Morse felt that it was high time to endeavor to secure foreign patents
on his invention. Accompanied by Smith, he sailed for England in May,
taking with him a new instrument provided by Vail. Arriving in London,
they made application for a patent. They were opposed by Wheatstone
and his associates, and could not secure even a hearing from the
patent authorities. Morse strenuously insisted that his telegraph was
radically different from Wheatstone's, laying especial emphasis on the
fact that his recording instrument printed the message in permanent
form, while Wheatstone's did not. Morse always placed great emphasis
on the recording features of his apparatus, yet these features were
destined to be discarded in America when his telegraph at last came
into use.
With no recourse open to him but an appeal to Parliament, a long and
expensive proceeding with little apparent possibility of success,
Morse went to France, hoping for a more favorable reception. He found
the French cordial and appreciative. French experts watched his tests
and examined his apparatus, pronouncing his telegraph the best of all
that had been devised. He received a patent, only to learn that to be
effective the invention must be put in operation in France within two
years, under the French patent law. Morse sought to establish his line
in connection with a railway, as Wheatstone had established his
in England, but was told that the telegraph must be a Government
monopoly, and that no private parties could construct or operate.
The Government would not act, and Morse found himself again defeated.
Faring no better with other European governments, Morse decided
to return to America to push the bill for an appropriation before
Congress.
While Morse was in Europe gaining publicity for the telegraph, but
no patents, his former fellow-passenger on the _Sully_, Dr. Charles
Jackson, had laid claim to a share in the invention. He insisted that
the idea had been his and that he had given it to Morse on the trip
across the Atlantic. This Morse indignantly denied.
Congress would now take no action upon the invention. A heated
political campaign was in progress, and no interest could be aroused
in an invention, no matter what were its possibilities in the
advancement of the work and development of the nation. Smith was
in politics, the Vails were suffering from a financial depression,
Professor Gale was a man of very limited means, and so Morse found
himself without funds or support. In Paris he had met M. Daguerre, who
had just discovered photography. Morse had learned the process and,
in connection with Doctor Draper, he fitted up a studio on the roof
of the university. Here they took the first daguerreotypes made in
America.
Morse's work in art had been so much interrupted that he had but few
pupils. The fees that these brought to him were small and irregular,
and he was brought to the very verge of starvation. We are told of the
call Morse made upon one pupil whose tuition was overdue because of a
delay in the arrival of funds from his home.
"Well, my boy," said the professor, "how are we off for money?"
The student explained the situation, adding that he hoped to have the
money the following week.
"Next week!" exclaimed Morse. "I shall be dead by next week--dead of
starvation."
"Would ten dollars be of any service?" asked the student, astonished
and distressed.
"Ten dollars would save my life," was Morse's reply.
The student paid the money--all he had--and they dined together, Morse
remarking that it was his first meal for twenty-four hours.
Morse's situation and feelings at this time are also illustrated by a
letter he wrote to Smith late in 1841.
I find myself [he wrote] without sympathy or help from any
who are associated with me, whose interests, one would think,
would impell them to at least inquire if they could render me
some assistance. For nearly two years past I have devoted all
my time and scanty means, living on a mere pittance, denying
myself all pleasures and even necessary food, that I might
have a sum, to put my telegraph into such a position before
Congress as to insure success to the common enterprise. I
am crushed for want of means, and means of so trifling a
character, too, that they who know how to ask (which I do not)
could obtain in a few hours.... As it is, although everything
is favorable, although I have no competition and no
opposition--on the contrary, although every member of
Congress, so far as I can learn, is favorable--yet I fear all
will fail because I am too poor to risk the trifling expense
which my journey and residence in Washington will occasion me.
I will not run in debt, if I lose the whole matter. No one can
tell the days and months of anxiety and labor I have had in
perfecting my telegraphic apparatus. For want of means I have
been compelled to make with my own hands (and to labor for
weeks) a piece of mechanism which could be made much better,
and in a tenth the time, by a good mechanician, thus
wasting time--time which I cannot recall and which seems
double-winged to me.
