lO 



The National Geographic Magazine 



power of the Army of the United States. 

 'In such cases the officials of the neutral 

 cable companies were given a choice of 

 action. They could abandon their proper- 

 ty to the vicissitudes of war, or accepting 

 the force majeure, were allowed to trans- 

 act business under strict military censor- 

 ship. Even during the siege of Santiago 

 the orders permitted the French Tele- 

 graphic Cable Company to accept busi- 

 ness for Santiago de Cuba within the 

 Spanish lines, every such message, how- 

 ever, to be vised by the military censor. 



The fourth class of cables were seized 

 by the military forces of the United 

 States and operated under strict military 

 censorship. Code and cipher messages 

 were absolutely refused save for the au- 

 thorized government agents and certain 

 excepted diplomatic representatives, the 

 latter as a matter of courtesy. 



Cables of the fifth class were placed 

 under a military censorship. Of these, 

 there were six systems comprising sepa- 

 rate cables. Most of these telegraph 

 cables were only constructively seized, 

 General Greely taking the responsibility 

 of intrusting the direct censorship of 

 messages, under the general supervision 

 of an officer of the Signal Corps, to 

 the respective superintendents, men of 

 high character, whose good faith was 

 guaranteed by the companies whose in- 

 terests they likewise guarded. The in- 

 terests of the United States were thus 

 subserved while the privacy of the affairs 

 of the companies was conserved. The 

 responsible officials gave a written pledge 

 to observe such rules as might be filed 

 by the Chief Signal Officer with the com- 

 panies. These rules prohibited all mes- 

 sages to and from Spain, and also certain 

 other classes which were deemed preju- 

 dicial to the military interests of the 

 United States. In cases of doubt, mes- 

 sages of the latter character were ex- 

 amined and vised by the military censor. 



The events of the Spanish-American 

 War brought to attention the whole sub- 

 ject of the legal rights of cable property 



and the control of the same under varying 

 and complex conditions in time of war. 

 In the absence of definite international 

 law upon the many points involved, the 

 United States was forced to take the ini- 

 tiative and use this powerful military 

 weapon for the benefit of the cause of the 

 United States, while at the same time 

 respecting and subserving the rights of 

 neutrals with an equity and fairness which 

 has always characterized the actions of 

 this Government when possible. 



In the West Indian cables, as well as 

 in the cable connecting the Philippines 

 with Asia, the cable question was always 

 a paramount one, and the United States 

 finds herself now confronted with legal 

 questions, growing out of actions neces- 

 sary in time of war. Since submarine 

 cables have become such a dominant in- 

 fluence in time of war, and since the cases 

 which may naturally arise are often com- 

 plex and involved, it is clear that a further 

 international cable conference is a neces- 

 sity of the near future, by which a more 

 definite international understanding of 

 methods of procedure in time of war may 

 be attained. This international confer- 

 ence could properly consider other inter- 

 national cable matters, which the great 

 advance in submarine telegraphy has 

 made important. Among these may be 

 mentioned the construction and authoriza- 

 tion of a uniform international cable code, 

 for the economical and efficient communi- 

 cation between different parts of the 

 world in any of the principal languages 

 now authorized by the international tele- 

 graph rules. 



THE CABLE EQUIPMENT OF A FLEET. 



It seems clear from the history of the 

 Spanish-American War that provisions 

 must be made for laying, picking up, cut- 

 ting, and operating submarine cables in 

 time of war. From the outbreak of this 

 war every attention was given to the 

 problem of isolating the island of Cuba 

 from Spain. 



