The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-01-28

MORSE AND HIS TELEGRAPH.
The Little instrument that Made His
Fortune Preserved &C the National


The Little instrument that Made His
Fortune Preserved at she National
Museum.
The National Museum at Washin gton
has one OF the first locomotives in the
country. and think it has the one upon
which Peter Cooper acted as engineer.
Here is the original Morse telegraph
instrument and it was on this instru-
ment that the first telegraphic mes
sage in the world was sent This line
ran from Washington to Baltimore.
and the first words were: "What hath
God wroughtP'' Shortly after the line
was completed there was apolitical coa-
versation held at Baltimore. which
nom mated President and Vicc-Presi-
dent The vice-presidential candidate
was at Washington, and he was Slas
Wright then United States senator.
He telegraphed dcclination of the
nomination, but the convention would
not trust the telegraph on such an m-
portant matter. and they came b. cars
to Washington to persuade him to ac-
cept the second place on the ticket with
Polk. He refused. however. and Dali
las was nominated.
Morse eventually made fortune out
of the telegraph. and in 1859 some of
the foreign powers made him pres
emit of $4,000. The King of Prussia
gave him q gold snuffbox, and he re-
ceived g present from the Sultan of
Turkey of decoration belonging to
the court in diamonds, Still, while his
bill was before Congress, he said one
day, that he had enough money to pay
his board and get out of Washington il
the bill did not pass. 1t was passed
the last day of the Congress OF l643.
and it gave him $50 900 to build an ex-
detrimental line between Washington
and Balaimore. He first tried to put
the wire in lead pipe in the ground,
but finally adopted the pole system
which is now in use.
To show how little the people then
knew of the telegraph, no less man
than the Secretary of the Treasury
asked Morse how large bundle could
be sent over the wires. aud he wanted
to know whether it might net be posi-,
BILE for the United States mail to be
carried by them. A congressman
brought bundle of dirty shirts to the
telegraph Office in the Capitol and
wanted them sent 10 Baltimore for
washing. Dolly Madison sent mes
sage to q friend of hers in Baltimore
and the telegraph was the great excite
ment of the hour. Morse ct this timo
offered his whole right in the patent to-
the Government for $1,000 900. and was,
fortunately for him, laughed at and re-
fused.
1t was upon the Baltimore & Ohio
Telegraph company. during the time
it was fighting the Western Union.
based its claim to be the Oldest tele-
graph company in the world in that 1t
held this line bstwe en- Washington and
Baltimore upon which messages were
first sent. Now the United States has
164, 954 miles of telegraph wire instead
of 40, and it surpasses the other coun-
tries of the world in its telegraph busi-
ness The whole world has more than
600. 900 miles of telegraph lines, or
enough to put wire "a times around
the whole world and have some thous-
ands of miles to spare. China kas only
944 miles of wire, and when yoG consid.
er that its population is six times
the United States you can see what
immense opportunity is open to such
scheme as that of Wharton Barker and
Mitkiswicz. China has just 22-100 ola
mile Of wire to every 1000 square miles
of territory, or in round numbers, hard
ly more than foot of wire to every
square mile of her territory. Belgium.
on the other hand, which has perhaps
the most telegraph wire in proportion
to its territory. has one-half mile OF
wire TO each square mile of territory.
and France has one-third of mile OF
wire to each square mile of area. In
all Europe there is not much more than
twice the amount of telegraph lines that
there are in the United States, and we
send about 70. 600. 900 messages year
to half that number by Great Britain.
Japan is rapidly increasing as tele-
graphic nation, and it sends more than
5000 600 messages a year. 1t is its ac-
tivity in this regard that has stirred up
China, and am told by travellers that
the enterprise of the Japanese is hav-
ing great influence upon their Chinese
neighbors.