"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." It is true, and I have
known the full meaning of it. Nothing but the consciousness
that I have an invention which is to mark an era in human
civilization, and which is to contribute to the happiness of
millions, would have sustained me through so many and such
lengthened trials of patience in perfecting it.
A patent on the telegraph had been issued to Morse in 1840. The
issuance had been delayed at Morse's request, as he desired to first
secure foreign patents, his own American rights being protected by the
caveat he had filed. Although the commercial possibilities, and hence
the money value of the telegraph had not been established, Morse was
already troubled with the rival claims of those who sought to secure a
share in his invention.
While working and waiting and saving, Morse conceived the idea of
laying telegraph wires beneath the water. He prepared a wire by
wrapping it in hemp soaked in tar, and then covering the whole with
rubber. Choosing a moonlight night in the fall of 1842, he submerged
his cable in New York Harbor between Castle Garden and Governors
Island. A few signals were transmitted and then the wire was carried
away by a dragging anchor. Truly, misfortune seemed to dog Morse's
footsteps. This seems to have been the first submarine cable, and
in writing of it not long after Morse hazarded the then astonishing
prediction that Europe and America would be linked by telegraphic
cable.
Failing to secure effective aid from his associates, Morse hung on
grimly, fighting alone, and putting all of his strength and energy
into the task of establishing an experimental line. It was during
these years that he demonstrated his greatness to the full. His
letters to the members of the Congressional Committee on Commerce show
marked ability. They outline the practical possibilities very clearly.
Morse realized not only the financial possibilities of his invention,
but its benefit to humanity as well. He also presented very practical
estimates of the cost of establishing the line under consideration.
The committee again recommended that $30,000 be appropriated for the
construction of a Washington-Baltimore line. The politicians had come
to look upon Morse as a crank, and it was extremely difficult for his
adherents to secure favorable action in the House. Many a Congressman
compared Morse and his experiments to mesmerism and similar "isms,"
and insisted that if the Government gave funds for this experiment
it would be called upon to supply funds for senseless trials of weird
schemes. The bill finally passed the House by the narrow margin of six
votes, the vote being taken orally because so many Congressmen feared
to go on record as favoring an appropriation for such a purpose.
The bill had still to pass the Senate, and here there seemed little
hope. Morse, who had come to Washington to press his plan, anxiously
waited in the galleries. The bill came up for consideration late one
evening just before the adjournment. A Senator who noticed Morse went
up to him and said:
"There is no use in your staying here. The Senate is not in sympathy
with your project. I advise you to give it up, return home, and think
no more about it."
The inventor went back to his room, with how heavy a heart we may
well imagine. He paid his board bill, and found himself with but
thirty-seven cents in the world. After many moments of earnest prayer
he retired.
Early next morning there came to him Miss Annie Ellsworth, daughter of
his friend the Commissioner of Patents, and said, "Professor, I have
come to congratulate you."
"Congratulate me!" replied Morse. "On what?"
"Why," she exclaimed, "on the passage of your bill by the Senate!"
The bill had been passed without debate in the closing moments of the
session. As Morse afterward stated, this was the turning-point in the
history of the telegraph. His resources were reduced to the minimum,
and there was little likelihood that he would have again been able to
bring the matter to the attention of Congress.
So pleased was Morse over the news of the appropriation, and so
grateful to Miss Ellsworth for her interest in bringing him the good
news, that he promised her that she should send the first message
when the line was complete. With the Government appropriation at his
disposal, Morse immediately set to work upon the Washington-Baltimore
line. Professors Gale and Fisher served as his assistants, and Mr.
Vail was in direct charge of the construction work. Another person
active in the enterprise was Ezra Cornell, who was later to found
Cornell University. Cornell had invented a machine for laying wires
underground in a pipe.
