Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1917-02-15
INTERESTING FACTS
CONCERNING TELEGRAPHY

CONCERNING TELEGRAPH
When the rsat struggle between
Napoleon arc the Allies, VIII oh
now known il history as tbs Battl
OF Waterloo. was imminent, th
then head OF the London branch o
thu House q Rothschild, KNOWING
how slowly news Travelled in those
days and wiat an important bear
ling the outcome of the impending
conflict would have on the market
hired a swift sailing vessel, crossed
the channel. placed himself where
he could get the news OF how the
battle was going at first hand, and
as soon as the issue was decids d
sailed back to England, reaching
London far ahead of the official
news, and was thus able to take
very profitable advantage of the ad-
vance information which, his enter
prise had enabled him to obtain.
| This is striking illustration of
the expedients to which it was nee
essary to resort in the days before
the telegraph and cable to get
news with reasonable speed even
from so short a distance. Today
th~re is not battle, hardly even
a skirmish of importance in the
great world war, whether it be in
Flanders or in Russia or in far off
Rumania, even in Africa, of which
we do not learn through the press
on the same day on which it occur
red, or on the following day. 1t is
trite to say that the telegraph has
quered time and space. but We can
not really appreciate what this con-
quest means unless we stop to con-
slider what tremendous handicap
space placed in the way Of conduct
ing national enterprises, affairs of
state, and the ordinary business en-
terprises of the day. 1t is difficult
to transport ourselves back in
thought to a time when there was
no quicker method of communication
than by mail or by special courier
Our Imagination would have to be
capable Of constructing the picture
of business and social structure of
which it is practically impossible
for the present generation to have
any conception. Still, unless we
visualize in a measure how awkward
and hampering and destructive of
enterprise would be the state of af-
fairs if there were no telegraph on
land and no cable by sea, we have
no standard to estimate Justly the
tremendous value of our present
means of rapid communication. Think
Of doing business with San Francis |
20 or with Chicago with nothing
,aster than the mail to serve you,
not to speak of attempting to con-
iuct foreign business under such
and then contrast with
his conception the facilities which
ire today actually at your command,
hanks to the invention of Samuel
:. B. Morse
The development of the telegraph
md cable has been rapid. 1t is not
10 many years since the flashing Of
he first message ever the expert
mental line between Baltimore and
astonished the world.
q the brief period which has since &,
nteryened the network of wires
nd cables has spread all over the
iyilized world. 1t connects every
ity, village and hamlet in this eoun-
ry. 1t connects with every oth-rl
ountry on the globe. AS far as
goes, London, Paris, I
II the cities of Europe, China, ia
an. Africa, South America, Austria i
a. the Philippines, the Fiji Islands, q
very place where the white man l
as set foot and settled, are as
lose to you as is Boise. lt
The Western Union Telegraph Com It
any alone operates eight trans b
tlantic cables connecting with the G
able systems of the world, which t
Ivolve 10000 miles of submarine il
ible. Its system in this country en- S
races over 10000 miles of pole
ne. over 100000 miles of wire, S
injecting over $4,000 offices thru "
RI the length and breadth of the "
nd. and over these wires there pass
ore than 125 100000 messages a s.
'ar. These figures merely demon a
rat in the most direct way how h
a factor the telegraph Il
Is become in the social and bust g,
.ss life of the country and of the HI
tire world w
The development of the art OF
legraphy has kept pace with the ST
read of the telegraphic network. ht
the requirements have grown,
e methods Of handling telegraph ra