Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-03-09
The Business Of Telegraphing.

&c are glau 10 see puOIC ulSCu>>lou a'l9luS
in regard to this subject. The telegraph has
become a medium of intelligence Of but little,
if any, less Importance than the mails. At
present it is a close monopoly, and it does not
differ from other monopolies by failing to take
advantage Of the necessities of its customers
few weeks ago there were in the United
States two principal lines, aud from the conse-
quent competition in business, in dispatch, and
in prices, the public derived some beueft.-
These lines are now consolidated, and hence
forth business will be transacted to suit the
Company, which has no competition. 1t is now
proposed, to remedy this evil, that the Govern
ment shall enter the field with the view of
building and working electric telegraphs as
part the postal system Of the country not to
make money by it, but to accommodate the
neople bv lowering the cost, and enabling the
public at large to enjoy the benefits in obtain
ing news and transactiug business. The fol-
lowing resolution was reported to the United
States Senate on Friday last, through Mr.. DIX
ON. Chairman OF the Committee on Post-olhceS
and Post Roads:
"ResoIred, That the Postmaster General be, and
he is hereby requested 10 lay before the Senate such
information as he may have in his possession or may
be able 70 collect in regard 10 the feasibility and
usefulness of establishing, in connection with the
Postofice Department, telegraph lines along such %
the principa mail routes Is may be deemed advsa-
BILE ior use by the Government and TO be open Tor
public use at minimum rates OF charge, accOmpa-
MED by such suggestions and considerations as
il,rfl "a, Ia oft
sion of the posoce system to Geographic purposes
and such stltst cs and exhibits, predcated on cost
of construction and capacity OF transmission, as
will best illustrate its practlcability.
Senator B. GRAFT BRowN, Of Missouri, adj
vocated the adoption of such system, and
contended that it could be predicated upon the
postofice principle, having a uniform rate
throughout the country, and a single price for
all distances the short equalizing the long,
the surplus of highly profitable lines enabling
the extension Of lines until all parts of the
country are brought into telegraphic circuit
that the business would be enlarged by cheap
ening the price, that eXtortion would be pre-
vented, and the plans Of monopolStS fruS-
trated. All the important news would be
given to the press Of the whole country, and
the Government would be saved the present
cost Of telegraphing for the departments.
In 1860, it is estimated there were about
% 600 miles Of telegraph in the United States.
The cost is estimated at s62 so per mile. Add
to this the Pacific line, 1000 miles long, cost
ing $500, 600, and we have for the whole cost
less than 81, 900, 600. This has been expanded
into what is represented as fifty million capt.
tai stock, on which enormous dividends are
paid. Two thosand words per hour can be
transmitted by an expert operator. AS high
as twenty-eight hundred words partly abbre-
waited, and twenty-five hundred printed in
full, haye been transmitted in an hour. Mr..
Brown makes the following estimate Of tele-
graphic capacity:
The capacity of line such as that from Wash
ington city to New York, with six wires and work
ing only half the time twelve hours, at an ave-
rage speed Of two thousand words may be thus set
"6xl2x2OOO X $685. $4,000 words per an
mum.
of words flty-tw0 million five hundred and sixty
thousand, divided into the minimum cost Of opera
ting the line 50 694 20, will give the charge per
word at which the Government could do the public
telecraphing without loss. This division results IN
about one-twenteth of a cent 4 word, or twenty
words for cent or sixty words for three cents the
cost of a postage stamp. The average OF business
letters however, will not exceed sixty words so that
from this simple calculation it will appear that the
Geographic charges on ordinary commercial CORE
spondence may be made as inexpensive as the pres
emit postal rates In other words, the post-Ohce on
wire will be cheaper than the post-oiice on rail
The patents which cover the principal inStru-
mcnts will expire in 1868, and it is maintained,
with reason we are inclined to think, that the
Postoiice Department, to keep up with the
spirit Of the age, must avail itself of the tele-
graphic system, the processes Of which were so
much developed during the war. The subject
is one of great interest, and we hope the Post
master General will avail himself of the OPP
portunity presented by the resolution ofgiving
US all the light he has upon the subject.