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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[September i, 1902. 



THE MACKAY PACIFIC CABLE. 



' I 'HE president of the United States on August 9 made for- 

 A mal announcement of the conditions which must be 

 complied with before his consent will be given to any measure 

 which may be brought before congress granting a concession 

 to the Commercial Pacific Cable Co. to lay a cable across the 

 Pacific. The company named had filed at Washington an ap- 

 plication for the consent of the government to the laying of 

 such a cable, proposing certain conditions, the acceptance of 

 which would constitute a contract. In his answer to their ap- 

 plication President Roosevelt has pointed out certain modifi- 

 cations which must be made in the terms proposed. The 

 president's action, however, is not final, since the attitude of 

 the government is that any agreement which may be reached 

 with the cable company should be ratified by congress to give 

 it full effect. 



The memorandum approved by President Roosevelt con- 

 sents to the laying of a cable from the Pacific coast of the 

 United States to the Hawaiian islands, Midway islands, Guam, 

 the Philippines, and some point on the coast of China; this 

 concession to confer no monopoly as against any other com- 

 pany that might be formed in the United States to lay cables 

 in the Pacific ; the company not to combine or associate itself 

 with any other cable company now existing, to regulate rates ; 

 the company's cables to touch only on American soil between 

 the United States and China ; the rates charged not to ex- 

 ceed those proposed by the company in a memorandum lately 

 filed at Washington ;* government dispatches to have priority 

 overall others; the United States to have the right at any 

 time to purchase the cable at an appraised value ; the govern- 

 ment of the United States to have authority to assume full 

 control of the cable in time of war; all operators and other 

 employes of the company, other than laborers, to be American 

 citizens. 



The Commercial Pacific Cable Co., in return for such con- 

 cessions to the government as these terms involve, is to have 

 the use of the soundings taken by the navy department between 

 Honolulu and the Asiatic coast, by means of which it will be 

 possible to lay the cable at least a year earlier than if the com- 

 pany had yet to take new soundings. Besides, the government 

 will agree to obtain the consent of China to the landing of the 

 cable on her shores — in spite of the fact that exclusive privi- 

 leges are now enjoyed there by a British cable company— under 

 the clause in the treaty between the United States and China 

 which entitles the former to all the rights in the latter country 

 of " the most favored nation." 



As before stated in the India Rubber World, the first 

 section of the proposed cable— to connect San Francisco with 

 Honolulu— has been made already, and a contract has been 

 signed for the manufacture of the remaining sections, and the 

 company had announced its intention of proceeding with the 

 work whether its application for a concession was granted or 

 not. It is probable that the terms approved by President 

 Roosevelt will not be wholly satisfactory to the company ; for 

 example, the company had planned to use the cable already ex- 

 isting between Manila and Hongkong, whereas the govern- 

 ment demands that the company shall construct and operate 

 a line of its own between those points. But it is not antici- 

 pated that the company will refuse to accept the proposed con- 



* The company promised that its rates should not exceed 50 cents per word be- 

 tween San Francisco and Honolulu at the beginning, this to be reduced to 35 cents 

 within two years ; and not to exceed $1 per word between San Francisco and 

 Manila and San Francisco and China ; the government to be entitled to one half 

 these rates. The existing rate to Manila is $1.56 per word. 



tract as a whole. By the way, the government is not showing 

 any partiality to the Commercial Pacific company; although 

 the question of a Pacific cable has been discussed for years, 

 this is the first definite proposition that has come before the 

 government for its action. 



CABLE AND INSULATION NOTES. 



A PIECE of submarine cable, }( mile in length, insulated with 

 Hooper's rubber compound, from a line laid in 1881 for the 

 Cuba Submarine Telegraph Co., was the subject recently of a 

 test by Clark, Forde & Taylor, a London firm of consulting 

 electrical engineers. They report: "Manufactured in 1873. 

 Laid off Cienfuegos, Cuba, in 1881, under special arrangement 

 for guarantee. Picked up in 1350 fathoms, April, 1902. Re- 

 ceived at Hooper's works, Millwall Docks, June, 1902. Our 

 tests of this core show that after thirty years it is still in per- 

 fect electrical condition. The examination of a foot specimen 

 showed that the insulator was in good mechanical condition, 

 and that the copper conductor had not suffered from the at- 

 tacks of sulphur." 



= In regard to the debenture issue of 21,000,000 marks re- 

 quired for the second German Atlantic cable, mentioned in the 

 last India Rubber World, it is reported that applications for 

 considerably more than 300,000,000 marks were received. 



= According to the Electrical Review (London), upon the 

 completion of the British Pacific cable between Vancouver and 

 Australia, the laying of a link cable to connect Fanning Island 

 with Honolulu is contemplated. This will connect together 

 the All-British and the Commercial Pacific cables, and will af- 

 ford an alternative and inexpensive route to both. 



INTERCEPTING WIRELESS TELEGRAMS. 



[from the " GUMMI-ZEITUNG," DRESDEN,] 



RECENTLY we made the statement, based upon one in 

 The India Rubber World, that the general introduc- 

 tion of wireless telegraphy was still a matter of conjecture, the 

 danger of having telegrams intercepted prohibiting its univer- 

 sal use. A recent occurrence has created quite a commotion 

 and is of vital importance to wireless telegraphy, and bears out 

 the statement made. An American vessel, at a material dis- 

 tance, intercepted the telegraphic communication between the 

 English steamers Lucania and Campania, and then placed the 

 stenogram which it had taken, as a joke, at the disposal of 

 both vessels. By this one of the most important prerequi- 

 sites, the secrecy of telegraphic communication, is made very 

 questionable. The statements indulged in when wireless tele- 

 graphy was first introduced, that any one could intercept them, 

 received but little credence ; but when the invention, to per- 

 fectly attune the sending and receiving apparatus, was made, 

 it was asserted by some that it would be impossible to take 

 telegrams for every other instrument. The two English vessels 

 were equipped with the Marconi system. Whether the other 

 systems will act differently, is a matter to be awaited. 



Rubber heels are reported to be in great vogue in the vil- 

 lage of Spencer, Indiana, which is surrounded by hills. These 

 heels are reported to be good for hill climbing. One cobbler 

 there is mentioned as having saved in two years over 1000 

 paper boxes, which had come to him containing rubber heels 

 and which he had emptied in supplying customers. 



To Test Tires.— It has been suggested that a valuable test 

 of tires would be for cars to run at stated intervals over patches 

 of loose, unrolled road material, and that the entered tires 

 after the completion of the 3000 mile run should then be tested 

 to actual destruction. 



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