6 



The National Geographic Magazine 



PHILIPPINE MILITARY TELEGRAPH 



SYSTEM. 



It has been assumed as a principle 

 from the outset that the quickest means 

 of pacifying and civihzing the Philippine 

 Archipelago is to cover it with a network 

 of telegraph wires. Commanding .offi- 

 cers can crush an incipient uprising sud- 

 denly and before it has time to assume 

 dangerous proportions by concentrating 

 by telegraph the garrisons from all di- 

 rections upon the one point involved. Al- 

 ready there are about 2,500 miles of land 

 telegraph lines in operation in the Phil- 

 ippines, and about two hundred and sixty 

 miles of inter-island and lake cables have 

 been laid, every mile constructed by the 

 United States Signal Corps since the 

 battle of Manila Bay. At the last report 

 the telegraphic messages in the Island of 

 Luzon alone exceeded 6,500 per day, 

 averaging over forty words each, or ap- 

 proximately 260,000 words daily. 



It may be added that the telegraph is 

 practically the only mail service that ex- 

 ists. 



In Luzon two trunk lines have been 

 established — one along the west coast, 

 the other along the Rio Grande de 

 Cagayan. The islands of Cebu and 

 Leyte have been connected by cable, and 

 a complete new route from Manila to 

 Iloilo is in operation, furnishing a dupli- 

 cate route to the present English cable 

 direct from Manila to Iloilo. In the De- 

 partment of Mindanao and Jolo, the plan 

 involves direct communication, by cable, 

 between the principal islands, and by land 

 lines and cable to the telegraph system in 

 the Department of the Visayas, and from 

 thence, by duplicate routes to Manila. 



THE ALASKAN TELEGRAPH SYSTEM. 



The growing commercial importance of 

 Alaska, and the prospective future of that 

 country, have made the construction of 

 a telegraph system for this territory an 

 imperative necessity. Congress at its last 

 session authorized an expenditure of 



$450,000 for the construction of such a 

 line. 



Owing to the shortness of the working 

 season in this latitude, and the very un- 

 usual conditions under which the line 

 must be constructed, as well as the lack 

 of any adequate transportation, it was not 

 hoped to complete the work this season. 



The military cables connecting the gold 

 district of Cape Nome with the Headquar- 

 ters at St. Michael, and also connecting 

 St. Michael with Unalaklik, which is to 

 be the terminus of the land line up the 

 Yukon, have been completed and have 

 placed the Department Commander at St. 

 Michael in direct communication with 

 Cape Nome. 



These submarine cables, involving in 

 the aggregate nearly two hundred miles, 

 were constructed by an American manu- 

 facturer, and were laid, equipped, and 

 operated by American engineers. 



The military forts to be connected, with 

 the approximate distances, are shown in 

 the following table : 



Cape Nome . .1,610 1,260 1,090 1,000 740 670 120 



By a recent temporary arrangement 

 with the Canadian authorities this tele- 

 graph system will be enabled to reach the 

 United States over the line now being 

 constructed by the Canadian Govern- 

 ment between Atlin and Quesnelle — a 

 distance of about nine hundred miles. 



A PACIFIC CABLE. 



In order to bind together the local land 

 telegraph systems which have been out- 

 lined above, these systems should be di- 

 rectly connected at an early date with 

 the United States. First in this colo- 

 nial system, comes the proposed trans- 

 Pacific Cable, connecting California with 

 the Hawaiian Islands, thence to Midway 



