Soe an me eae ere

7

such an array of facts and body of accurate information relating fo our
people and country as exists respecting no other nation, While the
savans of the old world are digging into the ruins of cities, removing
mountains of sand, and excavating subterrancan temples, to discover
the most feeble rays pointing out the history of nations of antiquity, we
possess, respecting our own, archives, of which the like would be
sought for in vain in any other country, and which furnish every facility
for us to know ourselves, and to transmit our true history to posterity.
The importance of statistical investigations and publications cannot
be more strongly illustrated than by the examples of those nations of
the Old World where the power existed in the throne to admit of their
continuance, or suspend their development, as policy, in view of the
existing state of the country, would seem to dictate. Statistical re-
searches instituted by Louis XIV. afier the treaty of Ryswick, were
annihilated in France when it was necessary to smother the revelations
of her decay, as they would be illustrated, during the war of the Spanish
Succession, and the disasters of Hochstadt and Ramillies. The same
result was exhibited a, century after, when the statistical investigations
re-established by the First Consul in 1802, after the peace of Amiens,
were not allowed to exist, to make manifest the condition of the country
after the calastrophe at Leipzig.
With reference to the present progress of statistical science in Europe,
alate French writer, Moreau de Jonnes, remarks that, ‘“A profound
eace, whose duration is unexampled, has caused an admirable emu-
lation to spring up among all the nations of Europe, which, to repair
the misfortunes occasioned by their former numerous wars, and to
attain to greater prosperity, have ardently employed themselves in the
cultivation of statistics, which is the basis of enterprise, and from the
registers of which they obtain instruction in those things affecting the
welfare of the state and people.” One of the best evidences of the
truth of his remarks is furnished by the National Statistical Congress
roposed to be held at Brussels in September of 1853—a meeting re-
rred to in my last report, to be composed of delegates from all na-
tions, the convening of which in 1852, was postponed on account of
the unsettled state of European affairs. These illustrations serve to
show the value and moral force of statistical revelations, and the duty
of a self governed people, like ours, to sustain them, and to demand a
proper publication of their developments, and that it should form a work
easily comprehended in all its parts—one not exclusively for the learned,
but adapted 10 the wants of all who would wish to consult it.
The preparation of such a work is not only within the compass of
possibility, but, with the means possessed, can be readily accomplished
yy industry and a reasonable amount of ability. That the expense
necessarily attending the publication has been generally exaggerated,
will appear from an examination of the correspondence relating thereto,
which Tas been transmitted to you. Many great men, as Lavoisier,
Vauban, Necker; and Young, for want of better means than they pos-
sessed, have made use of much more imperfect data than ours to
azrive, approximately, at the truth; and the character of their data,
imperfect as it was admitted to be, did not intimidate them from


ees secon ae

1

Vienna, came to the conclusion that none but the American system
would fully accomplish their object for international correspondence.
Alexander Bain, a native of Scotland, patented an electro-chemical
telegraph on the 12th December, 1846 ; and another patent was granted
to him in connexion with Robert Smith, in October, 1849. The ad-
vantages which the inventor attributes to the electro-chemical telegraph
are, “1st. More economy and simplicity in the primitive construction.
2d. More rapidity in the transmission of despatches. A single wire,
with a good insulator, can transmit 1,200 letters a minute. 3d. An
‘electric current, more feeble than ordinary, suffices to cause the appa-
ratus to work. 4th. More simplicity and economy in the correspond-
ence and superintendence. 5th. Fewer chances of error in the des- ‘
patches sent.” The Bain telegraph used in this country has been
materially improved by Henry J. Rogers.
s The following is a list of the Bain telegraphic lines in the United
tates:

New York to Boston, (250 miles each). --2 wires 500 miles.
Boston to Portland. 1 « 100 «
Boston to Burlington, Vermont, and thence to Og-

densburg, New York...-.- 1 « 350 «
Troy to Saratoga........--- 1 « 36
New York to Buffalo, (518 miles eac! 2 1026, «
7 2,012

Five lines, having seven wires and a length of 2,012 miles,

‘The “House printing telegraph” was invented by Royal IE. House,
a Pennsylvanian, and patented April 18, 1846.

‘The first line operating with this instrament was completed in Au-
gust, 1850, by the Boston and New York Telegraph Company, between
those cities. It has been patented in England by Jacob Brett. .

‘The difference between Morse’s and House's telegraph is, principally,
that the first traces at the distant end what is marked at the other; while
House’s does not trace at either end, but makes a signal of’ a letter at
the distant end which has been made at the other, and thus, by new
machinery, and a new power of air and axial magnetism, is enabled
to print the signal letter at the last end, and this at the astonishing rate
of sixty or seventy strokes, or breaks, in a second, and at once records
‘the information, by its own machinery, in printed letters. Morse’s is
Jess complicated, and more easily understood; while House’s is very
difficult to be comprehended in its operations in detail, and works with.
the addition of two more powers—one air, and the other called axial
magnetism. One is a tracing or writing telegraph; the other, a signal
and printing telegraph.

‘The following are the House lines in operation:

The Boston and New York Telegraph Company; two wires; length,
600 miles.

A line is being constructed to connect with the Boston line, running
from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Albany, New York, there to inter-


121

can provinces during the ten years, (the two last being estimated,)
417,000 emigrants. Deducting one-eighth for the eastern provinces,
and 8 per cent. for deaths within the term, amounting to 85,000, and
we have for the total immigration into Canada for the period 332,000.
Tt thus appears that there is a surplus of 60,000 inhabitants in Canada
to be by some means accounted for. They could have anly come from
the United States. And as the number of natives of the United States
in Canada, in 1852, was only about 12,000 in excess of those settled’
there in 1842, itis shown that at least 48,000 foreign emigrants went
from the United States into Canada-—more than came from Canada into
the Union.


102

sessed by any State; but Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Ohio exceed
it in proportion to their area and population. Several other States—as
Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina, and Wisconsin—have a

reater extent of railway accommodation, according to population,
than New York. Of the southern States, Georgia, Alabama, and Mis-
sissippi are proceeding most rapidly in the construction of these im=

rovements. In the North, Illinois and Ohio take the lead of all other

tates. But it will be more satisfactory to copy in this place.a table,
exhibiting the progress which each State is making, and has made, in
such enterprises. Jt is extracted from the American Railroad Journal,
and has been scrutinized with great care, and is believed to be a state~
ment as nearly the exact as any that can be made.

Table showing the number of miles of railroad in operation, and in course
of construction, in each State of the Union, on the first of Junuary, 1853.

