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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 22, 1904)
-DI I Ell i js ii ityi I. Joii Passenger Trarel la New Vark. IHE vast sums of money expended In New York City and environs In providing transit facilities is amply Justified by the enormous passenger traffic of the metropo lis.. With the exception of the surface lines In Manhattan proper, all lines employ electric power, and nearly ail are taxed to their utmost capacity. Tho report of the New York State rail road commission for the year ending Feb ruary 0 shows that In Manhattan proper 70,000,000 passengers, exclusive of transfers, were carried on the city lines. This exceeds by 100,000,000 the number of passengers car ried on nil the steam railroads In the United States during the same period, ttie latter record being 5CS.000.000. In Greater New York more than 1,000,000,000 passengers were transported. There was a gain of 87,000,000 on the elevated lines and 141,311 on the surface lines. The Interborough com pany, operating its elevated Hues with Its longer trains and new electric system, car ried In all 273,133,242 passengers, an increase over the previous year of 37.318,852. Transfers in Manhattan amounted to 1GG, 000,000. The t'nlon Railway company car ried in the year 21,273,870 passengers, an In crease of 1,9:iS,543 over the year 1902-3, which was 19,275,327. With transfers the total number carried was 21.698.501. In the Bronx, ail railroads, the total number car ried for the year was 22,147,077, an Increase Of l,ftSS,C3C. In Brooklyn the Brooklyn Heights Rail road company, which Is operating the Brooklyn Rapid Transit system, carried l$5,725,986 passengers, an Increase of 25.2S0, 425. Transfers amounted to 55,140,001. Car mileage was 54,391.315. By the Coney Island & Brooklyn Rail road company 33,129,812 passengers were carried. The total number carried In Brooklyn on all lines was 320,107,163. In Queens, passengers numbered 16,068,207. In Richmond, on all the roads, 7,744,255 were transported. In the CJreater City the total of passen gers on all the linos was 1,036,834,773, which means that the citizens of the metropolis spent last year $51,841,738.65 for being car ried to points within the city limits. The new city subway, extending from the Battery to Harlem, and built at a cost of $35,000,000, will bo opened for business this summer. It is expected to relieve the pres sure materially, but not permanently, and additional subways are projected at an ex pense of $80,000,000, which will require ten years to construct. Yet the population Increases more rapidly than facilities for transportation. Tlie Differential Telephone. The last number of the I'hysical Review contains an interesting article by Messrs. Duuno and Ixry on the differential tele phone. Of course, differential telephones bave been used for many years in alternat ing current laboratories, so that there Is no novelty in the Instrument itself; but the di rections given In the article for adjust ing the Instrument enable it to attain a much higher standard of sensibility and measurement than would otherwise be pos sible. In order that a differential telephone may be capable of giving accurate results It must be wound witli mechanical sym metry, the magnetizing actions of the two windings must well nigh identical, the resistances of the two windings must be almost exactly equal, and their inductances must also be almost exactly equal. To effect these equalities Is by no means as asy as It sounds, either verbally or tele phonically. The writers claim for a care fully adjusted differential telephone, a theo retically attainable degree of accuracy, under laboratory conditions, of l-100th of 1 per cent in the measurement of small iron less inductances and a practically attain able degree of accuracy of l-20th of 1 per cent, or less. It is very desirable that a research should be made with such an In strument upon the resistivity of electrolytic solutions, with different frequencies of al ternating; current, throughout a wide range In order to ascertain what effect, if any, is exerted by the frequency upon the meas urements. It has been asserted that the frequency may have a very appreciable effect, but we know of no measurements yet forthcoming to demonstrate the fact. Kdlson and the Patent OfHee. Interest Is growing each day In Washing ton over the charges of incompetency against the oatent office by Thomas A. Edison, and the affair hns reached such a formidable stage as to threaten a general investigation. The interview with Mr. Edison attracted much attention and comment. Representa tives of the Inventor in Washington say that, while Mr. Edison felt he had been greatly wronged In the department, he charged nothing more than incompetency. However, it was said that If incompetency were denied, then nothing but fraud or rascality could explain the circumstances. "The