The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-10-05
CABLE MEN Do
NOT FEAR WIRELESS
sCOFF AT PRACTICABILITY or
TRANSATLANTIC SERVICE, SAY
ING MARCONI CANNOT COMPETE

ING MARCONl CANNOT COMPETE
LONDON, Sept. 25.-The announce
ment that the Marconi company in
tend to open a public service Of wire
less telegraphy between Ireland and
Canada this month at the rate of 10
cents a word (plus land charges) has
not, so far, alarmed the cable com
panies, whose charge is 25 cents a
word. Foremost among the reasons
why they are not dismayed by the
prospect is the fact that in order to be-
lieve in it they have first to see the
results of the wireless service. It has
been coming" for so many years that
now when it is precisely announced to
begin in a few years, there is some
skepticism as to what it's actual
achievement will amount to. This. OF
course, only makes Mr.. Marconi's op-
portunity for distinction all the great
er and renders the occasion generally
all the more interesting
Mr.. Charles Bright, f. r. S. E., M. l..
b. E., well-known authority, and the
author of a standard work on sub
marine telegraphy, has just been in
terviewed, and he expresses the opin-
ion with wireless telegraphy some Of
the statements made publicly have
been frequently in advance of the
facts. He did not say that it was i'm
possible to send transatlantic mes
sages by wireless, provided that suf-
ficiently high power was used. But,
for one thing, the speed of wireless
could not compare with the speed OF
the cable.
"The speed of an Atlantic cable is
100 words a minute" continued Mr..
Bright. THE wireless telegraphy we
know Of at present is certainly not
capable of anything like this. Twen-
ty words a minute, think it is. There
are seventeen Atlantic cables-the
Anglo-American and the Commercial
have each five. If the traffic warrant
ed it the cables speed of transmission
might be considerably increased, be-
1
due to the type of insulated conductor
if necessary one could lay a cable
with a bigger conductor. On account
of the comparatively low wireless
speed obtained, if a transatlantic wire
less company were to secure sufficient
traffic to effect a success commercially
it could probably only be by the es-
tablishment of several stations at each
end, and these, by reason of the high
power used, would be liable to inter-
| ference.
Besides holding the field in the
matter of speed over any system of
wireless telegraphy for some time to
come, the cable is likely, in my opin-
| ion, to hold the record also for accu-
racy. We hear all about the successes
of wireless telegraphy; we don't hear
of the difficulties or the number of re-
petitions necessary before they get a
message through correctly. On the
other hand, the immediate accuracy in
cable telegraphy is at about as high
pitch as anything could be-
Wireless at present is well adapt
ed for the interchange of compliments
but not for considerable commercial
messages involving elaborate codes
Whether the cable companies could
produce a great development of trans
atlantic telegraphy by reducing the
rate to siXpence a word is another
matter-and, of course, there is such a
thing as creating a demand. But
think the main effect of a successful
wireless service in the near future
would be to bring the idea of trans
atlantic telegraphy of any sort more
forcibly to the public mind. In other
words, it certainly wouldn't be likely
to hurt anybody"
you mean that shareholders in ca
BILE companies have nothing to fear?"
Nothing whatever" replied Mr..
Bright. Some years ago l expressed
this opinion in an article in the Nine
teenth Century, and nothing has hap
pened to change it,"