Respecting the Belgian tariff of 1853, of $1.02 in gold per message, for
a distance not exceeding fifty miles, it must be regarded as
prohibitory, except to those whose necessities compelled its use. The
American charge at the same period for even greater distances was
twenty-five cents. Instead, therefore, of any surprise at the
comparatively limited use of the telegraph by the Belgian people under
the circumstances, it may well be regarded as extraordinary that it was
used so much.
Had private companies in the United States attempted to impose such a
tariff at the period named, public opinion would have compelled an
immediate reduction. While there can be no doubt that, within certain
limits, a diminished tariff will usually be followed by an increase in
the number of messages, experience has demonstrated that this cannot be
relied on as invariably true, except where the charge has been
unreasonable or exorbitant. It must be remembered that, when a tariff
has been reduced one half, there must be an increase of more than one
hundred per cent in the number of despatches, to yield the same revenue,
meet the cost of added labor, and provide the necessary additional means
of transmission. So great an addition in the number of messages,
unattended with a corresponding increase of wires and operators, would
result in such delay and inaccuracy as to render the service of no
value.