Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-02-29
"TELEGRAPHIC."

4c46S6AA3 IAN
The electromagnetic telegraph, the great
est wonder of the age, or Of any age, e1acts
the admiration and establishment Of all; and
as nation, we feel proud to claim the inyen-
ton as one springing from the genius of one
of our most gifted sons. The years lSS7-'3S
witnessed the operation of telegraphing in its
primitive state, and called forth from the
halls of Congress and from other quarters,
remarks of ridicule and doubts as to its util-
ity. 1t was at this period that Mr.. Morse
filed caveat for patent, and urged upon
Congress to grant an appropriation to test
Its practical application as method Of
communication between places remote from
each other" Mr.. Cave johnson, of Tennes-
see, speaking on the appropriation, facetious-
" remarked "that one-half Of the appropri-
alton should be given to Try mesmerie exper-
iments." After much hesitation and delay,
the appropriation was granted, and Mr..
Morse set to work to carry his operations
into effect. By the month of May, 1874, the
lines were fixed and the instruments attached
to the ends of wires at Mount Clare Depot,
Baltimore, and in the Supreme Court cham
Der, Washington, and then it was immediate
ly proved that telegraphing was of itself
reality. The first message ever conveyed
lit was written by Annie Ellsworth) was
sent on that OCCASION" WHAT Con HATH
WROUGHT" We can imagine the feelings
of the inventive genius, after years of toll, Of
rejection and of derisiOn, when he knew that
the entire nation was beholding and the whole
world gazing in establishment and wonder at
the unexpected success of his work. Short
IL after the completion Of this line, the DEM
ocratic Convention was in session at Balti-
more, and each ballot was telegraphed to
Washington. Before the nomination Of Vice
President, and after the defeat Of Mr. Van
Buren, for the nomination for the Presidency,
the New York delegation telegraphed, asking
Silas Wright for permission to use his name
in connection with the Office of Vice Presi-
dent; but he declined in the following dis
patch:
"Mr. Wright requests the New York delega-
ton TO say that he cannot accept the nomination
Of Vice President
A second dispatch was sent, urging again
The privilege Of using his name. He replied
as follows:
Mr.. Wright is here. VIII support the nomi
nation of Mr. Polk eheerfully, but cannot accept
the nomination of Vice President
A third dispatch was sent in which he was
still urged to accept the nomination. Again
he replied:
Under no circumstances can Mr.. Wright &C.
eept the nomination. He thanks the Convention,
and refers to his two former answers.
A fourth message was sent, informing
him that Committee would visit Washing
ton to confer with him. He telegraphed
back
MIR. Wright has well considered and begs
that his previous answers may be satisfactory"
The manuscript of those, in the hand
writing of Mr.. Wright, is still among the eff
fects of Mr.. Morse, and is held as a memen-
to of his early ambition. Mr.. Morse renewed
his application to the Government, to be-
come the sole possessor of the telegraphs in
the InlteQ states. WI. SaNe JOunSOIlY WIZ
had succeeded to be Postmaster General, In
his report declined to burden the Depart
ment with tie telegraphic enterprise on the
ground that, however beneficial it might be
as private enterprise, and however advan-
tageous to the Government in the rapid
transmission of intelligence, yet it never
could become 4 paving concern, and mus
necessarily be sustained by a large outlay,
with which he was unwilling to burden the
Treasury" But Amos Kendall, General
Jaekson's Postmaster General, became asso-
ciated with Professor Morse in his telegraph
enterprise, and succeeded in amassing great
wealth for both. Twenty years have passed
since the FIRST telegraphic message was trans
mitted, and the works of the electro-mag-
netic telegraph have become inseparabie
parts of government, commerce and COM
mon intelligence; and, alas for Cave John
sons theory, and also that Of the astute
John Quincy Adams, the telegraph IS a
"paying coneern"-an accumulation and dis
burser Of millions Of money in millions Of
different ways! And how grandly and uni
versaIly it has proved that the simplest, the
most decided thing Of to-day, may serve for
the grandest purposes of tomorrow!