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PACIFIC CABLE. 



PACIFIC OCEAN COMMERCE. 



PACIFIC CABLE. One of the most notable 

 events of 1902 was the laying of the Pacific cable 

 and the opening of telegraphic communication 

 with Honolulu, Hawaii. Honolulu is about the 

 same distance from San Francisco that New 

 York is from Liverpool, and this cable forms an 

 important link in the great transpacific cable, 

 which, when completed, as expected by July 4, 

 1903, will encircle the earth. For more than twen- 

 1y vears the necessity of a Pacific cable has been 

 urged, but not until after the late war with Spain 

 was the subject taken in hand in a definite man- 

 ner. After the acquirement of the Philippine Is- 

 lands and the annexation of Hawaii, it became a 

 matter of national importance, and the late Presi- 

 dent McKinley sent a special message to Congress 

 on Feb. 10, 1899, urging the necessity for a trans- 

 pacific cable. The late John W. Mackay recog- 

 nized the growing importance of American trade 

 opportunities in the Orient, and this was the prime 

 consideration that induced the Commercial Cable 

 Company, of which he was president, to under- 

 take the laying of a cable across the world's 

 broadest ocean. A contract was awarded to the 

 India-Rubber, Gutta-Percha and Telegraph Works 

 Company (Ltd.), of Silvertown, near London, Eng- 

 land, for the construction and laying of the section 

 of cable from San Francisco to Honolulu. A sec- 

 ond contract was then awarded to the Telegraph 

 Construction and Maintenance Company of 

 Greenwich, England, for constructing and laying 

 a, submarine cable from Honolulu to Manila, 

 Philippine Islands, via Midway and Guam islands, 

 where repeating stations are to be located. 



The cable steamship Silvertown laid the section 

 from San Francisco to Honolulu, and the cable 

 steamers Anglia and Colonia will lay the section 

 from Honolulu to Manila. The Silvertown ar- 

 rived at San Francisco on Dec. 4, 1902, seventy- 

 five days from London, via Cape Horn. The shore 

 end of the cable was laid on Dec. 10, and on Sun- 

 day, Dec. 14, the easterly end of the great cable 

 was spliced to the shore end at a point on the 

 ocean beach about half a mile south from the Cliff 

 House. The ceremony attending the landing and 

 splicing was witnessed by 50,000 persons. Miss 

 Lucille Gage, the ten-year-old daughter of the 

 Governor of California, broke the bottle of wine 

 and christened the great wire rope " Pacific 

 Cable." The steamer sailed at noon of the 14th 

 for the islands, paying out the cable en route and 

 keeping up daily communication with the San 

 Francisco office until Friday morning, Dec. 26. 

 Nothing further was heard until 11.15 P. M. 

 Jan. 1, 1903, when connection with Honolulu was 

 complete and the first message came through. It 

 was one of congratulation from the people of 

 Honolulu to President Roosevelt. 



This section of cable is 2,276 nautical miles in 

 length, and the greatest depth of water reached 

 is 3,175 fathoms, where the pressure is equal to 

 four tons to the square inch. The cable averages 

 one and one-eighth inch in diameter and is com- 

 posed of one main conducting copper wire 0.098 of 

 an inch in diameter, with ten copper wires each 

 0.0415 of an inch in diameter wound around it, 

 weighing 500 pounds to each nautical mile. The 

 dialectic or insulating covering is three coats of 

 gutta-percha 0.432 of an inch thick, weighing 315 

 pounds to each nautical mile. For three or four 

 miles out from each landing-place the cable is 

 closely wound with brass tape as a protection 



against the teredo, a small boring worm which is 

 very destructive. 



PACIFIC OCEAN COMMERCE. The open- 

 ing of new fields of trade in the Orient and in the 

 numerous islands of the Pacific Ocean in the past 

 few years, and the rapidly increasing wants of 

 the millions of people in these distant lands, are 

 attracting the attention of all the nations to a 

 greater extent than ever. Since the close of the 

 war with Spain the United States has taken a 

 foremost position as a world power, and by reason 

 of geographical place and the shipping facilities 

 at Pacific coast ports, is in a better position to 

 supply both food products and manufactured 

 commodities in these new fields of commerce than 

 any other nation. At present the imports of 

 Asia and Oceania aggregate $1,200,000,000 a year, 

 of which the United States supplies a little less 

 than 10 per cent., but its share is steadily grow- 

 ing. The fiscal year ending June 30, 1902, is a 

 fair index of the growth of this trade, and both 

 exports and imports show an increase. To Japan 

 the exports from the United States were $2,000,000 

 greater than in the previous year, and to China 

 there was an increase of $14,000,000. The in- 

 crease in imports from Asia and Oceania was 

 $15,000,000. In 1902 the most satisfactory show- 

 ing in American commerce was made in the export 

 trade to Asia and Oceania. The commercial ad- 

 vantage of the United States lies through the Pa- 

 cific coast ports San Francisco, San Diego, Port- 

 land, Seattle, and Tacoma. Facts and figures 

 show this advantage plainly. The distance from 

 London to Shanghai is 10,500 miles via the Suez 

 Canal, while from San Francisco to Shanghai it 

 is only 5,840 miles, and a trifle less from Puget 

 Sound ports. It is 2,276 miles from San Francisco 

 to Honolulu, and 6,855 miles from San Francisco 

 to the Philippine Islands via Honolulu and Guam. 

 Merchandise from New York can be laid down in 

 Shanghai, China, in a shorter time, via the over- 

 land route to San Francisco, than from Liverpool 

 or Hamburg. Considered in every way, the United 

 States is favored by natural conditions in Asiatic 

 trade affairs. Nearly one-quarter of the aggre- 

 gate exports of the United States to Oceania and 

 the Orient are shipped from San Francisco, the 

 total being about $23,000,000 a year. . In 1902 the 

 total from San Francisco to China was $6.189.700; 

 to Japan, $3,860,500: to Australia, $3,620,000; to 

 the Philippines, $1.360,000; to New Zealand, 

 $782,000; to Tahiti, $380,000; and to South Afri- 

 ca, $760,000. Samoa, Fiji, and the numerous is- 

 lands of the Pacific were all represented in the 

 year's business to a liberal extent. From June 1, 

 1902, to Dec. 31 the exports from San Francisco 

 to Hawaii were valued at $5.360,000, no records 

 having been kept previously since June 14, l!>oo. 

 In the last three years 89 steamers, some of them 

 of 11.500 tons register, have been added to the 

 Pacific Ocean fleet that makes San Francisco its 

 home port. 



Puget Sound ports are also largely interested in 

 Oriental trade, and both Seattle and Tacoma 

 have several regular steam lines to Japan, China, 

 and the Philippine Islands. Tacoma has three 

 large steamers plying between that port and Vlad- 

 ivostok, Siberia. The Great Northern Steam- 

 ship Company, with headquarters at Seattle, will 

 have three new steamships of the largest size, 

 now nearing completion, in service early in 1903. 



Portland, Ore., is also becoming deeply inter- 



