VOL. 38 "We do not take possession of our ideas, but are possessed by them They master us and force us into the arena, Where, like gladiators, we must fight for them."-HEINE. The Arena I HOW TO SMASH THE CABLE RING: BENJAMIN BY J. HENNIKER HEATON, M.P. INTRODUCTORY. DO NOT know if any apology is needed for introducing the venerable figure of Benjamin Franklin in the pending controversy. Americans find themselves confronted by a Cable Trust, which makes them pay prohibitive prices for a privilege of prime necessity. I have ventured to imagine the view of this, that would have been taken by one of the American Great Twin Brethren, a man whose name History has bracketed with Washington's; a man whose genius, wisdom, virtue and nobility of soul are among the most cherished traditions of his country; nay, of our race. There is no reason why matters of grave importance should not be discussed in the dialogue form. Shakespeare and lesser writers have done it; Franklin approved it. For the rest have we not seen the spectators at a circus, who have languidly watched the solo performance of the "india-rubber man, and his contortions, instantly roused to the keenest interest and attention when two brisk lads step forward to spar? I have endeavored to reproduce, or at least go upon, the recorded utterances of the great man. MARCONI AND FRANKLIN. We were all impressed with the tableau vivant presented in the story of Marconi, looking out from a window in a house at St. John's, Newfoundland, over the wild Atlantic; sitting grave, confident, impassive, listening at a telephone-for what? The receiver was attached to a wire that ran out of the window, and thence to a huge kite, furiously buffeted, high above, by the raging east wind, as if demoniac forces knew and would destroy it, and all the good depending on it. The message came from far Poldhu, Cornwall, England-only one letter; but it was a key-sound that unlocked the immemorial gates of Silence; the tonic of a new world-symphony. Musing on this picture of the marblefaced young scientist, who waited, still as Canova's "Listening Faun," for a voice from the abyss, methought the scene changed to open country "down South." The mountainous waves were now golden cornfields, gently undulating in the breeze; the roar of the ocean was rolling away afar, like thunder, with angry mutterings of baffled wrath. The kite still flew overhead; but Marconi had vanished, and its string was held by a person of very different appearance, a long-haired, benevolent-looking man of middle age, who wore an antique coat of sober cut and hue, square-toed shoes, breeches and gray stockings, and a low three-cornered hat. As I gazed, a black cloud enveloped his kite, with wide-spread, threatening arms. He applied his his knuckle, a key hung on the string, and drew spark after spark of the potent fluid, which seemed to fill his very being with ecstasy. Then I knew I must be dreaming. "Benjamin Franklin!" I murmured; "he has been dead a century and more." I opened my eyes and looked round my study. The fire burned clear; all was still; I leaned back again in my easy chair. war, and a disruption of the Empire. Pray, explain. I hear your words, but cannot understand. What marvel is this; and whose?" "Yours, Sir." "Mine!" "It was your famous kite experiment with the thunder-cloud in 1752 that revealed the subjection of Electricity to man. That force is now transmitted by a cable; that is, a copper wire stretched along the ocean bed, and made to signal instantaneously, by combinations of short and long currents of electricity, used to represent letters of the alphabet, any desired message. Wonderful! But such a use of Electricity never occurred to me. I was a humble pioneer, blazing the way. assign the credit to me?" 66 "May I ask you a question?" "Aye, aye." Why "What did you think would result from your discovery ?" "It is hard to say what truth may grow to. The expressed thoughts of men, if true, have indestructible vitality, and flourish in the minds that come after them like seed borne on the winds. The tree that bears the seed must remain in its place until it fall; yet the seeds will surely be carried to fitting soil. I never troubled about the matter; I left it." "Well, Sir, as a patriot and statesman your countrymen have written your name beside that of Washington; as the discoverer of the nature of electricity mankind ranks you with Newton." DISILLUSION. "No more on that subject, friend. So the English on one side of the Altantic, rich and poor, communicate instantaneously with those on the other, sharing joys and sorrows, comforting and cheering one another, as if parting and exile were not, and old homes had never been broken up. What a panorama opens before me! The development of com merce, the crowding of a month's negotiations into a moment, the saving of time equivalent almost to a recovery of the patriarchal span—the virtual annihilation of space, toil, travel and danger; all these boons appear unto me little, as compared with the happiness conferred on the families of the poor, scattered by stern necessity, the wiping away of tears from aged cheeks. But why dost thou shake thy head? Is it not as I have said?" "Sir, I have devoted the best part of my life to the task of realizing the picture you have drawn; but little has been accomplished. A poor English mother telegraphing to her son has to pay one shilling (25 cents) per word." any distance with the speed of thought; it supplies the motive force for vehicles, ships and machinery of all kinds; it can transport an army or a forest hundreds of miles in a night; it lights up streets and rooms with the brilliance of mid-day." "These are wonders indeed; I trust all, even the poorest, benefit by them?” "Alas, no! Electricity