H
States. No. of miles in | No. of miles in| Total.
operation. | progress,
Maine 394 W141 505°
New Hampshire. 600 542
Vermont ...-. 427 |. 427
Massachusetts. 1,140 1,206
Rhode Island . 50 82
Connecticut . 627 825
New York 2,123 924. 3,047
New Jersey . 254 85 339
Pennsylvania 1,244 903 2,147
Delaware . 16 1 27
Maryland . Cs 7 621
Virginia... 624 610 1,984
North Carolina. 249 248 497
South Carolina 599 296 895
Georgia . 857 691 1,548
Florida . 23 fee. lene 23
Alabama 236 728 964
Mississippi 95 875 970
Louisiana . 63 200 263
Texas .- Cd 82
Tennessee 185 509 694
Kentucky . 94, 661 155
Ohio . . 1,385 1,755 8,140
Indiana. 155 979 1,734
Michigan . on 427
Illinois. . 296 1,772 2,068
Missouri . 518 615
Wisconsin. 470 620
ste n cece eee eee 13,266 12,681 25,947



18

making use of the materials they possessed, nor deter their governments
trom adopting their deductions. Of these permit me to present but one
illustration—that exhibited by Lavoisier, to whom a committee of the
National Assembly in France applied, in 1790, for information to enable
them to prepare, in accordance with the directions of that body, a
rational basis for the establishment of taxes. To meet the wishes of
the committee, and to form his calculations respecting the quantity of
land cultivated, and the quantities of production and consumption, this
Jearned man used, as a means of arriving at’ the desired facts, the
number of ploughs which was supposed to exist in each commune.
‘The results thus arrived at were adopted, and subsequent revelations,
made upon more sufficient data, exhibited in them a close and wonder-
ful approximation to the truth. Our materials present no such hypo-
thetical character, but are deemed generally accurate and reliable, and
are of a character to warrant their publication.
Respectfully submitted:
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
JOS. C. G. KENNEDY.
- Hon. Avex. H. H, Sruarz,
Secretary of the Interior.

EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION ON THE ADVANCEMENT OF POPULATION IN
THE UNITED STATES.

The effects of immigration upon the progress of population in the
United States is a subject on which considerable difference of opinion
has heretofore existed, and in the discussion of which many able pens
have been from time to time employed. With a view to the attainment
of the greatest possible accuracy, the statement published in the report
of 1851, presenting in a tabular form the number of immigrants from
1790 to 1850, with their natural increase in periods of ten years, has
been revised; and the result of the inquiries instituted has been to con-
firm the correctness of the results then announced.

The rule adopted in preparing the statement referred to, for deter-
mining the actual increase of immigrants, until they became amalga-
mated with the mass of the population, was to assume the rate of in-
crease of that class to be equal: to one-half that of the entire body of
white inhabitants, of native and foreign birth. By some this rule has
been thought too liberal towards the class of adopted citizens, and by
others it has been thought that its effect is to exaggerate the importance
of accessions to our population from this source. Upon the side of
those who entertain the former opinion it is urged that the proportion of
females among immigrants is much less than among native citizens;
that they suffer hardships in their passage across the ocean, and upon
their arrival before they beconte settled, which render them peculiarly
liable to disease, and diminish the average length of life among thems
and, finally, that the state of poverty which is in so many cases the
tnotive for leaving the shores of the Old World, continues with males
and females of the marriageable ages for so long a period after reach+



120

that proportion. If we estimate that the influence of the smaller ratio
of children and aged persons among immigrants is equal to an advan-
tage of 3.42 per cent. in the rate of their increase, which is a moderate
estimate, we shall find that, under the ordinary rules of procreation
and mortality, our European ulation should multiply 20 per cent.
faster than the native white inh itants. But we must make some al-
lowance for the excessive mortality assumed to prevail among the for-
mer before acclimation, which may be supposed to reduce this greater
rapidity of advancement by about five per cent. And we may presume
that it will cease altogether with the decade in which the immigrants.
arrive; because after that term the advantage from the greater number
of child-bearing women will be almost annihilated, and the counter-
active circumstance of the smaller proportion of girls at the time of
arrival will begin to produce its effect in checking increase. cot

‘These reasons are sufficient to authorize the assumption that immi-

‘ation has no other effect upon the progress of our population than is

indicated by the absolute addition of the numbers which arrive, and
their natural increase within the decennial term of their arrival. After
that period it is proper to consider them as a part of the American
race.
In correcting the statement of 1851, an error was discovered in the
table of immigration from 1840 to 1860, caused by the transposition of
a figure, The statement for the year 1849 was 296,610, increasing the
aggregate for the decennial term by 27,000.

The statement in the report of 1851, that the number of immigrants
from Europe passing into the United States through Canada from 1840
t 1850 was balanced by those emigrating to that province through the
United States, so that the total addition to our population from this
source was represented by the arrivals at our seaports, has been dis-
puted, but is amply confirmed by a searching investigation.

From 1831 to 1842, the population of the two Canadas increased
from 797,972 to 1,142,000; being a gain of 344,028 in eleven years, or
48.2 per cent. The natural increase of population in Canada is sup-
posed to be a little greater than in the Gnkted States; and for these
eleven years it was about 30 per cent., or 239,391; leaving to be ac-
counted for by immigration 104,637. ‘During these eleven years there
sailed trom the ports of Great Britain 356,305 emigrants for the North
American provinces. Of these, about one-eighth, or 44,000, are sup-

josed to have landed and remained in the eastern provinces, leaving
for Upper and Lower Canada $12,000. We may suppose that 8 per
cent. of these died before 1842, leaving 287,000 to be added to its

opulation; but it seems that but about 104,000 were so added, and it
follows that the remaining 183,000 emigrated to the United States.
That number is 16,000 in excess of the estimate first adopted for our
table, which has been corrected in the present edition,

A Census of Canada was again taken in 1852, and the aggregate
Population was found to be 1,842,000. Assuming the natural increase

for the ten years to have been 27 per cent—that of the United States
‘being 25 per cent.—we have a gain by that means of 308,340, The
actual increase being 700,000, there remains to be accounted for by:

immigration 392,000. There sailed from Great Britain for her Ameri-



i Ta

115
The following is a list of lines now in operation or construction in
Canada:
Milea
The Montreal Telegraph Company’s line extending from Que-
bec to the suspension bridge at Niagara Falls . - 155

British North American Electric Telegraph Asso
Quebec 10 New Brunswick frontier... .....-.+s00+-----+ 220
Montreal and Troy Telegraph Company, from Montreal to New

York State line. - 47
Bytown and Montreal Telegraph Company. 115
Western Telegraph Company, from Hamilton to Port Sarnia,

at the foot of Lake Huron . . . oe 148
Niagara and Chippewa line. . - 14
Brantford to Simcoe and Dover - 383
Kingston to Hamilton. = 256

Total length in Canada. 983

In Prussia the wires are generally buried about two fect below the
surface, and carried through rivers in flexible pipes. About 1,700 miles
of telegraphic lines are in operation.

