The Wrangell sentinel., 1923-04-26
New Cable Will Be a Big Thing
 For Alaska

Charles Murphy, chief operator of the |. S. cable system to Alaska, was 8 guest of the Commercial Club at it's weekly luncheon at the Wran- gell hotel last Monday.
 MT. Murphy has been connected with the Alaska cable since it was laid IS years ago. Unlike most of the men connected with the Alaska cable. Mir. Murphy is not an enlisted man. but is in the Civil Service. He served as major with the famous Second Division during the war.
 When called upon for a few re- marks, Mir. Murphy stated that the Wrangell Commercial Club, as well as other commercial bodies of Alas ka, were greatly to be complimented upon their excellent work in help ing to convince Congress of the need for new cable to Alaska. He said the recent appropriation of s1 1,500,- 900 had made the new cable pos sfble, and would insure a better ser vice than Alaska has ever known. The present cable has been in use for Is years, and was designed to handle much smaller amount of traffic than has developed during the past few years.
 MT. Murphy disclosed the inter esting information that while Alas ka has been at a standstill during the past ten years in the matter of population the amount of it's cable business has been steadily increas- ing. Formerly the greater number of messages were for the Interior but during the last three or four years the bulk of the cable business has been with Southeastern Alaska Often more messages are filed in one day than it is possible for the cable to handle. This means delays, and, unfortunately, there can be no relief from this condition until the new cable is laid. It is understood that the new cable will be delivered at Seattle the latter part of May, 1924.
 The new cable ship Dellwood is approximately twice the size of the Burnside and has modern equip ment. It is estimated that the Dell wood will require about ten days to lay the new cable, which will be cap able of handling five times as much traffic as the old cable. There will also be marked improvement in the quality of the service. as it will then be possible to receive an ans wer in a few minutes to a message sent to Seattle.
 In telling of the improved service that is sure to come with a new ca ble, MT. Murphy stated that grear credit is due Colonel Seone. who was formerly at the head of the AL aska cable service, and is now Ex- ecutive Officer in the office of the Chief Signal Officer at Washing ton, D. c. It was tie determined efforts of Colonel Seona that were largely responsible for the aprrcpri- aticn of s1.500,00O for a new cable, and also for the assignmen. of an adequate cable ship to replace the Burnside.
 MT. Murphy made the announce ment that the local cable office is to be moved from it's present quarters to the Wrangell hotel It will be To- cated in the room between pr. He'd gers office and the dining room
 The radio station at Wrangell is to be discontinued MT. Murphy stat ed that this was not loss to the town as only six radio messages had been handled by the Wrangell sta tion during the past six months, and these same messages could have been handled just as well by cable.
 The radio station at Craig will continue in operation as heretofore. Anyone wishing to send a message to the West Coast may do so through the cable office, the message being relayed from Ketchikan without de- lay.
 Col. J. D. L. Hartman, the present Officer in Charge. is greatly inter- ested in the welfare of the territory. said Mir. Murphy. and he will visit Wrangell and other towns in South eastern Alaska early in July.