The National geographic magazine . cable builders andoperators is that a distance of 3,500miles is about the limit at which cablescan be satisfactorily operated withoutway stations, at which the messages aretransmitted from section to section ofthe line. It is because of this fact andbecause there are few places in the Pa-cific in which islands are so located asto furnish the necessary way stationsfor relays that the construction of sub-marine telegraphs across that oceanhas not been undertaken. Even whereislands exist at such intervals as to jus-tify the attempt, they were so dividedin nation
The National geographic magazine . cable builders andoperators is that a distance of 3,500miles is about the limit at which cablescan be satisfactorily operated withoutway stations, at which the messages aretransmitted from section to section ofthe line. It is because of this fact andbecause there are few places in the Pa-cific in which islands are so located asto furnish the necessary way stationsfor relays that the construction of sub-marine telegraphs across that oceanhas not been undertaken. Even whereislands exist at such intervals as to jus-tify the attempt, they were so dividedin national control that no country orgroup of capitalists cared to undertakethis enormous task. But now all this ischanged. The events of the past threeyears have brought under the controlof the United States a line of islandsstretching at convenient intervals fromthe western coast of America to theeastern coast of Asia. The HawaiianIslands, Wake Island, Guam, and thePhilippines form a continuous line ofgreat natural telegraph poles upon. Problems of the Pacific 3*5 which we may string a wire or seriesof wires, by which we may converseacross this great body of water, stretch-ing half way round the globe, makingevery one of its intermediate landingsand relay stations on our own territoryand protected by the American flag. Meantime England has decided to at-tempt to connect the western coast ofCanada, via Fanning Island, the Fijigroup, and Norfolk Island, with herSouthern Pacific possessions of Aus-tralia and New Zealand, The proposedroutes of these two cable systems areshown on the map here presented. It is proposed to also construct con-necting links between Fanning Islandand the Hawaiian Islands, and by ashort side line connect the Samoangroup with the main line. This wouldgive to the American and the Britishlines an opportunity for an interchangeof business and put all the importantgroups of the Pacific—the Hawaiiangroup, the Samoan Islands, the Fijigroup, Guam, and the Philippines
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
