“The officers of the telegraph companies, whose elaborate statement
is also forwarded by the Postmaster-General, estimate as follows:—
“‘Cost of construction, including engineering, patents, and
franchises, per mile: one wire—six wires.
“‘The cost of building lines varies according to locality, timber,
method, nature of the ground, and the wires to be borne.
“‘A line from New York to Washington should be of the best class,
and would be represented by the following figures:—
43 poles delivered at stations, $161.25
129 arms, complete, 129.00
43 holes, five feet deep, tools, &c., 30.00
Labor,—handling, preparing, erecting, &c., 25.00
Six wires, at twelve cents per pound, 240.00
Labor,—wiring, transportation, &c., 30.00
Distributing poles, 25.00
Superintendence, &c., 25.00
————————
665.25
========
240 miles at $665.25, Washington to New York, $159,660
Lines through New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, 16,000
22 cables at rivers south of the Hudson, 20,000
Cable at Hudson River, house, boats, &c., 8,000
————————
$203,660
========
“‘The cost of franchises and patents cannot be given.
“‘Such a line built by government, carefully, and with reference to
permanence, with six wires, would cost $250,000.
“‘If, however, it is seriously contemplated by the government to
construct lines along the great commercial routes, and if it be the
design in so doing to remove from the system, by every attainable
appliance or improvement, all its ascertained defects, a structure
of larger poles, and wires of superior conducting qualities, will be
built. Such a line should be constructed of the most solid and
durable wood, such as the black locust, so that masses of sleet or
moist snow, so destructive to present lines, would leave it
uninjured. Heavier wires also, which, by their increased conducting
capacity, would give greater facility and certainty to transmission,
should be used.
“‘These improvements, with greater care taken in the execution of
the work than in that of ordinary structures, will, of course,
increase its cost in proportion to the care bestowed. And should the
government determine to provide facilities equal to those now
proffered by private companies, it would be necessary to erect at
least five lines of poles bearing six wires each, that being the
number (thirty in all) now in use between New York and Washington by
all the companies.
“‘A common wire line, intended to bear one, and not more than two
wires, can be built for $150 to $180 per mile, the wire being number
nine, galvanized, the poles of limited size, and costing not over
$1.25 each.’
“It nowhere appears that such lines as all these writers insist
shall be built by the government have ever been built in this or any
other country. They seem to have taken it as matter of course that
the government, if the experiment proposed should be tried, will
depart from the usual method of construction and build the novel and
costly structures for which their estimates are made. One looks in
vain in the communication sent to Congress by the Postmaster-General
for any reliable information as to the cost of a telegraphic line,
constructed as such lines are in this and other countries, and such
a line as the government, if it should be determined to build an
experimental line, would probably build.”