The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-11

Washington Correspondence of the Globe.
Glass insulators through which the
wire was run carrying the first message
over a telegraph line from Washington
to Baltimore were recently discovered in
the document room of the senate by gen.
tlemen who were taking measurements
of the walls for the purpose of putting
in new file cases.
While it was known that the insulators
had been placed in some portion of the
senate side of the building by Prof.
Morse, their exact location was not
known to any of the present employees
of the capitol until discovered as
stated
I 1t was in the winter of 1843 that Prof.
Morse, after repeated efforts, succeeded
in securing from congress an appropria-
ton to enable him to make a test Of his
improvements in telegraphy. He had
already demonstrated that he could send
and receive a message distance of ten
miles through coiled insulated wire, the
fact having been satisfactorily demon
Strated a number of times to members
of the house and senate who were will
ing to aid him. However, there were a
large number of doubling Thomases who
would take no interest in the man or
the invention and declined to witness his
tests, all of which were made at the
capitol Prof. Morse was fully con-
vinced in his own mind that the same
could be done over even much greater
distance in a straight line. In fact, it
was his belief that space could be ami
Inflated in the transmission of intelli-
gence through his invention. 1t sim
ply depended on the power of the battery
used, and this he proposed to overcome
by relays of batteries wherever needed {.
That Prof. Morse was correct in his be-
lief is carried out by the fact that mes
sages are now sent around almost the
entire world simply by the use of what is
known in telegraphy as repeaters. Strong
doubts existed, however, in the minds
of some of the lawmakers and appro-
priation givers as to the ability Of the
great inventor to do what he said he
could. Appropriations were not levied
out in those days in as careless a man
ner as now, and the voters held their
representatives accountable for their
acts. This fact made the lawmakers
leary of giving appropriations, because it
might have been regarded as useless
waste of public funds and give encour-
agement and led to an invention which
appeared to some as little more than
the delusions of mesmerism. Among those
who took an active interest in securing
the appropriation was Hon. John Kenne-
dy, of Maryland, and Hon. George Fer
ris, Of New York, and after laboring from
1886 to 1S43 a bill appropriations $50 COO
was passed by the house by a vote of
SO to SO. To become a law it required
the concurrence of the senate and the
sanction of the president r..
The records show that the bill was
passed in the house on Feb. %, and while
1t is said that Prof. Morse anticipated
no violent opposition in the senate, that
body would adjourn on March 8, and 1t
was doubtful if the bill could be reached
on the calendar before adjournment and
under the rule no bill could be taken
from its regular order. During the last
few days of the session Prof Morse
haunted the halls and gallery of the SEN
ate, and on the afternoon of the last day
he became discouraged and felt con-
vinced that he would have to wait until
the next congress. With a sad heart he
left the capitol and went to his boarding
house and to his room, where he re-
lnained until the next morning when 1t
was his intention to take an early train
to New York, where he intended to re-
sumo his work as an artist. His plans
however, were not carried out, for lust
before he was ready to go TO the depot
he received a call from Miss Annie Ellis
worth, daughter of the commissioner of
patents, who said she had called to con-
graduate him upon the passage of his
Dill. Prof. Morse could scarcely belieVe