The rule was established coincident with the introduction of the
telegraph in the United States to deliver all messages in the town
within a mile of the receiving office free. Special and free delivery
should be the rule as far as practicable. And yet it is impossible,
without rendering the telegraph of no avail in important emergencies, to
establish free delivery everywhere. A message from an Eastern city to a
Western village announcing peril, disaster, or death is addressed to a
person two or three miles from the telegraph station. The charge for
transmitting this message is, say, fifty cents. Two modes of delivery
are presented,—one to drop it in the post-office, where it may lie until
the next day; the other, to hire a conveyance, and send a special
messenger with it to the person addressed. The cost of this special
service will vary from one dollar to two dollars. Our practice is to
deliver by special messenger, and charge therefor the actual cost of the
service.