It should be remembered, too, that an increase follows the supply of
more ample facilities, when these have been inadequate to the wants of
the communities for which they are provided.
There is also a large natural increase, altogether irrespective of the
charges for transmission, which must be allowed for, before the
legitimate effect of the inducements presented by cheapness, or the
opportunities furnished by the multiplication of wires or increased
capacity in the machinery, can be estimated. Thus, in December, 1848,
which in the United States bears a fair comparison with Belgium in 1852
as to date of telegraphic introduction, at the office in Buffalo, N. Y.,
the receipts amounted to $330.54; while in the same month of 1867, with
no decrease in the tariff, the receipts were $5,392.07,—an increase of
over 1,600 per cent, and exceeding by 400 per cent that which in Belgium
was caused, as claimed, by reducing the tariff from $1.02 to 17 cents,
but which, in Buffalo, resulted from simple natural increase caused by
the growth of the country and enlarged telegraphic facilities. The
annual gross receipts of the Magnetic Telegraph Company, extending
between New York and Washington, were as follows:—
1847, $32,810
1848, 52,252
1849, 63,367
1850, 61,383
1851, 67,737
1852, 103,232
Up to the close of 1848 the above company had a monopoly of the
telegraph service between these two cities, but in March, 1849, the
House Printing Line commenced operations between New York and
Philadelphia, and, together with Bain’s Chemical Telegraph, was
continued through to Washington in the autumn of that year, so that from
1848 to 1852 the above statement only shows the receipts of one of the
three lines doing business between these places. If the receipts of the
other two companies were as large, it exhibits the remarkable increase
in the amount of business done, in five years, of more than 900 per
cent, without any reduction in rates.
The number of messages transmitted by the Magnetic Company in 1852 was
253,857, at an average cost, according to the receipts, of forty cents
each.
The average cost of the French telegrams for the same year, according to
the official tables furnished by Mr. Washburne, was 11.28 francs, or
$2.25 each.
For the year ending November 1, 1868, the Western Union Telegraph
Company transmitted over the same territory embraced by the lines of the
Magnetic Company in 1852, 1,556,004 messages, the gross receipts upon
which were $546,262.05, being an average of thirty-five cents per
message. There are two rival companies operating lines between New York
and Washington at the present time, so that the comparison between the
business for the past year and that of the previous year above given is
quite complete.
The gross receipts of the New York and Boston Magnetic Telegraph
Association for the year ending
July 31, 1848, were $34,835.14
„ 1853, „ 82,214.16
„ 1854, „ 79,683.73
„ 1855, „ 101,307.98
„ 1856, „ 102,151.78
„ 1857, „ 103,134.06
„ 1858, „ 98,097.73
„ 1859, „ 96,136.06
In 1848 the above company had a monopoly of the business between these
places, but in 1849 two rival companies constructed lines over this
route and divided the business with it.
In 1848 the tariff between New York and Boston was fifty cents for the
first ten words, and three cents for each added word; and to
intermediate points twenty-five cents for the first ten words, and two
cents for each added word.