Mr. Hubbard says, “If the present business could be distributed over all
the hours of the day, or if there were sufficient business for all the
wires the whole day, the rates could be largely reduced”; but neither of
these propositions can be realized. The telegraph is an errand-boy which
every one uses when the exigency requires it, and which no one will use
unnecessarily, even though it work for nothing. In order to utilize the
wires during those portions of the day and night when they are
comparatively idle, the Western Union Telegraph Company adopted the
following rates for night messages:—
“This company will transmit messages between the principal cities on its
lines east of St. Louis and New Orleans, both inclusive, during the
night, and deliver the same the succeeding morning, on the following
terms: For a message of 20 words or less, the usual tolls on a ten-word
message will be charged. For a message of more than 20 words, and not
exceeding 60 words, twice the usual tolls on a ten-word message will be
charged. For a message of more than 60 words, and not exceeding 120
words, three times the usual tolls on a ten-word message will be
charged. For each additional 100 words, or part thereof, in excess of
120 words, the usual tolls on a ten-word message will be charged in
addition. Such messages will be known as NIGHT MESSAGES. They will be
received for transmission at any time during the day or evening, and
will be sent during the succeeding night. _No additional charge will be
made for cipher messages._”
The very moderate success of our night-message experiment,
notwithstanding the large inducements offered, proves that the use of
the telegraph is required not merely for communication, but for
emergency and despatch. It is also a fact worthy of notice, that very
little of this business is done between Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and Washington, notwithstanding the low rates, whereby over a
hundred words can be transmitted for a dollar. It is done mainly between
remote places like Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Memphis,
and New Orleans, communication between which by mail requires from two
to four days.
In support of this theory we submit a statement of the night-message
business between New York City and all points on our lines for the
months of March, July, and October. These months represent fairly the
varying phases of our business in respect to trade in different sections
of the country at different seasons of the year.
The total number of night messages sent and received between New York
City and all places on our lines for the three months named was 6,273,
divided as follows:—
Between New York and Charleston, S. C. 276
Between New York and Chicago, Ill. 904
Between New York and Cincinnati, O. 326
Between New York and St. Louis, Mo. 433
Between New York and Milwaukee, Wis. 176
Between New York and Memphis, Tenn. 316
Between New York and Montgomery, Ala. 176
Between New York and Mobile, Ala. 402
Between New York and New Orleans, La. 1,195
Between New York and All other places 2,069
—————
Total, 6,273
Our night-message experiment has proved that the telegraph will not be
used at night, at any tariff, except to a moderate extent and between
distant points.
The absurdity of placing the telegraph and postal systems in the same
category has been fully shown on pages 43 and 44. Mr. Hubbard appears to
have read Mr. Scudamore’s charges against the English system, and
applied them literally to the telegraphs of this country. Unfortunately,
however, charges which may be true as applied to the companies operating
the telegraphs in the United Kingdom have no pertinency when reproduced
as the shortcomings of the American system.