It was originally planned to place the wires underground, as this was
thought necessary or their protection. After running the line some
five miles out from Baltimore it was found that this method of
installing the line was to be a failure. The insulation was not
adequate, and the line could not be operated to the first relay
station. A large portion of the $30,000 voted by Congress had been
spent and the line was still far from completion. Disaster seemed
imminent. Smith lost all faith in the enterprise, demanded most of the
remaining money under a contract he had taken to lay the line, and a
quarrel broke out between him and Morse which further jeopardized the
undertaking.
Morse and such of his lieutenants as remained faithful in this hour of
trial, after a long consultation, decided to string the wire on
poles. The method of attaching the wire to the poles was yet to be
determined. They finally decided to simply bore a hole through each
pole near the top and push the wire through it. Stringing the wire in
such fashion was no small task, but it was finally accomplished. It
was later found necessary to insulate the wire with bottle necks where
it passed through the poles. On May 23, 1844, the line was complete.
Remembering his promise to Miss Ellsworth, Morse called upon her
next morning to give him the first message. She chose, "What hath
God wrought?" and early on the morning of the 24th Morse sat at the
transmitter in the Supreme Court room in the Capitol and telegraphed
these immortal words to Vail at Baltimore. The message was received
without difficulty and repeated back to Morse at Washington. The
magnetic telegraph was a reality.
Still the general public remained unconvinced. As in the case of
Wheatstone's needle telegraph a dramatic incident was needed to
demonstrate the utility of this new servant. Fortunately for Morse,
the telegraph's opportunity came quickly. The Democratic national
convention was in session at Baltimore. After an exciting struggle
they dropped Van Buren, then President, and nominated James K. Polk.
Silas Wright was named for the Vice-Presidency. At that time Mr.
Wright was in Washington. Hearing of the nomination, Alfred Vail
telegraphed it to Morse in Washington. Morse communicated with Wright,
who stated that he could not accept the honor. The telegraph was ready
to carry his message declining the nomination, and within a very few
minutes Vail had presented it to the convention at Baltimore, to the
intense surprise of the delegates there assembled. They refused to
believe that Wright had been communicated with, and sent a committee
to Washington to see Wright and make inquiries. They found that
the message was genuine, and the utility of the telegraph had been
strikingly established.
VII
DEVELOPMENT OF THE TELEGRAPH SYSTEM
The Magnetic Telegraph Company--The Western Union--Crossing the
Continent--The Improvements of Alfred Vail--Honors Awarded to
Morse--Duplex Telegraphy--Edison's Improvements.
For some time the telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore
remained on exhibition as a curiosity, no charge being made for
demonstrating it. Congress made an appropriation to keep the line in
operation, Vail acting as operator at the Washington end. On April
1, 1845, the line was put in operation on a commercial basis,
service being offered to the public at the rate of one cent for four
characters. It was operated as a branch of the Post-office Department.
On the 4th of April a visitor from Virginia came into the Washington
office wishing to see a demonstration. Up to this time not a paid
message had been sent. The visitor, having no permit from the
Postmaster-General, was told that he could only see the telegraph in
operation by sending a message. One cent being all the money he had
other than twenty-dollar bills, he asked for one cent's worth. The
Washington operator asked of Baltimore, "What time is it?" which in
the code required but one character. The reply came, "One o'clock,"
another single character. Thus but two characters had been used, or
one-half cent's worth of telegraphy. The visitor expressed himself as
satisfied, and waived the "change." This penny was the line's first
earnings.
Under the terms of the agreement by which Congress had made the
appropriation for the experimental line, Morse was bound to give the
Government the first right to purchase his invention. He accordingly
offered it to the United States for the sum of $100,000. There
followed a distressing example of official stupidity and lack of
foresight. With the opportunity to own and control the nation's
telegraph lines before it the Government declined the offer. This
action was taken at the recommendation of the Hon. Cave Johnson, then
Postmaster-General, under whose direction the line had been
operated. He had been a member of Congress at the time the original
appropriation was voted, and had ridiculed the project. The nation was
now so unfortunate as to have him as its Postmaster-General, and he
reported "that the operation of the telegraph between Washington and
Baltimore had not satisfied him that, under any rate of postage
that could be adopted, its revenues could be made equal to its
expenditures." And yet the telegraph, here offered to the Government
for $100,000, was developed under private management until it paid a
profit on a capitalization of $100,000,000.
