Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-17

lcIc8raphN Scmi-C emf CnnIaI.
The world has made wonderful progress
during the past fifty years, but IN no di-
rection has this development been moro
marked or evident than in the field of cleo
trical invention and discovery. The tec-
phone, the electrical motor, and other in
vcntions in the sphere of electricity have
served to over,hadow the earlier discovery
of the wonderful possibilities of the tele
graph: and we are so accustomed to read in
the morning the news from the most remote
quarters of the globe which the telegraph
has been collecting for us during the night
that we forget that the world enjoyed no
such privileges on luXWics fifty years ago.
Net the truth Of this statement is emphs
sized 10y tho fact that May I marked tina
centennial of the completion Of the
first telegraph line in this country
Previous to the invention of the telegraph
the means at hand for transmitting news
was cumbersome and slow. News carriers
were OF one time dependent upon the pom
dcrous stage coach and the sailing vessel
for sending intelligence hy land and water
and it required months in many instances
to obtain tidngs from places which are now
regarded a. comparatively near to us. Then
came the era of steam. but while this was
marked Improvement over the old method
of conveyance. even mail trains. moving at
a rate of speed which was at that time re
gardcd as fast required weeks for the trans
mission of news from some parts of the
country to others.
When electricity was harncs-od. however,
and made to do mans work space was oh
liberated to all practical purposes, but even
those who were instrumental in giving the
world the original telegraph little dreamed
of the possibilities in store for this discov-
cry. The first telegraph line ever con
structed in this country was laid between
Baltimore and Washington in 1874 and the
first message over this line informed the pco-
pile Of Washington Of the nomination of
Clay and Frelnghuysen. II was two years
later when the first telegraph line was put
in operation in England and for many years
afterward the cable under the Atlantic was
n thing undreamed of.
An excellent idea of the manner in which
the telegraph was regarded at the time the
first line between Washington and Balti-
more was opened is furnished 10y para
graph published i'll the New York Herald
I under date of arlington, May |, 1914, ="
and which read i'll part rs follows.
| "The cars at this moment are at IKE
| Junction. % miles distant, on their way
| from Baltimore to Washington. This fact
we learn by Prof Morses wonderful
telegraph, now in full operation for
the above distance of twenty two miles
Morse has politely gwen me a part of the
paper on which the news is contained, which
| send you. 1t contains the word FIeling
huysen with the 'g' left out through haste,
and was written with a pen twenty two
miles long. BY this wonderful invention
and achievement distance is literally ami
hiated. The fluid traverses the whole
twenty-five miles and back again, making
forty four miles in no perceptibe part of a
second of time.
The Use of the telegraph has had a won
derful influence in commercial and indus
trial fields. but its most potent power has
made itself felt in the newspaper world
The telegraph gradually worked a revolu
ton in methods of gathering news as line'
were extended to various countries, and G
comparison of the newspaper Of to-day witt
one printed 100 years ago will show that the
chief difference between the two lies in the
character of the news while the ed
torial departments have changed very littl
in many respects. This is explained by thu
fact that the editorial opinion of the news
paper was what the people looked for Will
now what the public demands is the news
and it wants the news with lightaing rapid
ty. Before the telegraph came into gen
eral use, news could be several months oil,
and still be news. Now. if a newsbo
offers a customer newspaper of yestcrda
containing news twenty-four hours old, h
is scowled at Such has been the trans
formation effected 10y the influence of tn
telegraph in journalism during the last hal