question at issue is largely teclinl cal," said a lawyer closely connected with Mr. Bdison. "Mr. Edison found that a for eign inventor had been allowed to amend an application for a patent after it had been in the office for some time. The amended portion, Mr. Edison claims, included Just the strong points of his own Invention. As it was a matter involving thousands of dollars, an appeal was made to Com missioner Allen; Secretary Hitchcock, who refused to overrrule the commissioner, and finally to the president. Mr. Edison's new storage battery, which Women Uncle Sam Hires I our government are women. So I far fin wniren ore enncerned. Uncle Sam recognises no distinction of sex, and in some branches of the public service persons in petticoats, owing . to their superior aptitude for certain kinds of work such, for example, as the count ing of money have entirely driven out the men, who are unable to compete with them. The highest salary paid by the govern ment to a woman is drawn by Miss Estclle Reel, who is superintendent of all the In dian schools. She is, as may well bo be lieved, quite a remarkable person, and the supervision which she exercises over the rising generation of the nation's wards has already revolutionized to a great extent tho system of management adopted. She gets $3,000 a year, plus her expenses, the latter bring a considerable item, inasmuch as Bhe spends nearly, all of her time In traveling about from one school to another, all over the country, utilizing almost every known means of transportation, and, when stage coaches fail, frequently riding on horseback for hundreds of miles. Every one who knows her says she earns her pay. The most remarkable position held by any woman under the government is occupied by Miss Clara Graecen, who is tho law clerk of tho Treasury at Washington. A mere girl, slight of figure, with fluffy blonde hair, one would never imagine that she could be an expert writer of legal opin ions for one of the executive departments. Yet such Is her business, and she obtained her place purely through merit and superior ability. It pays $2,000 a year, and is the only position of the kind under the gov ernment that was ever held by a woman. Miss Graecen came from Kalkaska, Mich., eight years ago. Though still in her teens, eho was a proficient stenographer, and be came the most rapid typewriter in the treasury. Her evenings she spent in study ing law, and after a while some of the cases that came Into the comptroller's office were referred to her for decision. She showed such lucidity and legal accuracy in the preparation of such papers that when. ts the matter Involved, is the most Im portant Invention he has put out In many years, and he la too much Interested in It to allow the matter to rest until he has exhausted all his resources to save his work. Iaylnsr a Netv Cable. The German cable steamer Stephan, which is laying a new cable from Coney Island to Germany, via the A lores, is well out In the Atlantic, having left the Ameri can coast May 2. The Stephan left the port with Its gun wales dangerously close to the water, so havily laden is It with the cable wires that are to stretch across the ocean. There Is something more than 4,000,000 pounds of cable coiled away in the four tanks in Its hold enough to weight the big vessel down until It looks less like a ship than a long float with a few masts sticking up. As every mile of cable runs out of its stern tank the load will be lessened by 19, 000 pounds nnd the bow of the ship will go down deeper as the stern rises. Tho cable tank will have to be flooded with water to preserve the equilibrium, other wise the Stephan would stand on Its head in the ocean. Recently a telegraph operator on the Stephan sent a message through the cable colled In the hold. The message traveled over 2.000 miles, although it didn't leave the ship's sides. It left the telegraph room from one Instrument and an instant later was flashing off at another instrument in the same room. It took Just as long to end the message from the operator's right hand to his left as It will take to send two years ago, the place of law clerk fell vacant. It was given to Miss Graecen (though many men lawyers wanted it) by Secretary Gage. Miss Margaret M. Hanna Is the only wo man In Uncle Sam's employ who does diplomatic work. Her business is tho handling, at the Department of State In Washington, of correspondence which re lates to diplomatic affairs. She is. In fact, the assistant of Mr. Adee, tho second as sistant secretary of state. Though still In her twenties, she hus occupied this posi tion ever since 1896. Her salary Is $1,800 a year. Miss Hanna is very pretty, with blonde hair and graceful manners. Ann Arbor, Mich., claims her as her birthplace. She is an excellent linguist. The highest pay given to any woman In the Postortice department is $1,800. This amount la drawn by Mrs. Emma Watklns, who