In France there are about 750 miles; and in Germany about 3,000
miles have been completed. :

In Austria, Saxony, Bavaria, Tuscany; Holland; Italy, Spain, and
Russia, great progress has already been made in establishing lines of
telegraph, and communication will soon be had between the capitals
of all the States in Europe.

In India, a line has been laid between Calcutta and Kedgeree, 71
miles, and an extensive system is projected for that country. The tol-
lowing details respecting the telegraph in India is given for the instruc-
tion and encouragement of those interested in the construction of lines
through somewhat similar regions in our own country.

From Calcutta to Rajmoole, the conductor is laid under ground, in a
cement of melted resin and sand. From that village to Kedgeree, it is
carried over ground on bamboo poles, fitieen feet high, coated with
coal tar and pitch, and strengthened; at various distances, by posts of
willow, teak, and iron wood. ‘The bamboo posts are ound to re-
sist storms which have uprooted trees, the growth of centuries,
Though the bamboo soon decays, yet its amazing cheapness makes
the use of it more economical than that of more durable and costly
materials. The branch road from Bishlopore to Moyapore passes
through a swamp; the country is little less than a lake for five months.
‘The conductor runs on the foot paths between the island villages, and,
for some miles, crosses rice swamps, creeks, and ponds, on which no
road or embankment exists. The most difficult and objectionable line
was selected to test the practicability of carrying the conductors
through swampy ground, and it has been perfectly successful. The
Huldee river crosses the Kedgeree line half way, and varies in breadth
from 4,200 to 5,800 feet. A gutta percha wire, secured in the ‘angles
of a chain cable, is laid across and under this river; and the chain is


i a eaeeee eed

107

shores of the Pacific, as it now exists between the Atlantic, the great
lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico.

It is to American ingenuity that we owe the practical application of
the magnetic telegraph for the purpose of communication between dis-
tant points, and it has been perfected and improved mainly by Ameri-
can science and skill. While the honor is due to Professor Morse for
the practical application and successfull prosecution of the telegraph, it
is mainly owing to the researches and discoveries of Professor Henry,
and other scientific Americans, that he was enabled to perfect so valu-
able an invention.

The first attempt which was made to render electricity available for
the transmission of signals, of which we have any account, was that of
Le Sage, a Frenchman, in 1774. From that time to the present, there
have been numerous inventions and experiments to effect this object;
and from 1820 to 1850, there were no less than sixty-three claimants
for different varieties of telegraphs. We will direct attention only to
those of Morse, Bain, and House, they being the only kinds used in
this country.

During the summer of 1832, Professor 8. F, B. Morse, an American,
conceived the idea of an electric or electro-magnetic telegraph, and,
after numerous experiments, announced his invention to the public in
April, 1837.

On the 10th of March, 1837, Hon. Levi Woodbury, then Secretary
of the Treasury, issued a circular requesting information in regard to
the propriety of establishing a system of telegraphs for the United
States, to which Professor Morse replied, giving an account of his in-
vention, its proposed advantages and probable expense. At that time
he ‘presumed five words could be transmitted in a minute.” Professor
Morse having petitioned Congress for aid to enable him to test the prac-
tical operation of his invention, an appropriation of $30,000 was made
for this purpose; and in June, 1844, he erected the first telegraphic
line in the United States, between Washington and Baltimore, a length
of 40 miles.

This line was extended to Philadelphia and New York, a distance of
250 miles. It reached Boston in 1845, and became the great line of
the North, from which branched two others, one from Philadelphia to
Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, 1,000 miles; the other from New .
York to Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, and Milwaukie, 1,800
miles. Another line, 1,395 miles in length, connects Buffalo, Niagara,
Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, and Halifax.

Two lines run south to New Orleans—one from New York, Washing-
ton, and Charleston, 1,966 miles—the other from Cleveland, Ohio, and
Cincinnati, via Nashville, 1,200 miles long.

The only line constructed with government aid was that connecting
the cities of Washington and Baltimore. ‘The others have been estab-
lished by private enterprise. This line is at peasant perhaps, the best
‘appointed and most reliable in the world. The following table exhibits
the annual receipts of the “Magnetic Telegraph Company,” extending


104

From New York to San Francisco ...
San Francisco to Hong-Kong
Hong-Kong to Calcutta
Calcutta to Bombay .
Bombay to England .
London to New York...

~. 4 days.
25
~6
130%
85
---10

93 days.

Another project for connecting, by the means of cheap and rapid con-
veyance, the two coasts of our confederacy, which deserves, as it has
received, very great attention, is the proposition to byild a railroad
across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, in Mexico. The difficulties which
surround this undertaking are chiefly of a diplomatic character, upon
the ultimate decision of which the success of the enterprise depends.
An American company has taken the work in hand, and caused a pre-
liminary survey to be made, which establishes its feasibility. The
length of the road, according to the report of the surveyors, will be 166
miles from sea to sea; but only about 80 miles from the head of navi-
gable water on either side.

The cost of the road, with all the necessary equipments, station-
houses, &c., is estimated at $7,848,000, The time expected to be
required for its construction is three years. With this connecting link
of communication completed, the voyage from New Orleans to San
Francisco will be performed in eight or nine days.

The subjoined table, prepared tor the most part from actual returns,
exhibits the amount expended upon roads in operation on the 31st
December, 1851:

New England States...

$131,940,000

New York .... 76,000,000
New Jersey. 9,040,000
Pennsylvania, 81,600,000
North Carolina .. 8,800,000
South Carolina 9,860,000
Georgia .. 18,000,000
Mississippi 1,400,000
Alabama. 2,000,000
Louisiana . 1,000,000
Tennessee. 2,000,000
Kentucky . 1,670,000
Ohio. . 17,660,000
Indiana . 9,000,000
Illinois. wee 2,600,000
Michigan . 10,000,000
Wisconsin. 300,000
Cost of completed railroads in the United States. .... 872,770,000
Probable cost of those in progress.......2.2-.22+0. 220,000,000

Total amount of capital invested in railroads, Decem-
ber 81, 1851..... Reese wees eeanenee sees 592,770,000



svete

103

Measures are in progress for establishing railroads in California,
with the object of connecting San Francisco with some of the principal
towns of the State; and no doubt, ere the lapse of many years, that
important division of the Union will be ini possession of as large a pro-
portion of these facilities for travel and business as her population and
resources require.

From the brief sketch of American railroads should not be excluded
some mention of several projects which are not only closely connected
with the interests of the United States, but possess something of national
importance. The first of these, in point of vastness of design, is the
enterprise of building a railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific
ocean, The routes proposed in this great work are almost as numerous
as the persons who claim the merit of having first suggested and brought
forward the scheme of thus completing the chain of railroad comexion
between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Union. Although the
importance of such a work to the prosperity of the nation cannot be
doubted, there is reason to suppose that many years will clapse before
the resources of the country will be found sufficient for its accomplish-
ment. No scientific survey of any route west of the frontier of Mis-
souri has been made, but it is not probable that any could be found
that would bring the line of travel between the Mississippi and the
ocean within the limit of 1,600 miles.

