The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-03-01
p p CTRIC REIGN.
Tslssraph md & sphons Appli.
ances. Ia he United States
Cost Nearly Four Billions.

ances ~ the United States
Cost Nearly Four Billions.
1T is q far cry from the $4,000 cash
capital Of the Magnetic Telegraph COM
pany in 1916 to the $685. 900, 900 which
represented the cost Of the electrical ap
Epliances in actual use in the United
States at the end OF the year 1900.
The Morse telegraph was the first att.
tempt to use electricity for industrial pur
poses. The Magnetic Telegraph company
was organized mainly through the efforts
OF r.. o. =. Smith, in 1916, and was the
beginning Of the present immense tele-#@
graph and telephone business and other
branches of business in which electricity
! is used The company's capital stock
was 100000, Of which one-half went to:
the owners of various patents, and $3O,
OOO of which was allotted to subscribers,
who invested the comparatively insignif-
cam cant sum Of 5000 in cash; This SD.
600 was the working capital OF the first !.
telegraph company That sum today
! would hardly pay for the furnishings in
| the general Office Of any one Of the big
telegraph or telephone companies.
The value Of the property owned and
! used in their business by telegraph conf
panies alone in this country is. estimated
by competent judges at O,OOO,OO0, Of
| which the Western Union company hold
| ings represent some $115, 100000. Every
railroad has its own telegraph system;
800 cities have fire telegraph lines, and
every city of any consequence has its
police department telegraph system: In
addition to this, there are in all large
cities systems Of electric burglar alarms,
"thermostatic protection and district
messenger companies with telegraph
Origin of the Telephone.
The telephone business dates from the
| inventions of Bell and Gray, in 1877.
The Bell system today represents an in
vested capital Of about 5000, 100000, and
the. total value Of telephone lines, public
and private, is placed at O,000, 900.
companies is said to be at least 1,5OO, 900.
The companies are earning about $780,
OOO,OO annually, or per cent. Of the es-
timated capital invested. %
The electric lighting plants Of the
unit ted States are worth about ST. 00,-
MES, more than 100000 arc lamps and
about 100000 incandescent lamps
Electrical, appliances tor equipping
street railways are Of the estimated value
Of ST 300, 100000. The electric motor is
daily coming more and more into use,
and it is believed the value Of property
IN this branch of the electrical business
is increasing at the rate Of $15O,OOO, OOOa
year. Street railroads operated by cleo
tricity earn about $72,000.000 annually,
or about 4 per cent. on the capital III
| vested
In addition to these leading lines of
business, of which electricity is the basis,
there are smaller enterprises representing
considerable capital. About 100000
900, it is asserted, is invested in electrical
apparatus used IN connection with min
ing. At Niagara Falls the electrical
plant represents an outlay of SIC, O0O, 900,
and other power plants represent an in
yestment Of $3.50, 100000. : Five hun
dred electro-plating establishments have
a, capital Of $50, 100000. Then there are
the electrical manufacturing companies
and the which
eral Electric and Westinghouse COM
$50, 100000. 49, -
0oo'OOO Persons Employed.
This makes. a total Of about $685..
UUO,OOO, or nearly four billions invested
u. In the use and manufacture of electrical
y appliances %. c. Martini, an authorify
on the subject, declares the figures are
!. as nearly correct as can be aseertained in
: sucn a multiplicity Of enterprises. He
y estimates that some 100000 people earn
= = their livings from these different lines of
!; electrical business. One hundred thou
! sand are employed in telegraphy, 10000
= by the Bell telephone exchanges, $50, OO;
. in electric lighting plants, 10000 on
+ electrical street railways and 10000 in
= electrical factories. Says Mr., Martin:
The arts of electricity have added S.
. OOo,0UO,OOO to the worlds wealth. For
the United States of America the pos
" session Of the half Of this can be yery
: easily established
= a Patrick B. Delany says that Morse in
:: A e, ana Steinheil in Bavaria. began
e practical method of telegraphy. In
lS3! Morse made his first demonstration
D at the University Of New York over one
third OF a mile Of wire. One year later
! messages were transmitted over ten
= miles Of wire at the rate of ten words
' The duplex system, which made one
n wire equal to two for purposes of teleg-
raphy, was invented by B. Stearns Of
M1 Mass %s;s in ls66 and year or two
system: .Norvin Green. when president
: Of the Western Union, said that Edison :
3 invention alone had increased the value
e Sfo the The o e1SGmpanX's property more than
= p system was invented in, 1884. By it, six
: Morse circuits are obtained over a single
> wire.
= Speed Now Attained.
y Beginning with ten words minute, in
t 1888, the art Of electrical communication
' has progressed until today the following
: speed may be obtained: =
0 Telephone-6O words per minute; single
: Morse circuit, Is words; duplex Morse
n circuit 30 words; quadruplex Morse cir
e cult, SO words; multiplex (six circuits),
Il so words; Wheatstone automatic, 125
= words :; Wheatstone automatic duplex.
= 200 words; wireless telegraphy, 10 words.
+ The total yearly earnings Of telegraph
n and telephone, companies combined are
. estimated at less than one-half Of the
q sum realized by the United States post
{ Office from the sale of stamps for firs..-
class matter, :. Investigation has estab
lished the fact that the letters mailed in
the United States. annually average
country; postal cards, seven for each in
7 habitant, and kilograms. one and one halt
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