIEiCd now COnS
daily with enlightened Europe or
America, and the great events of the
morning are known in the evening
throughout the inhabited world. Add
ing to the submarine lines the land
telegraph systems by which they are
connected and through which they
bring interior points Of the various
continents into instantaneous commu-
nication, the total length of telegraph
lines of the world is 1,1S0,000 miles, the
length of their single wires or con-
ductors S,s0O.OOO miles, and the total
number of messages annually sent over
them about 400, 1000, 900, or an average
of more than 1000, 900 each day
In the short half century since the
practicability of submarine telegraphy
was demonstrated, the electric wires
have invaded every ocean. Nearly a
score of wires have been laid across
the Atlantic, of which no less than
thirteen now SUCCESSFULLY operate be-
tween the United States and Europe.
while three others span the compare
lively short distance between South |
America and the African and south |
European coast lines. Throughout the |
Indian Ocean lines connect the Far /
East with Europe and America via the
Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the west
ern coast of Europe, and the great
transatlantic lines. The Mediter-
ranean is crossed and recrossed in its
entire length and breadth by numerous
cable lines, and the Mediterranean of
America" the Gulf of Mexico and the
caribbean Sea, is traversed in all direc-
tons by lines which bring its islands
and colonies into speaking relations
with each other and with South Amer
lea, Central America, the United
States, and thence with Europe, Africa.
Asia-the whole world. Along the L
eastern coast of Asia, cable lines loop |
from port to port, and island TO island.
receiving messages overland from
Eastern Europe via the Russia-Siberi-
an land lines and forwarding them to
Japan. China. Australia, New Zealand.
the Straits Settlements, Hongkong,
and the Philippines, and receiving
others in return. South America is
skirted with cable lines along it's en-
tire border save the extreme south.
where they are brought into intercom-
entire coast of Africa, cables loop from
place to place and from colony to
stretching along the entire cir
and penetrating the inte-
rior by land lines at various points.
The Pacific ocean has a line from
Canada to Australia and one from San
Francisco to Honolulu. 1t has also
been invaded along its margin, marine
wires stretching along its western bor-
der from Siberia to Australia, while
it's eastern borders are skirted with
lines which stretch along the western
coasts of the two Americas.
The chief obstacle in the past to the
of a grand trans-Pacific
cable was found in the fact that mid
ocean resting places could not be sat
obtained or arranged for, no
single government controlling a suffi-
,ient number of suitable landing places
to make this seem practicable, in view
IF the belief that the distance through
which messages could be sent and
cables controlled was limited. With
landing places at Hawaii, Wake ISL
and, Guam, and the Philippines, how
ever. no section of a cable stretching
from the United States to Asia and
touching at these points would have |
L length equal to that now in daily
operation between France and the
United States. The length of the
French cable from Brest, France, to t
cape Cod, Mass, is $3.50 miles, while '
he greatest distance from land to a
and on the proposed Pacific route is "
hat from San Francisco to Hawaii,