The weekly clarion., 1874-08-13
81 90 PER YEAR
The BuIIder of the First TeIe-
graph.


Prom lie Philadelphia Ledger.
; A few Gays ago a telegraphic despatch
from Maine announced the decease IN
that State of Mr.. G.. L. Smith. who con
structed for Professor Morse the forty
miles OF magnetic telegraph from Wash.
ington city to Baltimore. which eonstitu.
ted the original OF the vast system ~
teiegraPbs now extended throughout the
world. That line was completed for use
IN the last week ia May, 1874, the first
news despatch having been sent over the
wire ON the 18th Of May. The quite
recent death Of the constructor OF that
line naturally carries the mind backward
over the thirty Years o. the existence of
the magnetic telegraph, and brings INTO
bold view the feeble beginning and the
marvellous progress of the peculiarly
American work. After the patient but
/ persistent efforts'of Professor Morse for
/ several years, Congress in 1S43 made an
appropriation Of $50, 900 Tor an experi-
ment with the Morse telegraph between
( Washington City and Baltimore. and il
was this line that was completed in the
spring OF the following year. The money
grudgingly granted in the midst of SCOTS
and Jeers and references to ''animal mag
metlsm, &c., has been frequ ntly refer
red to as muni6cent gift in the interest
OF science and the diffusion ofintelligence.
Perhaps II was, but it may serve at once
to illustrate the magnitude of the growth
OF the telegraph, and how greatly the
Government profted by its generosity.
fO "a Ia .tl. . u
OF five years, the Western Union Tele-
graph Company alone paid to the Treas
ury IN taxes $500, 600, and in gold duties
on imports of telegraphic wire, 1928, 600
more. Thus the investment of that $50.
900 repaid itselfin those two items alone:
IN those five years alone, and from one
company alone, more then thirty fold.
Going back 10 the forty miles of wire
between Washington and Baltimore,
which measured the whole dimensions Of
the magnetic telegraph this day thirty
years ago, we are better able 10 appreci. |
ate two hundred thousand miles OF wire |
which form the immense network Of the /
telegraph over the United States to-day. |
OF these two hundred thousand miles of
American wires, which would encirsle /
the globe more than eight times, about /
one hundred and seventy thousand be- /
long to one company. In June, 1914, |
there were two operators at work; in June, |
1873, there were nine thousand, nine /
hundred and thirty persons employed by |
one American company, and about twelve /
thousand by all the American companies. |
La this exhibit Of the growth of thirty !
years, we limit the figures to the stats.
ties of our own country, leaving the Old
World out Of view altogether.
In some other respects the change \
wrought by the telegraph in less than the
period of one generation is still more |
striking. 1t requires no strain upon the
memories Of even the junior partners Of
some Of our old business houses and offices
to recall the anxious times when they
were more or less at the mercy of shrewd
and active men who used carrier pigeons,
relays of fast horses, with their hardy
express riders. Semapbore signals from
hilltop TO hilltop and along the coast,
and other similar expedients for getting
advanced views of important events, with
all the resulting advantages. In those
days fluctuations i'll the prices Of com
modities in the great markets of the
world were frequently secrets known only
to a few, who sold their knowledge to
another few, and thus small knot OF
men IN every commercial centre were
enabled to buy the property OF their unin-
formed neighbors for far less than its
value, or sell their own for far more than
It's value. Now all business men get
their information simultaneously, and,
if they wish it, they can get it from all
the markets and money centres of the
world. The merchant at our CONNER
cial Exchange is il immediate commu
aicatiOn with corn, cattle, cotton, pro
iuce, shipping and commercial exchanges
everywhere in our own country and
abroad. The banker Of Third street has
lis wire extending from his office to New
I ork, Chicago, San Francisco, New
Orleans, London, Paris, Frankfort, Ber-
in, Amsterdam, Constantinople, Bonn
pay, Calcutta, Rio Janciroand Shanghai
md all cities and countres between He
Its there with instant knowledge Of the /
commercial, political and other
important current events of Europe,
Asia, Africa, Australia, he East and
West Indies, and South America, as
we'll as of bis own country. The tele-
graph, the Associated Press and the news
papers within that organization concen-
rate this universal intelligence, and lay
t before the whole public simultaneously
II least twice every day; and all this
marvellous change and the vast and /
wonderful system that has brought il
bout is, as the decease Of the builder Of
he pioneer line sharply =, minds us, the q
-rowth of but thirty years.