The natural obstacles to be overcome are the Rocky mountains and

, the Sierra Nevada, the deserts between the Missouri and the former
chain, and those of the great basin, the flying sands, and the want of
timber. Further explorations may lead to the discovery of means to
overcome these difficulties. Should the cost not exceed the average of
western roads, it would form no objection to the enterprise, since it
would be only about $32,000,000, or only twenty-five per cent. more
than has been expended upon the Erie railroad—less than fifty per
cent. greater than the aggregate expenditure upon the Baltimore and
Ohio. railroad, and not two-thirds of that incurred by the State of
Massachusetts on her railroads, And even though the average cost
should be as heavy as that of the most expensive roads in the country—
those of New England, for example—the aggregate expenditure required
for the completion of this great national enterprise would not exceed
$72,000,000, which is not a larger sum than has been invested in such
improvements in England ina single year. The only question, then,
affecting the probability of the construction of the Pacific railroad is
that of practicability.

This can only be determined by thorough surveys of some or all of
the routes proposed, from the valley of the Rio Grande, the Arkansas,
the Missouri, and the upper Mississippi.’ If this road were completed,
and the route contined westward by steamship to Calcutta, it would
reduce the time required for the circuit of the globe, by the American
overland route, to ninety-three days, as follows:


116

found to afford perfect protection from the grapnels of the heavy native
boats which are constantly Passing up and down.

The over-ground lines differ totally from those in use in England and
America, or any other country, in this important respect. No wire is
used. - Instead of wire, a thick iron rod, from three to five-eighths of an

. inch in diameter, weighing one ton to a mile, is adopted; the heaviest
wire elsewhere used being only 250 pounds to the mile. The ad-
vantages of these substantial rods are these: They possess a complete
immunity from gusts of wind, or ordinary mechanical violence. If ac-
cidentally thrown down, they are not injured, though passengers, bul-
locks, buffaloes, and elephants may trample on them. Owing to the
mass of metal, they give so free a passage to the electric currents, that
no insulation is necessary. They are extended from bamboo to bamboo
without any protection, and they work without interruption through the
hardest rains. The thickness of the wire allows of their being placed
on the post without any occasion for the straining and winding appara-
tus, whereas the tension of wires exposes them to fracture, occasions
expense in construction, and much difficulty in repairs. ‘The thick rods
also admit of rusting without danger, to an extent which would be
destructive to a wire. And, lastly, in considering repairs, the rods are
but little more costly than small wire, and the welding occasions no
difficulty.

The importance of this discovery of the superiority of rods over wire
will be fully appreciated in a country like India, where the line must
often run through a howling wilderness, tenanted by savage beasts, or
more savage men. ‘The lines must therefore protect themselves, and
this is secured by the use of thick rods.

The expense of this experimental line was about $200 a mile. The
pecuniary returns were originally calculated at about $90 a month; but

“they have been more than three times that amount.

CONCLUSION.

The balance of the appropriation of 1850 was drawn from the
treasury on the 4th of September last. It is believed that the addi-
tional sum of $26,000 will be required to complete all the purely sta-

- tistical portions of the work and prepare the same for the press, and to
pay the expenses of superintending the printing of the first volume, and
preparing the second volume in the manner proposed in my former re~
port, and superintending to its completion the whole work, the further
sum of $25,000 will be required to pay all expenses and complete the
work by the close of the next fiscal year.

‘The more particular the analysis of the returns of the Seventh Census,
the more interesting do they appear, and the more confident are we of
their general correctness and reliability. There is no question but they
present the most ample materials for representing, with almost perfect
accuracy, the social, civil, and physical condition of the American

yple. While, in the minutize of some small details, ingenuity may
iscover discrepancies in these returns, as in all others, they present



106

the companies have been estimated to amount to $300,000,000. This
sum may be assumed as the amount of the capital invested in those
roads now in progress, and those which may have been completed
since the opening of the year. If, then, we add this sum to the esti-
mated cost of the roads finished in December, 1851, we shall have
$672,770,000 as the total amount of investments in railroads in the
United States. .

From the best data accessible at this time, we prepare the following
table, representing the financial condition of some of the railroads of
the States, selected as affording a fair exemplification of the whole
system in this country:

Length offAggregate eost.| Net income. | Declared | Estimated ac-
roads, dividends. | tual profite.
Massachusetts . . .| 1,089 |$52,595,288] $3,260,670] 6,2 75
New York . -| 1,826 | 76,000,000) 4,028,000) 5 9.44
Georgia... 754 | 13,000,000)....--.-.- 15 10

The figures under the head of ‘estimated actual profits’ present
the assumed net income after the addition to the amount of the divi-
dends of the surplus earnings, reserved profits, and all receipts in ex-
cess of expenditure not included in the calculation of which the divi-
dend is a result.

The rates of fare on our railroads are lower than on those of any
country of which we have returns, affording the means of comparison.
In New England, the average rate per mile is slightly over two cents;
from New York to Washington, it is three cents and a half per mile.
From New York to Cincinnati, the railroad and steamboat fare together
is less than two cents per mile. From New York to Albany, the price
of passage is a fraction over one cent per mile, and the average rate
upon all the New York railroads has been stated at two cents and one-
filth per mile.

Telegraphs—As telegraphs have formed a subject of inquiry, it is
deemed proper to present some account of the information obtained
respecting this recent but widely extended and daily enlarging means
of communication, At the present time it is a subject engrossing much
of the attention of our own citizens, and frequent applications are made
to this office, from foreign countries, for information regarding the
minutie of the system as conducted in the United States.

Here, the telegraphic system is carried to greater extent than in any
other part of the world, and the numerous lines now in full operation
form a net-work over the length and breadth of the land. They are not
confined to the populous regions of the Atlantic coast, but extend far
into the interior, climb the sides of the highest mountains, and cross the
almost boundless prairies; and in a few years a continuous communi-
cation will be established between the capital of the nation and the



————— ee. _|

98

aitroads in the United States—In no other particular can the pros
pen of a country be more strikingly manifested than by the perfec-
tion ‘of its roads and other means of internal communication, ‘The
system of railroads, canals, tumpikes, post routes, river navigation,
and. telegraphs, possessed by the United States, presents an indication
of its advancement in power and civilization more wonderful than any
other feature of its progress. In truth, our country in this respect o¢-
cupies the first place among the nations of the world, .

