New-York tribune., 1908-03-10
HOW THE CABLE CAME.
of Day Cyrus w. Field
Made 1t Possibility

This year will see on August Il. the Aftieth an
nversary Of the sending OF the first cable message
across the Atlantic Ocean. through the caoe COM
pIeted on that date in 1855 To-day however, -
a1so a marked one in the history Of submar1ne
teegraphy for il is exactly hfty-four years since
cyrus w Field fired with enthusiasm for 'he SEEM
ingly impossible project induced 'he men az
ward associated with him IN the laying oi ms
ca bic led by the venerable Peter Cooper 20 proisa
the material support that made the cable success
The picture reproduced in The Tribune this morn
ing : a photograph of a painting by Danlei Hunt-
ington. in the Chamber OF commerce OF lhls
city of the conference at which the agreement 20
lay an Atlantic cable was reached This CONFER
euce was held az the home OF Cyrus w Field on
70. 1854 and his enthusiasm carried MS near
ers away To such extent that they altnougn
more than doubtful Of the ultimate success o. the
plan felt themselves able to do no less than help
him.
Peter Cooper presided az the meeting as shown
in the picture. and cyrus w Field was the cnleI
speaker He urged the practicabiliIy OF the scheme
brilliantly. but had few facts to support his argu-
ments- The photographic charts Of today when
have made the of the bed Of the ocean as
we'll known the plan of the Borough u
Manhattan we're not a his disposal. and there was
only conjecture 70 make il seem likely that as hs
said. there was probably a level plateau between
the coast of Newfoundland and Ireland
Then there the problem of the transmission
of messages for A distance three thousand miles
: T. B. Morse. perfeCter OF the telegraph. mad
made experiments with cables but only between
Governors Island and Castle Garden vet the
results Of these experiments the inventor wrote
Mr.. Field assuring him that he could construct in
struTnents that would make the transmission OF
messages through the long cable possible
The upshot OF the pleadings Of Mr.. Field. with
his final expression Of such confidence that ne
willing risk whole fortune the success of
the endeavor finally persuaded the others. and be-
fore the meeting adjourned the agreement had
been signed " all those present These
Peter Cooper. Cyrus w Field, David Dudley Field.
Marshall o. Roberts. Moses Taylor and Chandler
White The named died in 1896. before the first
unsuccessful cable was laid but his place at
once taken by Wilson q Hunt
In the picture all these shown. although
Mr.. Hunt was not present :. ? b Morse who
was also absent is in the picture also. and SIT.
Huntington introduced his figure, in the act Of
making a sketch The picture was painted IN IS9f
and formally handed the Chamber OF Com
1925 by Morris X JeSup. VINO chair
man a committee. the other members Of which
Abram 5. Hewitt and William Z. Dodge. ap-
pointed arrange for the picture.
The idea Of historical painting mark tha
date of the agreement that made the cable possible
originated with Cyrus W Field himself. e made
the first suggestion the subject M-. Hunting
in 1860. after the final success OF the
cable laid the Great Eastern. his colleagues
were not all in agreement with and the idea
was dropped He spoke OF 70 again his death
bed. and II painted soon after, although Mr.
Field was never able to it