436
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
another the secondary, and a third, or "omnibus” wire, all of the stations. For the ordinary service, at least on this latter wire, the " cadron ” or alphabetical dial system is principally used, and as its operation is simple and quickly learned, the station-masters or other employés are fully capable of managing it. In America, on the contrary, the instrument used is almost invariably the Morse sounder or embossing recorder, which, although more rapid, and, possibly, in the hands of skilled operators, familiar with its code, more satisfactory, requires, to be properly served, a much longer training and higher capacity. The record of the embossing Morse instrument is also much inferior to that of the ink- writer, so generally used in Europe, and the American code is much more liable to error than the European.
With us the railway office is, to a great extent, the school ot the Morse operator, who leaves it as soon as he becomes proficient, to seek a higher salary with a telegraph company, and to divest himself of the opprobrium attaching among the fraternity to a railway " plug.”
With the American Morse instrument and code, consequently, the ordinary telegraphic service on railways is either conducted at a large cost to the companies, or is left to the hands of unskilled employés, to the prejudice of safety. There may be circumstances in the condition and traffic of our railways which render it necessary that a minute knowledge of and control over the movements of trains should always exist in the central office : in other words, that the system of "train despatching” should continue. If this be the case, supposing, which is probably true, that the Morse is the instrument best adapted for such service, the railways should secure, at any cost, the best telegraphic talent. I am convinced, however, that when such exceptional circumstances disappear, as they will with the improvement of tracks and the more regular growth of business, it will be found to the interest both of economy and safety to adopt a simpler instrument for the general service, and to rely on special signals for the prevention of accident.
While the general use of the telegraph is to railways a convenience greatly augmenting their capacity for business, the employment of special signals, electric or otherwise, is a