The CHAIRMAN. Have you anything further to ask? Senator DILL. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Have you anything to suggest with reference to this bill, Commander? Lieutenant Commander Dodd. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Will you look it over, and if you have any suggestions, will you make them? Lieutenant Commander DoDD. I have looked over the bill, and I see no place in this particular bill where this patent question can be placed. The CHAIRMAN. You do not think it would be desirable to refer to that in this bill, so far as it relates to communications? Lieutenant Commander Dodd. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will stand adjourned until 10.30 o'clock to-morrow morning. (Whereupon, at 12.10 o'clock p. m., the committee adjourned until the following day, Wednesday, May 29, 1929, at 10.30 o'clock a. m.) COMMISSION ON COMMUNICATIONS WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 1929 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE COMMERCE, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to adjournment on yesterday, in room 412, Senate Office Building, Senator James Couzens presiding. Present: Senators Couzens (chairman), Pine, Brookhart, Glenn, Kean, Dill, Wheeler, and Wagner. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order, please. Mr. Shoup, of the Department of Commerce, is with us this morning. Will you please give your full name and your position? OF STATEMENT OF G. STANLEY SHOUP, CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS SECTION, TRANSPORTATION DIVISION, DEPARTMENT COMMERCE, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mr. SHOUP. According to figures compiled from the list of submarine cables of the world, twelfth edition, December, 1928, published by the International Bureau of the Telegraph Union at Berne, the total mileage of the world's cables is 361,631.4 nautical miles. Of this amount, 55,764.5 nautical miles are operated by government administrations, 5,473.6 miles consist of German cables not yet apportioned, and 300,393.3 miles are operated by private companies. Now, of this mileage for private companies, 168,193.4 miles belong to British companies, 93,203.1 (of total American about 17,482 miles are owned by British companies but operated by American companies) miles to American companies, 18,414.4 miles to French companies, 9,937.3 to Italian companies, 8,416.4 to Danish companies, and 2,144.7 miles to German companies. In connection with the above figures I might say that the total mileage given for British companies, namely, 168,193.4, including nearly 25,000 miles which, although for the immediate present are operated by the Pacific Cable Board, and the British Post Office, are soon to be operated by the British cable-radio merger, and for that reason they have been listed under private companies rather than government administrations. Beginning with the nineteenth century there were numerous experiments conducted in underwater telegraphy. Probably the first in the United States was that made by Morse in 1842 in New York Harbor when he sent electrical impulses through an insulated copper wire. It is also related that in 1845 Ezra Cornell laid a 12-mile cable in the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee and New York, which worked for several months. Senator DILL. Does the British Government have any cables of its own? 51014-29-PT 9 -7 Mr. SHOUP. Yes; cables operated by the Pacific Cable Board. The British Government is interested in that to the extent of fiveeighteenths, Canada five-eighteenths, Australia six-eighteenths, and New Zealand two-eighteenths. Senator DILL. How many miles of cables have they? Mr. SHOUP. Twenty-five thousand miles. Senator DILL. That is not included in the 163,000 miles you referred to? Mr. SHOUP. Yes; it is. Senator DILL. You said 163,000 miles privately owned. Mr. SHOUP. These 25,000 miles for the immediate present are not operated by the Government, but they will be taken over by the cable-radio merger. It also includes one of the trans-Atlantic cables. Senator DILL. What Governments operate purely governmentowned cables? Mr. SHOUP. I might say, Senator Dill, that I have here a list of all the cables in the world. For those operated by government administrations they have not a detailed list, but they have a summary of the number of cables, number of conductors, and number of nautical miles for each country. But for private companies I have a detailed list of all cables for the purpose of the record. Senator DILL. I think that ought to be put in the record. (The list furnished by Mr. Shoup of the submarine cables of the world, is here made a part of the record, as follows:) Submarine cables of the world [Compiled from the List of Submarine Cables of the World, published by the International Bureau of the Telegraph Union, Berne, December, 1928, twelfth edition] A. GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATIONS (SUMMARY) 2 957.9 miles operated by Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Co. and Great Northern Telegraph Co. 634 miles jointly owned by China and Japan. 3 39.3 miles jointly owned by Denmark and Sweden; 67.4 miles jointly owned by Denmark and Norway. Property of the Governments of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and Kingdom of the Hedjaz but operated by the Eastern Telegraph Co. 574.8 miles jointly owned between Estonia and Finland 17.3 miles jointly owned between Estonia and Latvia. 6531.7 miles jointly owned between Great Britain and France. 7 Of the total miles given, the following mileage is jointly owned between Germany and the countries mentioned: Free City of Danzig, 4.4; Sweden, 255.6; Denmark, 71.1; Norway, 601.4; Switzerland, 35.5; Great Britain, 927.5; jointly between the Eastern Telegraph Co.; and German Atlantic Telegraph Co., 17.8. 8583.6 miles jointly owned by Great Britain and the Netherlands; 686.1 miles jointly owned by Great Britain and Norway. African Direct Telegraph Co., Electra House, Moorgate, London, E. C. 2 St. Vincent, Cape Verde Islands, to Sao Thiago, Cape Verde Islands. Bathurst, Gambia, to Sierra Leone.. Sierra Leone, to Accra, Gold Coast. Lagos, Nigeria, to Cotonou, Dahomey. T-piece, San Jose, Guatemala, connecting with cable between Salina Cruz and La Montevideo, Uruguay, to Atalaya, Argentina. Salina Cruz, Mexico, to La Libertad, Salvador.. Date laid Nautical miles 215.3 miles are owned by the Government but operated by the Eastern Telegraph Co.; 829 miles granted to the Government by the Eastern Telegraph Co., according to an agreement regulating the relations between the State and the company, but which has not yet become operative. |