is the slave and chattel of monopolists, who, generally speaking, charge prices far above the means of the masses. "That must be the fault of the legislatures, in other words, of the masses themselves. Electricity, I think-judging from what you tell me is a gift intended for all mankind. If such things had been known in my time, I "Then the ocean cable wire is made of should certainly have included it in the pure gold?" "No, copper." second clause of the 'Thanks' section of my 'Articles of Belief,' which ran thus: "The supply of electricity is perhaps For the common benefits of air and limited ?" light, for useful fire and delicious water, "It is inexhaustible marvelously cheap to produce.' etc. . . . "You say the English pay one shilling (25 cents) per word. What do Americans pay for this cheap force. They would never submit to such an exaction." "They pay the same rate." "Then Americans have greatly changed since my time. Their forefathers would not have tolerated any kind of tyranny, whatever form it took. Have they not still self-government? Surely you are dreaming, friend!" It was true: yet I felt a little hurt. "I have been called a dreamer because, as a young man, I declared that 'communication between our sundered coasts should be as easy as speech, as free as air,' and I have given my life to realize this ideal. But I am telling you facts." "Every man of action is a dreamer before he is a doer. But tell me shortly what has electricity accomplished for men ?" THE MISSION OF ELECTRICITY. 999 "Unfortunately, instead of laying wires and cables itself, the State has suffered private citizens to lay them for profit. And much of the apparatus is also private property under patents. The God-given gift of electricity or electric communication has been seized by the monopolists." "The State should buy up all useful patents for the use of the public.” "I remember one of your biographers makes you say: 'I am not a believer in patents. If the invention is a real public benefit, the people should have the advantage of it.' "Yes, that is my view. Take the case of the inland electric telegraph which you describe. You tell me a man in Philadelphia can converse in a sort of alphabet with a man, say in Boston?" "By the invention of a great Canadian, Dr. Bell, he can have his spoken words, the very tones of his voice, transmitted, without the trouble of writing. The two converse as if they were in the same room. This invention is named the "It enables them to communicate over Telephone." "You amaze me more and more. So cable to send messages at the lowest most of the time hitherto spent by renumerative rate, and so compel the business men in traveling, or conveying rest to abate?" letters by post, is now saved, more business can be done, prices fall, and the nation profits. Moreover, it follows that all private matters of any urgency can be promptly and cheaply settled. The telegraph should therefore be acquired by the State." "I must not then picture electricity to myself as a newly-descended Mercury, clad in a cascade of fire, with free arm darting beneficent lightnings that shrivel up time, distance, darkness, fatigue-so many of the evils that afflict humanity?" "No. He is rather a blinded prisoner, like Samson. He is immured in a temple of glass, all hung with silken tapestry. A massive chain of gold binds his wings, and he is condemned to grind for the benefit of selfish masters!" "Will no spell release him?" "Sir, I will answer by recalling a repartee of yours. When you and four others signed the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, and got it adopted by Congress, John Hancock remarked: 'We must be unanimous; we must all hang together.' 'Yes, if we would not hang separately,' was your reply. And that is the policy of the cable companies." The ghost of a smile passed over the grave, handsome face. "Yes," said he, "if my countrymen knew what we faced for their liberties, they would not lightly give them up." 66 About 1885," I went on, "Messrs. Mackay and Bennett, owners of one cable, lowered their rate by way of experiment, to sixpence a word. Their traffic at once leapt up more than 50 per cent.; but so tremendous was the pressure brought to bear by their rivals, that the rate was shortly forced up to a shilling." "How many words can be transmitted by the thirteen cables ?" "About 300,000,000 in a year." "Come, that is something to the credit side of monopoly." "But, owing to the high rate, only 25,000,000 words a year are actually sent and paid for. As a matter of fact, "Yes, one-the shout of an indignant people. It was easier to call him from the clouds than it is to cast down those walls of glass. "Why not appeal to my countrymen, eleven of the thirteen cables are kept telling them all this ?” unused by the Cable Ring.' "I am about to do so; and first, on the subject of the charge of one shilling per word for messages sent by electric cable across the Atlantic, which exaction is the most rapacious and mischievous of all." "I agree with you: who is the owner of this cable? I hope he is not a Bostonian ?" "There are thirteen cables owned by five companies." THE GUILTY GOALERS. "Do you tell me that tens of millions of our countrymen and countrywomen, pining for this electric speech across the ocean with dear friends, or consumed with anxiety as to their business affairs on the farther shore, are condemned to life-long silence and suffering by a handful of hard-hearted capitalists?" "I do. It was recently given in evidence that not one message in a hundred is of the 'social' or family class. There is a tendency in business to group each industry under a single chief, all the constituent firms obeying a common a 'Trust,' "Why not persuade the owner of one policy. This is styled a |