From returns received at this office, in reply to special circulars, and
other sources of information, it is ascertained that there were, at the
commencement of the year 1852, 10,814 miles of railroads completed
and in use; and that 10,898 miles were then in course of construction,
with a prospect of being speedily brought into use. While the whole
of these 10,598 miles will, beyond reasonable doubt, have been finished
within five years, such is the activity with which projects for works of
this character are brought forward and carried into effect, that itis not ex-
travagant to assume that there will be completed within the limits of the
United States before the year 1860 at least 35,000 miles of railroads,

The Quincy railroad, for the transportation of granite from the quar-
ries at Quincy to Neponset river, and the Mauch Chunk railroad, from
the coal mines to the Lehigh river, in Pennsylvania, were thes first
attempts to introduce that mode of transportation in this country; and
their construction and opening, in the years 1826 and 1827, are prop-
erly considered the commencement of ‘the Anierican railroad system.
From this period until about the year 1848, the progress of the im-
provements thus begun was interrupted only by the financial revul-
sion which followed the events of 1836 and 1837. Up to 1848, it is
stated that about 6,000 miles had been finished: Since that date an
addition of 5,000 miles has been made to the completed roads, and,
including the present year, new lines, com rising about 14,000 miles,
have been undertaken, surveyed, and most ly placed under contract.

‘The usefulness and comparative economy of railroads as channels
of commerce and travel have become so evident, that they have in
some tneasure superseded canals, and are likely to detract seriously
from the importance of navigable rivers for like purposes. Ina new
country like ours, many items of expense, which go to swell the cost of
railrouds in England and on the Continent, are avoided. Material is
cheap 3 the right of way usually freely granted; and heavy land dam-
ages seldom interpose to retard the progress of an important work. It
is difficult to arrive at a clear approximation to the average cost of
railroad construction in the United States. Probably the first inport-
ant work of this class undertaken and carried through ‘in the Union
was the cheapest, as it has proved one of the most profitable, ever
built. This was the road from Charleston, in South Carolina, to Au-
gusta, on the Savannah river. Tt was finished and opened for traffic in
1 The entire expense of building the road and equipping it with
engines and cars for passengers and freight was, at the date of its
completion, only $6,700 per mile; and all expenditures for repairs
and improvements, during the eighteen years that the road has been in

operation, have raised the aggregate cost of the whole work to onl:
$1,336,616, or less than $10,000 per mile, id

ae



a ae

109

The earth itself has been made to furnish a supply of electric force;
a single pair of zinc and copper Plates buried sufficiently deep below the
surface to be in the wet sub-soil, will cause a current of low intensity,
The earth acts as the return wire to any given number of distinct
wires, without in the least affecting the regularity of the action of any
of them.

The average performance of the Morse instruments is to transmit
from eight thousand to nine thousand letters per hour. The usual
charge of transmission is twenty-five, cents for ten words, or less, sent
one hundred miles,

The following table will show the rates of telegraphic communication
between the city of Washington and some of the principal cities of the
Union. The distances are given from a table’ prepared at the Post
Office Department.

Telegraphic charges from Washington to the following places for mes-
sages containing ten words or less.

Places. Miles. Rates.
Albany. - 376 $0 80
Augusia. : 619 115
Baltimore . 40 20
Baton Rouge : 1,539 2.25
Boston, . 448 15
Bufflo. 703 90
Chicago 1,238 1 26
Cincinnati 578 70
Cleveland. 439 80
Detroit... 970 100
Dubuque, 1,449 170
Erie... . 439 1 00
Frankfort 669 2 00
Harrisburg. 124 45
Hartford. . 345 76
Indianapolis . 639 1 00
Jackson... 1,825 200
Louisville - 720 95
1,418 1 55
1,305 1-70
1,332 1 35
1,142 1 35
Natchez. . . 1,694 2 05
New Albany. 723 110
Newport . . 414 75
New Orleans. 1,408 220
New York. 282 50
Philadelphia. 142 30
Pittsburg. ...eeeeee es 307 45


108
from Washington to New York, which was the first organized in this

country:

From January 27, 1846, to July 1, 1846... --- $4,228 77
«July 1, 1846, to July 1, 1847. - 82,810 28
“ “ 1847, “ 1848. . 52,252 81
“ “ 1848, “ 1849. - 63,367 62
“ “ 1849, “ 1850. - 61,383 98
“ “ 1850, “ 1851. - 67,737 12
« “ 1851, “ 1852. -103,860 84
Total amount received up to July, 1852........-...- 885,641 42

The number of messages sent over this line in the last six months
was 154,514, producing $68,499 23.

The amount of business which a well-conducted office can perform
is immense. Nearly seven hundred messages, exclusive of those for
the press, were sent in one day over the Morse Albany line; and a few
days after, the Bain line at Boston seut and received five hundred com-
munications. Another office, with two wires—one five hundred, the
other two hundred miles in length—after spending three hours in the
transmission of public news, telegraphed, in a single day, four hundred
and fifty private messages, averaging twenty-five words each, besides
the address, sixty of which were sent in succession, without a word.
of repetition.

The apparatus cannot be worked successfully without skilful ope-
rators, good batteries and machines, and thorough insulation of the
conductors. The expense of copper wire, which was at first used, has
caused it to be superseded by iron, which is found to answer the pur-
pose as well, though it is requisite to give the iron wire'six times the
weight of a copper one, to gain the same conducting power with equal
lengths. About two hundred and fifty pounds of iron wire are required
toa mile. Its insulation is effected by winding it around or passing it
through caps or knobs of glass, or well-glazed stoneware, or enclosing
it with gutta percha. The wires are generally supported on spars or
posts, from twenty to thirty feet in height, nine inches in diameter at
the base, four and a half at the top, set in the ground five {eet deep,
and placed from twelve to fifteen rods apart.

Although the wires have been buried in the earth, in some countries,
and experiments tried here to effect this object, it would appear, from
the latest information received, that this method is unsuccessful, and
will be relinquished.

The cost of construction, including wire, posts, labor, &c., is about
one hundred and fifty dollars per mile.

The only constant and economical battery used in the United States
is Grove’s, consisting of cups of zinc, with strips of platinum, in an
earthenware or porcelain cup, which cup is filled with nitric acid and
is placed inside of thé zine cup, in a tumbler containing diluted sul~
phuric acid. ‘The main battery on a line, (from four to fifty cups,) re-
quires renewing once in every two weeks, and daily in unfavorable
weather and in local batteries of two or three cups.



ee

a)

105

For the purpose of comparison with the foregoing, the subjoined
statement has been prepared, showing the number of miles of railroads,
with their costs, according to the most generally received authorities in
all the countries of Europe in which those improvements have been to
any considerable extent imtroduced:

Miles. Aggrogate. | Cost permile.

Great Britain and Ireland... .
German States, including Prus-|

6,890 |$1,218,000,000 | $177,000

sia and Austria. 5,332 | 825,875,000 61,000
France... 1,018 | 288,905,000 254,000
Belgium . 532 46,288,000 |. 49,000
Russia 200 15,000,000 76,000
Ttaly.... 170 15,000,000 88,000

14,142 | 1,859,068,000

The preceding table was made before the opening of the railway
from St. Petersburg to Moscow, which, being nearly 400 miles in
length, would add largely to these statistics, so far as refers to Russia.
In France, also, during the past season, 1,500 miles of railway, in ad-
dition to that stated in the table, were opened, making the whole ex-
tent of railway in that country, in July last, about 2,500 miles ; and it
is expected that, during the course of the ensuing year, 1,800 miles ad-
ditional will be completed.

