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Show "romance of telegraphy" Without pomp or circumstance, or any ot 1he advertisement that usually heralds a great national or international internation-al gathering, there meets vcrv five vcara one of the greatest and most practical ot all international conferences that tho world has so far been ablo to agreo upon, says tho Philadelphia Record. It is a conference that affects more nearly and directly the dailv life and bread-and-butter interests of tho people of the world than all The Haguo peace conferences or other political gatherings gather-ings of -which the high politicians of the globe have dreamed. At this conforeucc every nation in the world civilized enough to be a user of the telegraph which, of course, means tho whole of the civilized world is represented with one most notable exception. That exception is the United States of America. But, though for reasons purely technical and capable only of technical explanation, tho United States is not directly represented represent-ed in the conference, it yet 'fullv shares in the effects of all its deliberations. Arranges Every Point Amicably. The International Telegrnph conference confer-ence discusses and amicably arranges every point of every sort "relating to the exchange of telegraphic communications communi-cations between all tne ends and parts of the earth. If you should wish to travel from Philadelphia to, say, Manchuria, or to the interior of Argentina or of Persia, you would need to spend quito a littlo time aud anxiety in fortifying yourself with the vory necessary permits to insure in-sure .your reaching your destination unmolested un-molested by troublesome customs and military authorities, and to reach it in reasonable time. If you wanted to telegraph to theso places you would simply go to the nearest near-est telegraph ollice and hand in your messnge in the simple nud sublime assurance as-surance that it would bo delivered to vour correspondent in Manchuria or Persia or Argentina within a few hours. Nerve Centre of Telegraphy. This bureau is located at Berne, Switzerland. It is the nerve centre of the world's telegraphs. It is tho court of arbitration and medium of amicable arrangement of all . tho difficulties that arise iu the way of the free interchange of telegraphic correspondence between all parts of tho earth. It is a prosaic bjisiness office full of infinite poetry. "Berne," an the bureau is known in every telegraph office in the world, is in closer touch with all the -world than arq all tho world's ruler's and politicians. poli-ticians. If revolutionists in Turkey cut tho wires, or Japanese admirals in tho east seize the cables, or storms or earthquakes earth-quakes or any other cause interrupt tho free flow of tho world's telegraphic correspondence, "Berne" notifies every telegraph office in the wide world, and immediately sets to work to contrive how best tho break may be bridged without offending the national interests or susceptibilities of any nation. The first duty of every nation is to uotiiy "Berne" of any interruption or alteration in its telegraphich arrangements. arrange-ments. The first duty of "Berne" is to notify every other nation. "Borne" is tho centre of everything telegraphic, and "CQ," in the nomenclature of telegraphy, is the circumference- of everything. Takes Precedence of Every Message. .A messaco from anywhere addressed "Bcrno" finds its way by the quickest route and ahead of every other message to tho international bureau, and a message mes-sage from Berne addressed simply "CQ" finds its way ahead of every other messaeo to every telegraph ofi'ico in the world. Every city in the world has its recognized recog-nized code. London is "LN." New York is "NY." Suez is "SZ," Montevideo Monte-video is "MV." A message sent from Beruc addressed simply "IQ" would quickly find its way "to Iquique, far away on tho west coast of South America. Amer-ica. But "CQ" means "all stations," and a message from Berne, telling, por-haps, por-haps, of interruption to West Indian cables by reason of earthquake, or of 1 the stoppage of telegrams of cipher telegrams to Turkey because of revolution, revolu-tion, would be passed from one station and government and cable company to another until it reached every telegraph office in the world. This is only a iniuor duty of the International In-ternational Telegraph Bureau at Berne, but it illustrates the world-wide touch the bureau has of the telegraphic communications com-munications of the world. And what Berne does iu this dotail it also docs in every other detail affecting telegraphic tele-graphic correspondence. An International Clearing House. . Berne is very much more than a mere information bureau. It is an interna-tional interna-tional clearing house aud arbitration tribunal. It was created in 1S6S as f,'a central office to collect, arrange and publish information of all kinds relating to international telegraphy; lo circulate requests for modifications of tariffs and service regulations; to give notico of changes adopted, and generally to study all subjects and execute all work intrusted in-trusted to it in tho interest of international interna-tional telegraphy." Ever3'thing relating to the internal telegraph service of the various countries coun-tries is communicated to Berne, and so to one another; every improvement'any country may introduce, all alterations of tariff, opening of new lines and closing clos-ing of old ones, all about new experiments, experi-ments, even the times during which offices of-fices aro open. Great Minuteness of Detail. As showing the minuteness of detail with whidh Berne deals, it is interesting interest-ing to note that Berne sa3s that "between "be-tween all offices of different states the signal for closing is given by the office belonging to the stato whose capital is situated further west." This trifling rule illustrates vividly how Berne settles set-tles a veo' possible international quarrel quar-rel between a Persian operator who may want to hurrv home to see his sweetheart, and a Russian telegrapher who, at the usual hour of closing, has still on hand a message from a London merchant ordering a bale of something, by next steamer, from the Parseo agent iii Bombay. Every difficulty" of that sort that might arise between nations in the transmission of telegrams is dealt with by Berne. The expenses of the Berne bureau are borne by the respective governments in tho order of their telegraphic importance, impor-tance, as denoted by classes. |