Morse seems to have had a really patriotic motive, as well as a desire
for immediate return and the freedom from further worries, in his
offer to the Government. He was greatly disappointed at its refusal
to purchase, a refusal that was destined to make Morse a wealthy man.
Amos Kendall, who had been Postmaster-General under Jackson, was
now acting as Morse's agent, and they decided to depend upon private
capital. Plans were made for a line between New York and Philadelphia,
and to arouse interest and secure capital the apparatus was exhibited
in New York City at a charge of twenty-five cents a head. The public
refused to patronize in sufficient numbers to even pay expenses,
and the entire exhibition was so shabby, and the exhibitors so
poverty-stricken, that the sleek capitalists who came departed without
investing. Some of the exhibitors slept on chairs or on the floor in
the bare room, and it is related that the man who was later to
give his name and a share of his fortune to Cornell University was
overjoyed at finding a quarter on the sidewalk, as it enabled him to
buy a hearty breakfast. Though men of larger means refused to take
shares, some in humbler circumstances could recognize the great
idea and the wonderful vision which Morse had struggled so long to
establish--a vision of a nation linked together by telegraphy. The
Magnetic Telegraph Company was formed and work started on the line.
In August of 1845 Morse sailed for Europe in an endeavor to enlist
foreign capital. The investors of Europe proved no keener than those
of America, and the inventor returned without funds, but imbued with
increased patriotism. He had become convinced that the telegraph could
and would succeed on American capital alone. In the next year a line
was constructed from Philadelphia to Washington, thus extending
the New York-Philadelphia line to the capital. Henry O'Reilly, of
Rochester, New York, took an active part in this construction work
and now took the contract to construct a line from Philadelphia to St.
Louis. This line was finished by December of 1847.
The path having been blazed, others sought to establish lines of their
own without regard to Morse's patents. One of these was O Reilly, who,
on the completion of the line to St. Louis, began one to Now Orleans,
without authority from Morse or his company. O'Reilly called his
telegraph "The People's Line," and when called to account in the
courts insisted not only that his instruments were different from
Morse's, and so no infringement of his patents, but also that the
Morse system was a harmful monopoly and that "The People's Line"
should be encouraged. It was further urged that Wheatstone in England
and Steinheil in Germany had invented telegraphs before Morse, and
that Professor Henry had invented the relay which made it possible
to operate the telegraph over long distances. The suits resulted in a
legal victory for Morse, and his patents were maintained.
But still other rival companies built lines, using various forms of
apparatus, and though the courts repeatedly upheld Morse's patent
rights, the pirating was not effectively checked. The telegraph had
come to be a necessity and the original company lacked the capital to
construct lines with sufficient rapidity to meet the need. Within
ten years after the first line had been put into operation the more
thickly settled portions of the United States were served by scores
of telegraph lines owned by a dozen different companies. Hardly any of
these were making any money, though the service was poor and the rates
were high. They were all operating on too small a scale and business
uses of the telegraph had not yet developed sufficiently.
An amalgamation of the scattered, competing lines was needed, both
to secure better service for the public and proper dividends for the
investors. This amalgamation was effected by Mr. Hiram Sibley, who
organized the Western Union in 1856. The plan was ridiculed at
the time, some one stating that "The Western Union seems very like
collecting all the paupers in the State and arranging them into a
union so as to make rich men of them." But these pauper companies did
become rich once they were united under efficient management.
The nation was just then stretching herself across to the Pacific.