By these statistics it is made to appear that the average cost of
European railroads was $130,300 per mile.. The average cost of
American railroads completed previous to the commencement of the
present year was $34,307 per mile. The excess of expenditure,
therefore, in the construction of European roads over those in the United
States, is $95,993 per mile, or about 280 per cent.; but it may be re-
marked that the éstimated average cost of construction in the United
States of all the roads completed and in progress does not exceed
$27,300 per mile; so that the actual excess is $103,000 per mile,

The foregoing statements develop the striking fact that the United
States possess an extent of railroad nearly equal to that of the rest of
the world combined; and, at our present rate of progression, we are
likely, in a few years, far to exceed it.

Tn the infancy of the American railroad system, a favorite means of

roviding funds for their construction was the advance of loans from
Bre treasuries of the respective States in which they were situated; but
this plan has been superseded by the use of private capital, and, within
the last ten years, frequent recourse has been had to the expedient of
loans and subscriptions by counties, cities, and towns through which
the roads pass. Loans of this character, however, are in all cases
made under the sanction of authority conferred by the State legisla-
tures. The bonds representing these transactions with the stocks of


ssc te

119

ing the United States, as to disincline large numbers of them to the for~
mation of family ties. These ate considerations tending to show that
immigrants are subject to laws of mortality less favorable to length of
life than natives of the country, and that their natural increase is re~
tarded by circumstances which do not operate upon those among whom
they settle. But there are certain facts which counteract the influence
of such causes, to which attention is now called. If the proportion of
female immigrants to males is less than among natives, the proportion
of those within the limits of the child-bearing age is much greater. . If
immigrants are subjected to special causes of disease and death, the
comparative number of children and aged persons among them—that
is, of those who most swell the bills of mortality in every country—is
remarkably small. If it be true that many more of the industrial classes
of Irishmen, Germans, and other foreigners remain unmarried to a late
age, or throughout life, than among the same classes of the native pop-
ulation, it must be remembered that such cases are nearly confined 10
one sex, and that not the one which directly contributes to population.
As illustrations of these positions the following table and ceplanatory
remarks are submitted:

Statement showing the sexes and ages of 245,336 immigrants who arrived
at New York, Boston, and New Orleans during the year ending Sep-
tember 30, 1850, compared with the same number of native white mhabat-
anis of the United States.

t

IMAUGRANTS. NATIVE INHABITANTS,

Number. |Per cent. of] Number. |Perceut. of

tho whole the whale
number. number.

Children under 10 years of ago 22,184] 1B12 | 77,771 31.70

Persons over 40 yents .. 22, 996 9.37 | 36,967 16.17

Number of both classes. 55, 180 22.49 | 114,822 46.87
101, 021 41.14 | 120,000 48. 88
Number of females between 15 and 40 years..| 68, 253 27,82 48, 850 19. 89
Proportion of the above to whole number of

’
males and fomales .... -.-- 22. --0e sn eeeefeneces eee! 67,50 |... --- aoe 40,70

This table discloses some facts which certainly have an important
pearing upon the question of the relative progress of our native and im-
migrant white population. Of native inhabitants, it is seen that very
neatly half are between those ages subject to the most fatal diseases,
while of the foreign born considerably less than one-quarter fall in those
divisions. And although the proportion of immigrant females to males
is only as 41.14 to 48,86, yet the capacity of these females to produce
accessions to the, population is, when compared with a like number of
American females indiscriminately taken, as 58.29 to 41.71. Their
superiority, in this respect, is, statistically speaking, 16.58 per cent.
This fact of course insures a greater rapidity of natural increase in


ee eerie mere eee

101

and transportation in that month, The State advanced three millions
of dollars towards the work, and-afterwards released the company from
the obligation to pay the loan. It will be seen that the execution of this
great work was pursued through nineteen years, and was not accom-
plished without calling into requisition both the resources of the State
and the means of her citizens.

The following table presents, in a convenient form, some of the’ prin-
cipal facts connected with railroads in the United States on the first
January, 1852:

38 BY A 2
g e & 2 3 Es.
2 24 Fe 35
Ea £8 #8 8. ee.
Biates with railronds in operation, | = ge oa a cr
‘or in process of conatruetion. | ‘= 2 ro de 52
; sze|*e.| 38 a |
gia | 322 | Ey 4 23
ga gee § “e 2S
3 a a @
Maine - 815 127 30, 000 583, 188 19.44
New Hampshire . aT 9, 280 817, 964 34.26
. 59 9, 056 314,120 34. 68
I 67 7,800 994,499 | 127.49
32 1, 306 147,544 | 112.97
261 4, 674 370,791 79.33
745 46,000 | .3, 097,394 67. 33

10,843 | 10, 898

Since the first edition of this report was put to press, information has
been received, tending to prove that 2,500 miles of railroad, in progress
at the beginning of 1852, had been completed during the year, and that
8,652 miles of new road had been placed under ‘contract, making the
aggregates of 13,266 miles of railroad in operation, -and 12,681 miles
in progress, on the 1st of January, 1858. These facts display a rate of
increase in the extension of the railroad system greater-than the expe-
rience of former years had authorized us to anticipate. New York has
8,047 miles of railroad. This is the greatest absolute amount pos-


112

sect the New York and Buffalo line, using the same instruments, ex-
tending from New York to Buffalo, a distance of 570 miles. .

One wire is now in operation, connecting with Poughkeepsie, Troy,
Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Lyons, Rochester, Albion, Lockport, and
Buffalo. The same line to continue to St. Louis, Missouri, connecting
with Cleveland, Cincimati, and Louisville, will soon be completed,
forming the longest line in the world under the direction of one com-
pany, the whole length being 1,500 miles, . .

The New Jersey Magnetic Telegraph Company, using House in-
struments, extends from Philadelphia to New York, two wires, 1382
miles each, A line also extends south to Baltimore and Washington.
The whole length of House lines in the United States is about 2,400
miles.

List of Telegraphs in the United States.

