INQUIRY RELATIVE TO TELEGRAPH AND CABLE BUSINESS AND CIPHER CODING SYSTEMS. TELEGRAMS (INLAND). 1. Total number of telegrams (inland) sent during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912. 2. Total number of telegrams (inland) received during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912. 3. What percentage of all telegrams handled are in cipher? 4. Are telegrams enciphered for the purpose of procuring secrecy or economy or both? 5. Enumerate the general subjects in connection with which telegrams are sent and received in cipher. 6. (a) Percentage of telegrams sent and received which consist of 20 words or less, thereby being transmitted at the minimum telegraphic rate. (b) What is the average length of all telegrams? 7. (a) Are telegrams regularly sent to or received from other departments? (b) If so, give a list of such departments. (c) Is the Government wire used? 8. (a) Are telegrams regularly sent to or received from officials or employees of the department? (b) If so, give a list of such officials or employees, or a list of the classes of such officials or employees if telegrams are regularly sent. to or received from a number of men in a single class, i. e., collectors. of customs, inspectors, etc. 9. (a) Is it the regular practice to transmit certain classes of telegrams as night messages? If so, specify the classes of messages so sent. (b) What percentage of messages handled are night messages? CABLEGRAMS (TRANSOCEANIC). 10. Total number of cablegrams sent during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912. 11. Number of cablegrams sent: (a) To officers and employees of the transmitting department. (b) To officers and employees of other governmental departments and services. (c) To persons not in Government employ. 12. Number of cablegrams sent: (a) In cipher. (b) In English. 13. Total number of cablegrams received during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912. 14. Number of cablegrams received: (a) From officers and employees of the department. (b) From officers and employees of other governmental departments and services. (c) From persons not in Government employ. 15. Number of cablegrams received: (a) In cipher. (b) In English. 16. Are cablegrams enciphered for the purpose of procuring economy or secrecy or both? 17. (a) Enumerate the general subjects in connection with which cablegrams are transmitted in cipher. (b) Enumerate the general subjects in connection with which cablegrams are transmitted in English. 18. (a) Are cablegrams regularly sent to or received from offices of other departments? (b) If so, give a list of such offices with a statement of the frequency with which cablegrams are so sent or received. 19. (a) Are cablegrams regularly sent to or received from officials or employees of the department or office? (b) If so, give a list of such officers or employees, or a list of the classes of such officials or employees if cablegrams are regularly sent to or received from a number of men in a single class. CODES AND CIPHER SYSTEMS. 20. Give the names or titles of all codes used in enciphering messages. 21. For each code now in use give the date of adoption and by whom compiled or from whom purchased. 22. Give names or titles of those codes which are used for insuring secrecy in the transmission of messages, and the classes of officers and names of bureaus or offices which are supplied with copies of secret codes. 23. Give names or titles of those codes which are used for effecting economy in the transmission of messages, and the titles of officers. and names of bureaus or offices which are supplied with copies of such codes. (If the same codes are used for both secrecy and economy, list them in the answers to both questions 22 and 23.) 24. For each code compiled in your department and now in use, answer the following questions: (a) The size of the pages-in inches. (b) The number of pages. (c) Average number of plain words and phrases on each page. (d) Average length of code symbols. (e) Do the code symbols consist of numbers, dictionary words or artificial words, pronounceable or nonpronounceable? 25. If the code symbols are figure groups, is any system used for translating them into code words with pronounceable syllables? 26. Explain fully any methods used to verify the correctness of enciphering messages. 27. Are any checks used to detect errors in cipher messages? 28. Give the names and annual salaries of persons employed in enciphering and deciphering messages, and give the percentage of their time devoted to such work. 29. Furnish copies of regulations or rules governing the use of codes and ciphers. 30. Submit a specimen message consisting of 100 English words enciphered in the exact form in which it would be filed with the telegraph company. In preparing this specimen message, employ ordinary language such as is frequently used in the actual cable or telegraphic work of your office. The translation of the message is requested only in those cases where a nonsecret code has been used. 31. What, in the opinion of your department, would be the utility and value, from the standpoint of either economy or secrecy, of a special telegraphic code to be compiled for the joint use of the several executive departments, to be used in addition to any private codes the different departments may desire? (Such a code might be expected to reduce the cost of cable messages by from 50 per cent to 80 per cent of the cost of such messages in plain English.) GENERAL. 32. (a) What provisions, if any, are made to prevent the unnecessary use of telegrams and cablegrams? (b) What officer or officers are charged with the duty of enforcing such provisions? 33. (a) Are telegrams and cablegrams as prepared for transmission reviewed by some one other than the person preparing them in order to eliminate unnecessary words? (b) If so, by whom are the messages reviewed? 34. Is there any specified time for telegrams and cablegrams to be filed for transmission? 35. Are messages (a) delivered for transmission at the offices of the telegraph companies, (b) delivered to messengers employed by the telegraph companies to be taken to their offices, (c) delivered for transmission to operators employed by the telegraph companies and located at departmental offices, or (d) transmitted by telegraph operators who are departmental employees? 36. Give separately the monthly payments made by your office during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912, to each telegraph company in Washington for (a) telegrams and (b) cablegrams. 37. (a) Have any investigations or reports been made within the past 10 years concerning the use of codes or methods of preparing telegrams or cablegrams for transmission? (b) If so, give the date of each investigation or report. 38. Furnish a copy of any rules or regulations governing the use of telegrams and cablegrams in force in your office. |