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Show WIRELESS VS. CABLE. Tho "Alta Independent," The announcement that the Marconi company Intends to open a public service ser-vice of wireless telegraphy between Ireland and Canada this month at the late of 10 cents n word (plus land charges! has not, so far, alarmed tho cable companies, whose charge Is 25 cents n word. Foremost nmong tho reasons why they are not dismayed by the prospect Is the fact that In order to believe In It they have first to see the results of tho whelcss Bcrvlce. It has been "coming" for so many years that now. when it Is piecUely announced an-nounced to begin In n few- weekB, thoro Is some skepticism ns to whnt its actual ac-tual achievement will amount to. This, of course, only makes Mr. Marconi's Mar-coni's opportunity for distinction all the greater, nnd renders the occasion generally nil tho more Interesting. Mr. Charles Hright. F. It. 8. U M. I. IJ. K., u well known authority, and tho author of n standard work on submarine sub-marine telegraphy, has Just been Interviewed, Inter-viewed, and he expresses the opinion that In connection with wireless telcg-riiphy telcg-riiphy sontu of tho statements mndo publicly hnvo been frequently In ad-vnnee ad-vnnee of the facts. He did not say thnt It was Imposslblo to send transatlantic trans-atlantic messages by wlrelesB, provided provid-ed thnt a sulllclently high power wns used. Hut, for ono thing, the speed of wIic1cbs could not compare with tho speed of the cable. "Tho speed of an Atlantic cnble is 100 wordB n minute," continued Mr. Urlght. "Tho wireless telegraphy wo know of at present Is certainly not capable cap-able of anything like this. Twenty words n minute I think It is. There nro seventeen Atlantic cables tho Anglo-American nnd the Commercial have five each. If traffic warranted It the cable's speed of transmission might bo considerably Incrensed, becauso tho limitations set on It nro only duo to tho typo of Insulated conductor1 If necessary ono could lay a cablo with a bigger conductor. On account of the comparatively low wireless speed obtained, ob-tained, If n transatlantic wireless company were to secure Bulflclcnt traffic traf-fic to effect a success commercially it could probably only bo at each end, irad these, by reason of the, high powf-eTp'dTmihr-tirliablpto'inte'rfe'rcnco.- "Besides holding tho field In tho matter of speed over any system of wireless telegraphy for some time to come, tho cable Is likely, in my opinion, opin-ion, to hold tho record nlso for accuracy. accur-acy. Wo hear nil nbout the successes of wireless telegraphy; wo don't hear of tho difficulties, of tho number of repetitions necessnry before they get a niessngo through correctly. On tho other hnnd, the Immcdlnto accuracy In cablo telegraphy Is at nbout us high n pitch as anything could be "Wireless at present Is well adapted adapt-ed for the Interchange of compliments, hut not foi considerable commercial messngos Involving olaborate codes. Whether tho cablo companies could pioduco n great development of transatlantic trans-atlantic telegraphy by reducing tho rate to 10 cents a word Is another matter mat-ter and, of course, thoro Is such a ; thing ns creating a demand. Hut I think tho main effect or n successful wireless service In the near futuro would bo to bring the idea of transatlantic transat-lantic telegraphy of any sort moro forcibly for-cibly to the public mind. In other words, It certainly wouldn't bo likely to hurl anybody." |