Wires.| Miles. [Total miles
of wire.
New York and Boston Telegraph Co......... 3 250 750
Merchants’ Telegraph Co., N.Y. and Boston.| 2 250 500
House’s Printing Telegraph. 1 250 250
Boston and Portland 1 100 100
Merchants’ Telegraph Co., (

land) 1} 100 100
Portland to Calais. . a see 1 3850 850
Boston to Burlington, Vt., and thence to Og-

densburg, N. Y. -f} oo 350 3850
Boston to Newburyport. wl od 384 34
Worcester to New Bedford 4 od 97 97
Worcester to New London. . 1 74 74
New York, Albany, and Buffalo. 3 513 1,539
N.Y. State Telegraph Co., N.Y. to --| 2 650 1,100
Syracuse to Ogdensburg. - . 1 150 160
‘Troy to Saratoga... .. 1 36 36
Syracuse to Oswego. . --| 1 40 40
House Telegraph Co., New York to Buffalo..| 2 550 1,100
N.Y. and Erie Telegraph, N. ¥. to Dunkirk..! 1 440 440
N. Y. and Erie Railroad Telegraph, New York

and Dunkirk .-...... {| 1 460 460
Magnetic Telegraph Co., : vi 260 1,820
House Line, New York to Philadelphia. ..... 1 100 100
Troy and Canada Junction Telegraph Co.,

Troy and Montreal 1 260 260
Erie and Michigan T.

Milwaukie .. 2... 2 800 1,600
Cleveland to Cincinnat -. 2 250 500
Cincinnati to St. Louis, via Indianapol 1 400 400
Cincinnati to St. Louis, via Vincennes, 1 410 410
Cleveland and Pittsburg. ,......e0+6 2 150 300



114°

The telegraphs in England are the next in importance and extent to

those in this country. ‘They were first established in 1846, and there
are about 4,000 miles of wire now in operation.

The charge for transmission of despatches is much higher than in
America, one penny per word being charged for the first fifty miles,
and one farthing per mile for any distance beyond one hundred miles.
A message of twenty words can be sent a distance of 600 miles in the
United States for one dollar, while in England the same would cost
seven dollars.

In June, 1852, the submarine telegraph between Dover and Ostend
was completed, and on the 1st of November the first electric commu-
nication was established direct between Great Britain and the Conti-
nent of Europe. By a line of wires between London and Dover, via
Doncaster and Canterbury, in connexion with the submarine cable
across the Straits of Dover, instantaneous communication is obtained
between London, Paris, Sweden, Trieste, Cracow, Odessa, and Leghorn.
The wires are also being carried onward to St. Petersburg; to
India, and into Africa.

A project has been formed for constructing a submarine telegraph
between Great Britain and the United States. It is proposed to “com-
mence at the most northwardly point of Scotland, run thence to the
Orkney islands, and thence by short water lines to the Shetland and the
Feroe islands. From the latter, a water line of 200 miles conducts the
telegraph to Iceland, thence to Greenland, and across Davis’s straits to
Byron’s Bay, on the coast of Labrador. The entire length of the line
is estimated at 2,500 miles—the submarine portions of it at 1,500 miles;
and the expense of ihis great international work is estimated at
£500,000.

Another enterprise has been actually started, with every prospect of
consummation. A. portion of the line is being prosecuted with vigor,
and the company propose transmitting intelligence between the Old and
New Worlds in four or five days. A charter has been granted by the
British Colonial government to the “Newfoundland Electric Company,”
with a capital of £100,000, to construct a line of telegraph trom Halifax,
N.8., to Cape Race, touching at St. John, crossing the island of New-
foundland to Cape Ray; thence, bya submarine line of 149 miles, to cross
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a landing being made at Cape East, on Prince
Edward’s island, and, crossing Northumberland straits by another sub-
marine line of ten miles, to land at Cape Torment, in New Brunswick,
and so on to the boundary of the United States; whence, by an inde-
pendent line to New York, the connexion is completed. The total dis-
tance traversed by this line will be between 1,400 and 1,500 miles, of .
which 150 are submarine. It is stated that steamers can make ordi-
nary passages between Cape Race, Newfoundland, and Galway,
Ireland, in five days.



a

100

by a nearly due west course through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The
Pennsylvania section will be completed about the end of 1852.

"Fifi. The Baltimore and Obio railroad, one of the most magnifi-
cent works of the day, will pass from Baltimore through Maryland
and Virginia to Wheeling, on the Ohio. At the latter point, it will
form a connexion with the system of roads traversing the West and
Northwest. It crosses the Alleghanies by the most favorable passes,
and, to avoid a very high grade, a tunnel has been cut, perhaps the
Jongest and most expensive in the world. .

Sicth. The roads proposed to be constructed under authority of
Virginia, and already commenced, intended to establish communica-
tion between tide-water and the interior, and southwestern parts of
that State, and to continue the same through Tennessee to the Missis-
sippi. These routes pass through the mountains at the southeast cor-
ner of Virginia, and the works are in a state of less forwardness than
those upon any other of the great lines referred to in this connexion.

Seventh. The several lines of railroad from Charleston and Savan-
nah, penetrating South Carolina and Georgia, concentrating in north-
eastern Alabama, and reaching the level region of the Mississippi by
the valley of the Tennessee river. These roads, by their western con-
tinuation, will intersect lines running to every important point between
the mountains and the Mississippi.

Eighth. The Mobile and Ohio railroad, from the Mexican gulf to
Cairo, on the Ohio river, and thence by the Illinois Central railroad to
the lakes, a distance in a straight line of about eleven hundred miles.
_ Itwill be seen at a glance that the leading idea in all these vast enter-
prises was to overcome the barrier presented by this chain of mount-

ains, to a direct and unrestricted intercourse between the sea board
and the West, and to supply the want of those natural channels of com-
merce, navigable rivers, extending into the section we desire to reach.
‘The enormous aggregate of expense of the numerous works specified
above, undertaken with this one object, and their importance as public
improvements, may be estimated from the following brief notice of the
New York and Erie railroad, which occupies the third place in our
preceding enumeration: The longest continuous line of railroad in the
world, and that in the construction of which the greatest natural obsta~
cles have been overcome, is that which extends from the Hudson river,
through the southern counties of New York, to Lake Erie. Its length
is four hundred and sixty-nine miles, and it has branches of an addi-
tional length of sixty-eight miles. Nearly its whole course is through
aregion of mountains. The bridges by which it is carried over the
Delaware and Susquehannah rivers, and other streams, and the viaducts
upon which it crosses the valleys that intercept its route, are among the
noblest monuments of power and skill to be,found in our country. ‘The
most of these works are of heavy masonry; but one of them is a wooden
bridge, one hundred and eighty-seven feet in height, with one arch, the
span of which is two hundred and seventy-five feet. One of the via-
lucts is twelve hundred fect long, and, one hundred and ten feet high.
The aggregate cost of this important work was $23,580,000, and
the expense of construction was $42,333 per mile. The, road was
originally suggested in 1829; a company was organized in 1833; it
* was finished in May, 1851, and opened with great ceremony for travel



