Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-26
CONTACTS B|GA|D
TOFORE|GN TRADE
Cable, Radio and Phones
Broaden u. S. Business
With Other Nations.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. July 25.-E'ricndly
contact means business.
That is the international fact which
the records of the telegraph. radio
and cable companies hay" established
through the record of this operation
between the United States ana the
remainder If tn" world in the last
year. Tho volume of business com
municatiunS hy telegraph and radi"
in tho last year has been more than
double that between American firms
ana individuals and those of foreign
countries in 1918.
Approximately 200, 600 900 words
will be so handled in 1927. This is
accurately forecast Ivy the figures
compiled by the leading interest
which in 1913 handled 37,372 ZOO words
of such messages. and in 1926, ST.
312,27S words. The messages trans
mitted by other companies attained
total more than equal to that figure.
World Leadership.
These statistics indicate beyond
question the extent to which Amcri-
can finanCiers and business men have
assumed world leadership. The United
states now is the main creditor nation
or the world. and thousands of finan-
cal transactions, as indicated by tele-
graphic messages, are now ConSum-
mated in this country instead of
abroad
very contact means more business,
not only for the telegraph and radio
companies. but for merchants and
business men. The recent transatlantic
nights gave an immediate impetus to
foreign trade, as the messages not
sent in code prove. In fact, the war it.
self added the first spur prick to the
business of the cable companies, be-
cause the use of code was prohibited
This automatically heightened the
average message from to % words
When the wartime restrictions were
removed the public was slow to aban-
don the lengthier messages and it is
only IN the last year or two that the
use OF cable code again has become
anything like general. At present
nlne-tenthS Of the full rate urgent
cables are in code, and the average
message length is back again to eight
words. The number of messages, how
ever, has advanced.
Bankers Acceptances Factor.
A factor which has gone far to aug
ment use of the telegraph has been
bankers acceptances. These did not be-
come legal until the Federal Reserve
system was organized in 1914. These
acceptances are IAN agreement by the
acceptor to pay a bill, draft, order or
the like, according to it's terms. In
the last II months over a third of the
total foreign business of the United
states has been financed by these "ac-
ceptances," which are usually made
by telegraph. Arbitrage operations,
dealings on foreign exchange where
speed is a factor and "cable transfers"
have augmented financial dealings by
telegraph and radio.
This increased traffic over air and
cable lines with Latin America has
corresponded with what amounted to
a boom in commerce between the two
American continents.
Operations by radio telephone far
from cutting into the business of the
underseas cable companies, have in
creased the number of messages.
Nearly all radio telephone business
agreements have been immediately
confirmed by cable since spoken tele-
phone communications do not consti-
tute a contract and are subject to
later confirmation.
The increase in the use of the ca
bles has been met by increased facil-
tiles. Three new cables recently have
been laid between America and Europe
and many shorter cables have been
installed. Of the three long lines, two
are of the permalloy type, which in
reality are equivalent to many old
style cable lines, since they have a
speed 8 to times greater than the
older types. In addition, the old lines
have been rendered % to so per cent
more efficient by use of improved
terminal apparatus, such as automatic
printing machines.