THE CABLE IS LAID 145 
and mingling of voices was this, when a winged salutation fly- 
ing over the tops of the Rocky Mountains, reached the same 
ear with a message which had been whispered along the Medi- 
terranean and under the Atlantic; when the farthest East 
touched the farthest West—the most ancient of kingdoms 
answering to the new-born empire of the Pacific.” To the 
world of that period, the quick transmission of news under 
the Atlantic was a marvelous phenomenon. 
To indicate how sharp a change the new cable brought in 
finance and business, it is only necessary to recall that before 
this time, American commodities and securities were traded 
on the British exchanges at prices unknown in the United 
States until two weeks later. As London was then preeminent- 
ly the world’s financial center, and Liverpool the great market 
for cotton, there was always intense interest among American 
investors and traders as to the quotations prevailing in Eng- 
land. While still on the Great Eastern, Cyrus Field had cabled 
to Ireland the following message: “‘Please send us Thursday 
afternoon the price that day for cotton in Liverpool and the 
London quotations for consols, United States five-twenty 
bonds, Illinois Central and Erie Railroad shares, and also 
bank rate of interest. ‘The above we shall send to New York 
on our arrival, and I will obtain the latest news from the 
States and send you in return.’ Thus did a momentous se- 
quence begin. 
It is clear that the laying of a successful cable between 
Europe and America revolutionized international finance, 
commerce, diplomacy, and news service. Cyrus Field and his 
British collaborators showed that the continents could be 
linked by a message-flashing device thousands of miles long 
operating under the depths of the ocean. After this date, the 
news of European capitals was known in America as quickly 
as in the city of its origin. A new wonder had been worked 
by man’s conquest of nature. Cyrus Field’s dream had come 
true! 