—_

7

%

99

It is estimated that the 2,870 miles of railroads finished in New Eng-
land have cost $182,000,000, which gives an average of nearly $46,000
per mile. In the mid«lle States, where the natural obstacles are some-
what less, the average expense per mile of the railroads already built
is not far from $40,000. ‘Those now in course of completion—as the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad, Pennsylvania Central and other lines, the
routes of which cross the Alleghany range of mountains—will probably
require a larger proportionate outlay, owing to the heavy expense of
grading, bridging, and tunnelling. In those States where land has be-
come exceedingly valuable, the cost of extinguishing private titles to the
real estate requires, and the damages to property along the routes,
form a heavy item in the account of general expenses of building rail-
roads. Th the South and West the case is reversed; there the propri-
etors along the proposed line of a road are often willing and anxious to
give as much land as may be needed for its purposes, and accord
many other advantages in order to secure its location through or in
the vicinity of their possessions. In the States lying in the valleys of
the Ohio and Mississippi the cost of grading, also, is much less than at
the eastward. Where the country is wooded, the timber can be ob-
tained at the mere cost of removing it from the track; and through
prairie districts, Nature seems to have prepared the way for these struc-
tures by removing every obstacle fiom the surfice, while fine quarries
of stone are to be found in almost every region. These favorable cir-
cumstances render the estimate of $20,000 per mile in all the new
States safe and reliable. ;

The primary design of nearly all the great lines of railway in the
United States has been to connect the seacoast with the distant inte-
rior ; to effect which object it was necessary to cross the Alleghanies,
which intersect every {ine of travel diverging to the West from the
great commercial cities of the sea board.

The following are some of the vast enterprises which have been un-
dertaken ta accomplish this great purpose, which have either been fin-
ished or are in such a state of progress as leaves no doubt of their
being brought to a successful issue within a few years:

First. The railroads connecting Portland, the commercial capital of
Maine, with the British provinces, and through their public works, the
St. Lawrence river and the lakes, with the western States of the
Union.

Second.’ The railroads from Boston westward, connecting at Albany
with the roads of central New York, and, by the more northern route,
traversing New Hampshire and Vermont, continuing towards the West
by the Ogdensburg railroad, and bringing Montreal, the chief commer-
cial city of Upper Canada, into communication with the capital of New
England.

Thivd. The New York and Erie railroad, extending from New
York city to Lake Erie, and intended to form a part of a continuous
line from the Hudson to the Mississippi—a project likely to be effected
within the ensuing ten years. . .

Fourth. The Pennsylvania Central railroad, from Philadelphia to
Pittsburg, with numerous diverging branches, to points north and
south of the general direction. This great route will reach St. Louis

|


110

Telegraphic charges—Continued.

Places. Miles. Rates.
Portland . . -- 655 $0 95
Portsmouth 603 1 00
Providence. 405 75
St. Louis... 989 1 20
Springfield 851 1 46
Syracuse. - 524 90
Vicksburg. 1,371 2 30
Wheeling. . 331 50
Wilmington . 112 26

Messages passing from one very distant point to another have usually
to be re-written at intermediate stations; though, by an improved
method, the seaboard line has, in good weather, transmitted communi-
cations direct between New York and Mobile—a distance of near
1,800 miles—without intermediate re-writing. By the Cincinnati route
to New Orleans—a distance of nearly 2,000 miles—the news brought
by an Atlantic steamer at 8 o’clock A. M., has been telegraphed from
New York to that distant point, and the effects produced in the market
there returned to New York by 11 o’clock A. M.. The Congressional
reports from Washington are usually received simultaneously in Balti-
more, Philadelphia, and New York; and all that is necessary at the
intermediate stations is for an operator to be present and receive the
message as it is developed on paper by the instruments.

The electric telegraph has been applied in this country to anew and
highly important purpose—that ot the registration of astronomical ob-
servations; thus establishing the best possible means for the determina-
tion of the difference of longitude. The observatories in different parts
of the country are connected by telegraphic wires; and the most deli-
cate experiments, dependent upon the appreciation of minute portions
of time, have been successfully performed. This method has been
recently used for the determination of the wave time of electrical cur-
rents.

The great extent of the telegraphic business, and its importance
to the community, is shown by a statement of the amount paid for
despatches by the associated press of New York, composed of the
seven principal morning papers—the Courier and Enquirer, Tribune,
Herald, Journal of Commerce, Sun, Times, and Express. During the
year ending November 1, 1852, these papers paid neatly fifty thousand
dollars for despatches, and about fourteen thousand dollars for special
and exclusive messages not included in the expenses of the association.

The Morse system is used generally throughout the United States.
It is used in Prussia, wherever intelligence is transmitted great dis-
tances. The great German-Austrian Telegraphic Union, comprising all
the States of Germany and Austria, after deliberating in convention at



113
List of Telegraphs in the United States—Continued,
Wires.| Miles. |Total miles
of wire.

Cleveland and Zanesville........-.---.---- 1 150 150
Lake Erie Telegraph Go., Buffido to Detroit..| i 400 400
Cincinnati and Sandusky” city... 1 218 218
Toledo and Terre Haute. ... jot 800 300
Chicago and St. Louis. - - 1 4.00 400
Milwaukie and Green Bay. 1 200 200
Milwaukie and Galena. | o4 250 250
Chicago to Galena, Whitewater and Dixon...) 1 310 310
Chicago and Janesville..-.-..--.-----+-0-+ 1 100 100
Buffalo and Canada Junction Telegraph Gon} 1 200 200
New York and New Orleans, by Charleston...) 1] 1,966 | 1,966
Harper’s Ferry to Winchester, Virginia. 1 32 32
Baltimore to Cumberland. - . - 1]. 3824 324
Baltimore to Harrisbur; 1 72 72
York and Lancaster. ..-. 1 22 22
Philadelphia and Lewistown, Delaware. 1 12 12
Philadelphia and New York 6 120 720
Philadelphia and Pittsburg. 1 309 309
Philadelphia and Pottsville. 1 98 98
Reading and Harrisburg. 1 51 1
Troy and Whitehall. 1 72 72
Auburn and Elmira. 1 15 75
Pittsburg and Cincinnati. 2 310 620
Columbus and Portsmouth, Ohio. 1 90 90
Columbia and New Orleans 1 6388 638
New Orleans to Balize...- 1 90 90
Cincinnati and Muysville, Kentucky. 1 60 60
Alton and Galena.....-.- 1 380 380
St. Louis and Independence, 1 25 25
St. Louis and Chicago. 1 830 3830
Newark and Zanesville. 1 40 40
Mansfield and Sandusky. - 1 40 40
Columbus and Lancaster, Ohi 1 80 80
Lancaster and Logan. 1 26 26
Cincinnati to Dayton. . ‘1/100 100
Zanesville and Marietta. 1 66 66
Dunkirk, New York, and Pittsburg. 1} 200 200
Camden and Cape May, New Jersey - 1 100 100
Camden and Mount Holly, New Jersey 1 25 25
New York and Sandy Hook 1 80 80
Cleveland and New Orleans, by Cincinnati. . _| 1] 1,200] 1,200
89 [16,735 | 28,281