The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-01-18

MONDAY. JAN. is, 1876.
The Depot 81 To-day

The Depot 81 To-Day
Under the startling caption 1.-THE
Despot Uf To-Day," Old and Nelc for
January devotes several pages to a
review of the marvels OF telegraphy,
aud the rapid Improvement made in
the past few years in the art of trans-
hitting messages over the wire; and
IS the science has now become one
OF the essential elements OF our
modern civilization, 1t is a subject
which must interest every man,
woman and child in the United
States.
II IS well known that many years
ago n German savan discovered that
two messages could be transmitted
simultaneously Owe the same wire.
1t was a long time before this won
derful discovery was turned to prac-
Iical account, but to an American,
Mr.. Stearns, belongs the credit of
having overcome the natural Difficult
lies in the way, and, both in this
country and in Great Britain, Stearns'
duplex instrument Is 10 use, by
which two messages may be sent in
opposite directions more rapidly than
one could be transmitted singly.
This was a grand discovery, and one
TO which the public not unnaturally
looked upon as the commencement
of a new era, not in the science of
t~elegraphy alone, but in that still
more complex science Of economy.
In other words, the long-suffering
public, reasoning upon the reduced
cost Of transmitting messages, looked
80 n reduction in tho cimrEes of the
telegraph companies. How they
were disappointed is n matter of
history.
Still further experiments made
within the past six months have
developed the astounding fact in
natural magic that four messages can
be sent over single wire as readily
as two, and that through messages
and local mes can be sen without
interfering with oue another over the
same wire. While, for instance,
messages are being simultaneously
exchanged between Boston and New
YORK, two more can be sent on the
same wine between Boston and Wor-
cester, two between Worcester and
DttllEli tlut dtll LNO D~IlFGNI lug
field aud New Haven or New York,
making In all eight separate and
distinct messages crossing and recrOss-
ing on one-wire ut the same moment
Of time.
The reader Is more or loss familiar
with the story of telegraphing music.
This IS no mere flight OF fancy, but
an actual fact. If the waves Of sound
proceeding from the human voice, or
some wind or stringed instrument, is
made TO strike upon n resonant sur
face like the head of n drum, the
vibrations may be made to open and
close an electric circuit, or the strings
of IN instrument may be made to
perform the same service. If the
impulses are received upon the strings
of another instrument in harmony
with the first, the notes may be truns-
mitIed. The notes may represent
the letters Of the alphabet, and each
operator IAN send three times as
many messages an hour as by the
ordinary Morse transmittcr. The
working capacity of the line can thus
be enormously increased without in
terruption. BY Wheatstone's auto
matte instrument, 10000 words an
hour have been transmitted, or yer
Z six solid miniOn columns of the
Chicago Tribune. One column of the
Tribune, or 1900 words, has frequently
been sent between Washington and
New York in one minute. This
seems almost fabulous, but ii Is a fact
for all that.
In addition to this, messages from
Boston and other eastern cities toSan
Francisco are now transmitted by
automatic reporters, instead OF opers
aturs, saving an enormous sum, and
insuring greater accuracy. Eight
years ago comparatively little use
was made of the telegraph. Now the
Business is already great, and the
Tush at night has caused the estab-
Iishment Of h~alf-rates. With all
these vast improvements in the APP
uaratus, and the marvellous develop
ments of the latent powers of the tel
egraph, there has come an enormous
reduction in the cost of transmitting
dispatches. This is a matter OF course.
In 1867, it cost the Western Union
Telegraph Company S4,000,000 to
1000, 900 messages; in 1874, it cost
So. 5 900 to send 16 ,000, 900 messages
800 per cent. increase of business,
with less than 70 per cent. increase of
expenses.
1t would naturally be supposed that
the charges had been lowered in
something like proportion TO those
wonderful figures, but, unfortunately,
though there has been a slight aver
age reduction, the rates from New
York 10 Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chi
cago, New Haven, Springfield, and
other large cities, are actually higher
than they were in 1867. Between
Chicago and New York, for a message
of ten words, the sender is taxed
S1.25-12I cents a word. Compare
this with the rates in Great Britain.
From Lands End, in Cornmall, to
Kirkland, in Scotland, a distance of
700 miles, a telegraphic dispatch of
twenty words costs one shilling.
From Cork, in Ireland, to London,
Edinburg, Norwich, York, any
where, the same,-a trifle over one
cent q word. Ten years ago the tele-
graph was more Used in the United
l.