There is, indeed, nothing more remarkable respecting the presentation of
any great invention to the public than the fact that the electric
telegraph in America was thrown open to the public, in its very
inception, at the lowest tariff which has yet, under all the excitement
of opposition, been adopted.
What was true of Great Britain with respect to tariffs during the early
years of the introduction of the telegraph applies, as has been seen,
equally to France and the other European states. Every tariff adopted
was, to a large extent, prohibitory, and the facts connected with these
years utterly falsify the statement that Europe has shown (until within
a very few years) anything like the spirit of liberality which private
companies in the United States have manifested in this matter.
Since these early years no advance was made in our tariffs until the
third year of the rebellion, when the depreciation of the currency
necessitated the increasing of the salaries of employees from fifty to
one hundred per cent, and enhanced the price of material in a
corresponding ratio, compelling a considerable increase of the tariff on
despatches. Since the war closed, most of the important tariffs have
been reduced to their original standard, without any corresponding
reduction of the price of material or labor.
In contrast with this, we need only to point to the large advance in
railway fares and transportation, in the cost of entertainment at
hotels, in the prices of daily newspapers, and in that of almost every
commodity or service which the people enjoy; and yet the telegraph, like
all other enterprises, has been burdened with the same increase in the
cost of labor and materials.