The commercial importance of California was growing rapidly. By 1857
stage-coaches were crossing the plains and the pony-express riders
were carrying the mail. The pioneers of the telegraph felt that a line
should span the continent. This was then a tremendous undertaking, and
when Mr. Sibley proposed that the Western Union should undertake the
construction of such a line he was met with the strongest opposition.
The explorations of Frémont were not far in the past, and the vast
extent of country west of the Mississippi was regarded as a wilderness
peopled with savages and almost impossible of development. But Sibley
had faith; he was possessed of Morse's vision and Morse's courage.
The Western Union refusing to undertake the enterprise, he began it
himself. The Government, realizing the military and administrative
value of a telegraph line to California, subsidized the work.
Additional funds were raised and a route selected was through Omaha
and Salt Lake City to San Francisco.
The undertaking proved less formidable than had been anticipated,
for, instead of two years, less than five months were occupied in
completing the line. Sibley's tact and ability did much to avoid
opposition by the Indians. He made the red men his friends and
impressed upon them the wonder of the telegraph. When the line was in
operation between Fort Kearney and Fort Laramie he invited the chief
of the Arapahoes at Fort Kearney to communicate by telegraph with
his friend the chief of the Sioux at Fort Laramie. The two chiefs
exchanged telegrams and were deeply impressed. They were told that the
telegraph was the voice of the Manitou or Great Spirit. To convince
them it was suggested that they meet half-way and compare their
experiences. Though they were five hundred miles apart, they started
out on horseback, and on meeting each other found that the line had
carried their words truly. The story spread among the tribes, and so
the telegraph line became almost sacred to the Indians. They might
raid the stations and kill the operators, but they seldom molested the
wires.
Among many ignorant peoples the establishment of the telegraph has
been attained with no small difficulty. The Chinese showed a dread of
the telegraph, frequently breaking down the early lines because they
believed that they would take away the good luck of their district.
The Arabs, on the other hand, did not oppose the telegraph. This
is partly because the name is one which they can understand,
_tel_ meaning wire to them, and _araph_, to know. Thus in Arabic
_tele-agraph_ means to know by wire.
Just as the Indians of our own plains had difficulty in understanding
the telegraph, so the primitive peoples in other parts of the world
could scarce believe it possible. A story is told of the construction
of an early line in British India. The natives inquired the purpose of
the wire from the head man.
"The wire is to carry messages to Calcutta," he replied.
"But how can words run along a wire?" they asked.
The head man puzzled for a moment.
"If there were a dog," he replied, "with a tail long enough to reach
from here to Calcutta, and you pinched his tail here, wouldn't he howl
in Calcutta?"
Once Sibley and the other American telegraph pioneers had spanned the
continent, they began plans for spanning the globe. Their idea was to
unite America and Europe by a line stretched through British Columbia,
Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. Siberia had been connected
with European Russia, and thus practically the entire line could be
stretched on land, only short submarine cables being necessary. It was
then seriously doubted that cables long enough to cross the Atlantic
were practicable. The expedition started in 1865, a fleet of thirty
vessels carrying the men and supplies. Tremendous difficulties had
been overcome and a considerable part of the work accomplished when
the successful completion of the Atlantic cable made the work useless.
Nearly three million dollars had been expended by the Western Union
in this attempt. Yet, despite this loss, its affairs were so generally
successful and the need for the telegraph so real that it continued to
thrive until it reached its present remarkable development.
While the line-builders were busy stretching telegraph wires into
almost every city and town in the nation, others were perfecting the
apparatus. Alfred Vail was a leading figure in this work. Already he
had played a large part in designing and constructing the apparatus to
carry out Morse's ideas, and he continued to improve and perfect
until practically nothing remained of Morse's original apparatus. The
original Morse transmitter had consisted of a porte-rule and movable
type. This was cumbersome, and Vail substituted a simple key to make
and break the circuit. Vail had also constructed the apparatus to
emboss the message upon the moving strip of paper, but this he now
improved upon. The receiving apparatus was simplified and the pen was
replaced by a disk smeared with ink which marked the dots and dashes
upon the paper.