ritain or the United States. In the event of war between
these countries, unless restrained by conventional act, all these
cables might be cut or subjected to exclusive censorship on the part
of each of the belligerent states. Across the South Atlantic there are
three cables, one American and two English, whose termini are
Pernambuco, Brazil, and St. Louis, Africa, and near Lisbon, Portugal,
with connecting English lines to England, one directly traversing the
high seas between Lisbon and English territory and one touching at
Vigo, Spain, at which point a German cable company has recently made a
connection. The multiplication under English control of submarine
cables has been the consistent policy of Great Britain, and to-day her
cable communications connect the home government with all her colonies
and with every strategic point, thus giving her exceptional advantages
for commercial as well as for political purposes.

The schedule blanks of rates of the English companies contain the
following provisions: "The dispatches of the imperial government shall
have priority when demanded. The cable must not, at any station,
employ foreigners, and the lines must not pass through any office or
be subject to the control of any foreign government. In the event of
war, the government (of Great Britain) may occupy all the stations on
English territory or under the protection of Great Britain, and it may
use the cable by means of its own employes."

It is not a pleasing reflection that in the actual situation the
United States is at a great and embarrassing disadvantage. Meanwhile
it would seem to be the policy of the United States to overcome this
disadvantage by the multiplication of submarine cables under American
or other than English competing foreign ownership and control.

Although somewhat indeterminate, the policy of the United States in
respect to the landing of foreign submarine cables, so far, at least,
as the executive branch of the government is concerned, appears to be
based chiefly upon considerations that shall guard against
consolidation or amalgamation with other cable lines, while insisting
upon reciprocal accommodations for American corporations and companies
in foreign territory. The authority of the executive branch of the
government to grant permission is exercised only in the absence of
legislation by Congress regulating the subject, and concessions of the
privileges heretofore have been subject to such fur