is an expert in accounts. She han dles the accounts of all the postmasters in our outlying possessions. Including 1'orto Rico, Hawaii, Guam and Samoa. To these are added tho poslofllces in Alaska, and also those in the Windward islands. Mrs. Watkins, a young widow, Is tall, dark and distinguished looking. Mrs. Emma Sheridan, also a widow, writes treaties for the Department of State. It Is quite remarkable work for a woman to do; but she is a born linguist, and, as she herself says, spoke three lan guages from babyhood. English to her father, Italian to her mother and French to other people Her mother was an Italian, and her father half Italian and half English. Slfo was born in Siena, Italy, and was educuted In Paris. Her father, Don Antonio Montuccl, spoke seven languages, and was chiefly distinguished for having made the first Chinese diction ary (now preserved at the Vatican in Rome), carving with his own hands the wooden type, which consisted of 29,000 characters. Pope Iao XII bought the characters and printed tho dictionary in a limited number of coplos, which he dis tributed to crowned heads with whom ba had agreeable relations. the same message to the Anores. Tho fact that there will be several billion tons of sen piled on top of the cable will make no difference. Cable laying Is a slow work. The Bteplian Is equipped with all modern marhlnery for rapid work, but 160 miles of cable In twenty-four hours Is a very fine day's work. There are constant delays caused by breaking machinery, kinks In the cable and a hundred other little accidents. Still, slow as It is, cable laying Is a sure and well developed business compared With what It wns when tho first ocean cable wns In Id not so very many yours ago. The Stephan will leave here with tho reasonable certainty of having an ocean cablo in good working order in ono month's time. The groat difliculty anticipated by the officers who will lay thin cable ia tho set of the Gulf stream. This in a factor that Is difficult to account for In the calculations. In fact, it sets all calculations nt nuught. Tho Stephan may be on the Gulf stream on a cloudy day and tho captain may think ho is on exactly the right course, only to realize, when lie sees sunshine, that he Is seventy or eighty miles out of his course. Then, too, the Gulf Stream Is likely to cause breaks In tho cable. The Slephau'a officers are not worried over any section of the cable except that which lies over this stream. The TrlrKrapli'i "1st? Years. Baltimore has the distinction of sending tho first message over the Morso telegraph; a presidential nominating convention was the occasion of it nnd tho 1st of May is the anniversary of tho event The Whigs met In national convention on May 1, 184 1, that date in that year striking on & Wednesday Instead of, as in 1904, on a Sunday. Con gress, in 1843, appropriated $30,000 for an experimental telegraph line under the Morso system from Baltimore to Washing ton, and the work was finished in time to give the new force a chance to report the national conventions in the former town, which was the meeting place of most Of the national political gatherings of those days. Officially, the experimental telegraph was not completed until May 24, 1844. May 27, the opening of the democratic convention, saw the lirst formnl uso of tho wire gwhen it conveyed to Washington tho news of the organisation of the assemblage which was destined to nominate Polk. SI Ins Wright, then a senator from New York, who was in Washington at the time, was tho first man who ever received news by telegraph of his nomination. He was put tip for vice president, but Immediately, and also by telegraph, declined the candidacy. Polk was in private life at tho time, and received tho news of his nomination at his home In Tennessee by mail. Actually, how ever, the news of Clay's nomination for president on May 1 by tho whlgs was sent by telegraph to Washington, and that was the first practical operution f the force which was soon to revolutionize the system of communication throughout the world. From that small and tentative beginning dates thu creation of the 250,000 miles of land telegraph which Is in operation in the United Stales In 1914, or about a third of tho mileage of the entire world. Over the United States lines 94,000,000 messages were sent in 1903. The submarine telegraphs, private and governmental, of the world have a length of 210,000 miles, equal to more than tight times the circuit of tho globe at the equator. From the national conventions at Chicago and 8t. I,ouls In 1904 hundreds of thousands of words will be sent out by telegraph. The proceedings of each will be flashed over the country Instantaneously, so that the people in New York or San Eranclsro who scan tho bulle tin boards will be in as close touch with things in the conventions as will be tho actual participants and spectators. SL IiOUls Globe-Democrat.